2012 Chevy Silver silverado drive shaft

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I have a 2012 Chevy Silver silverado that I had the driveshaft yoke replaced with the nickel one at the dealership to fix the driveshaft "clunk" noise. My question is do you have to rebalance the driveshaft after replacing the yoke? They also reused the yoke bearings. Can you do that? thanks
 
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
I have a 2012 Chevy Silver silverado that I had the driveshaft yoke replaced with the nickel one at the dealership to fix the driveshaft "clunk" noise. My question is do you have to rebalance the driveshaft after replacing the yoke? They also reused the yoke bearings. Can you do that? thanks


I have mixed feeling about your question.
On one side the vehicle is relatively new, you don't live in the salt belt so using the original U joint should be okay as long as they didn't loose any grease without replacing it.

Generally the yoke doesn't contribute much to shafts imbalance unless its damaged.
Not that it cant because it sure can but new OEM to new OEM of the same size is pretty safe.

On the other side i have always rebalanced the shaft if any parts other than the joints were replaced and always used new joints.
If there is no vibration noticed it should be fine, worst case scenario is the joint has a shorter life span.

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A good driveshaft specialist can pull that sucker and rebalance the entire assembly easily and quickly.

My guy charges about 150 bucks if you need new ujoints, and the balance will be factory new or even better.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Thanks! I may check around and see how much it cost to check the balance.

Any vibration?



Maybe, it seemed to change after they worked on it.
 
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Thanks! I may check around and see how much it cost to check the balance.

Any vibration?



Maybe, it seemed to change after they worked on it.


Make them rebalance it or get ready for new trans & diff seals. BTw, did they lubricate the factory yoke with teflon grease before trying a replacement?
 
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Wow they still haven't fixed that? My 2000 Silverado had a bad clunk and they replaced the whole driveshaft with a new one that had CV joints on both ends of the rear shaft. I would think they would have updated the driveshaft by now...12 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Thanks! I may check around and see how much it cost to check the balance.

Any vibration?



Maybe, it seemed to change after they worked on it.


Make them rebalance it or get ready for new trans & diff seals. BTw, did they lubricate the factory yoke with teflon grease before trying a replacement?


Yes they tried the grease
 
Originally Posted By: another Todd
Wow they still haven't fixed that? My 2000 Silverado had a bad clunk and they replaced the whole driveshaft with a new one that had CV joints on both ends of the rear shaft. I would think they would have updated the driveshaft by now...12 years.


It is a tolerance issue. My 99 Suburban had it. The tech greased the yoke spline with teflon grease and solved the problem. But you need to get the grease all the way around the spline up inside the yoke. He used a long wire dabber with a blob of grease on the end to get all the way up in the yoke.
 
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Thanks! I may check around and see how much it cost to check the balance.

Any vibration?



Maybe, it seemed to change after they worked on it.

In that case just go back and complain about vibration. Get them to balance it under warranty.

There may be a line in the TSB that says something like don't re balance the shaft unless customer complains of vibration or something to that effect.
Its a common thing.
 
Late model GM u-joints use injected plastic to retain the caps in the yokes. If your OE u-joint was separated and then re-used you have no retainer, and a boat load of g-force trying to pull them back out. Replace that u-joint, the balance is fine..

Is this a lip yoke located in the middle of the shaft, or a slip yoke in the transmission tail shaft? Did they clock the slip joint so the two yokes are on the same plane.
 
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Going to get the balance checked tommorrow. Anyone had luck getting rid of the "clunk". I tried the slip yoke grease. Can you over "pack" the grease?
 
Use the Ford grease. No kidding, Ford has a special (read expensive) grease just for this issue and it works.
It doesn't take a lot of grease just the right kind, IIRC its PTFE based.

PTFE Teflon Driveshaft Slip Yoke Lubricant Ford Motorcraft XG-8 (ML1167/31508-42027)

Its about 8-10 bucks for a small tube.
 
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Thanks I will try it! GM wants you to use there grease as not to damage the trans if any grease gets in the ATF. Would the Ford grease be ok for the trans. I don't see how grease could get in the trans.
 
I went ahead and paid $65 to have it balanced at another shop. It was off 1.37 oz. Spec is supposed to be .25 oz. It made a big improvement!
 
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