Terrible Chevy Clunks

[Realtech214]

Alrightey than, some of you may know that i have had some suspension noise in my silverado. In the morning mostly it would make a loud CluNk! when suspension would travel. Only from the front. Like someone knocking the bottom of the cab real hard. It was very anoying so I decided to finally fix the problem.

First of all, My lower control arm bolts were not even finger tight! I could unscrew the nuts with my hands. What the [censored] is that?.. Anyway after busting out the good ol' 1/2 gun, There tight now. So I drove around the block, still noise. Now i find out that my sway bar links are loose as can be. I tightened them up real good and now the truck rides like a cadillac. (Almost)

Has anyone else had these problems? Trucks only got about 90K miles now

 

[Chris142]

Id expect a few loose nuts and bolts after 90k

 

[michaelluscher]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Id expect a few loose nuts and bolts after 90k


That's why you buy the GMC version of things
They use lock washers on them.............

 

[ls1mike]

I haven't had anything like that, but the steering linkage makes noise on mine. I need to get in there and fix it.

 

[hisilver]

Everything clunks and rattles on my 06.

 

[gregk24]

American craftsmanship...SMH -_-

 

[Donald]

One reason for a yearly alignment. They should find all the loose suspension stuff.

 

[GMBoy]

My 2006 Sierra Denali (AWD 6.0L) is just as tight and quiet as the day it was new at 92,000 miles.

(This post should probably be in the Mechanical section)

 

[wirelessF]

4x4 or 2wd? I have an 02 2wd and I think the coil springs is "rattling" on certain bumps. Coil spring isolators maybe?

 

[Realtech214]

Mines a 2wd

 

[SteveSRT8]

We have run tons of Silverados to the ground. One of the things we NEVER work on is the suspension. I just changed shocks on two that have in excess of 100k miles on them and the originals were stiff as can be, just lost their gas charge.

Steering column clunk? Had one only. Gauge cluster bad? One only. Other than that they are amazingly tight and have great resale value. People beat my door down to buy them with 150k miles and more...

 

[hattaresguy]

Mine clunks and bangs around, its an old Chevy they do that. I have a big rattle under the drivers side dash I could never figure out. Took most of the dash apart and couldn't find anything lose.

Right now I think I have a weak leaf since she is listing to port by 1.5 inch's. I don't see a broken front coil, either.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
We have run tons of Silverados to the ground. One of the things we NEVER work on is the suspension. I just changed shocks on two that have in excess of 100k miles on them and the originals were stiff as can be, just lost their gas charge.

Steering column clunk? Had one only. Gauge cluster bad? One only. Other than that they are amazingly tight and have great resale value. People beat my door down to buy them with 150k miles and more...


You have also been lucky. That's not to say they are bad trucks, but you have had better than average service for the number you have operated and lack of problems. With millions of trucks it's going to be a spectrum. I changed the oil on a 2010 5.3L Silverado today that had the engine replaced under warranty previously.

I haven't seen a TON of dead clusters, but I have seen a few. I work on GMT800s daily, and GMT900s often. Some things are common...leaking oil cooler block off, 4L60E issues, knock sensors, water pumps, broken interior pieces, broken hood releases, broken tailgate handles, etc. I also see them with over 200K and 300K miles all the time though. Usually they are pretty sloppy and beat at that point, but with a little maintenance and care they go forever. With one owner and good maintenance throughout the life of the truck, you could keep one to 300K and still have a nice vehicle. Most need something fixed along the way, but overall they are well designed and reliable vehicles.

 

[hattaresguy]

Yeah they are not bad, just stupid little stuff seems to break on them. The last problem I had was with the plug and pigtail on my blower motor. My plumber and framers trucks melted them as well.

Luckily with Chevy you can always fix them cheap, even gauge clusters I think you can get rebuilt for like $50.

Guys break the tailgates because they are dopes. If you push the tailgate in before you release it under load it will never break. The mechanism is just metal rods with plastic ends its not meant for a lot of load.

 

[Lyman]

When I bought my Ranger I found the control arm bolts loose. I was doing the hubs on it at the time. I was a bit shocked. I like to put a wrench on everything once in a while. Old habit from riding motorcycles.

 

[hattaresguy]

That doesn't happen in my area, any vehicle near 10 years old most of the suspension bolts are seized on.

Suspension work doesn't involve a wrench, you just cut/snap bolts off.

Plow trucks are the worst

 

[Phishin]

Up here in Northern Indiana.......I've made an HONEST habit of looking for older trucks on the road.

It boggles my mind that 80% or better of pre-1995 trucks still on the road are Chevys.

And if you look at SUV's.......Tahoe's/Jimmy's and Suburban's FAR outweigh Durango's, Explorers, and Broncos.

My old 1990 K1500 is BEAT, but runs down the road just fine. I have no qualms loading up the family and driving 3 hours one way to Detroit or Indianapolis or Chicago. Wouldn't even bat an eye. Of course, I'd bring 4 quarts of oil with me....but we'd get there and back without notice.

 

[hattaresguy]

Nothing runs poorer longer than a GM.

Around here the ones that age the worst are the Toyota's, any 20 year old Toyota pickup on the road is a southern import, the local ones have all turned to dust.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
We have run tons of Silverados to the ground. One of the things we NEVER work on is the suspension. I just changed shocks on two that have in excess of 100k miles on them and the originals were stiff as can be, just lost their gas charge.

Steering column clunk? Had one only. Gauge cluster bad? One only. Other than that they are amazingly tight and have great resale value. People beat my door down to buy them with 150k miles and more...


We have a 2002 silverado. Suspension, steering, transmission, and what I believe to the the engine mounts have all been a problem. Other than that it runs great 0_-

 

[artificialist]

I rarely ever see excessively loose bolts unless a repair was done incorrectly.

I am used to seeing OEM bolts that have nylock nuts, or nuts with indentations that make them grip bolts and studs more strongly. Of course, who knows if they were re-used when they should have been thrown away?