2002/1500 Silveraldo Z71 4WD, Steering Shaft defect

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- jervisjl
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Oct 2, 2003 4:35 PM

My new Chevy truck developed a problem with clunking and a thumping in the steering wheel while gently turning on curves to the left or right at slow speeds, (25-35 MPH)...

Took it to the dealer, but they wanted me to wait a week for an appointment, so I took it over to get a rotation balance and alignment done just to eliminate the obvious.

Still have the problem, so I called another dealer to get the thing in and talked to one of there knowledgeable people there, he said "there is a known problem with the steering shaft seals going bad at around 20K and with warm summer temps all the grease runs out of the steering shaft".

What the heck you say? Me too! This is the truck my wife drives and for a while I didn't think anything of it, but now, knowing the shaft needed to be replaced, I am a little disappointed with myself for not finding out sooner...

Just thought you would want to know...

Big John

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- Parker
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Oct 2, 2003 7:04 PM

The exact same thing happened to my 2002 Z-71. The fix was adding grease to the shaft. It seeems to have worked. I haven't had any problems since they looked at it 8 months ago.

JP

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- Steve Cook
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Oct 2, 2003 9:44 PM

The exact same thing happened to my 2002 Z-71. The fix was adding grease to the shaft. It seeems to have worked. I haven't had any problems since they looked at it 8 months ago. JP

This is true on some models there is a safty recall.The name of the shaft is called the intermediate shaft which the shaft connecting the steering colum to the (in this case is the gear box).The manufacture didnt lube it enough so they add lube to is 9 times out of 10 it works but if you wait too long the splines in the shaft will start to rub and they shaft will lock up.Even if it does you can still steer but you will have to replace the shaft because it looses it vertical motion.It only takes a decent dealer teck about 20 mins to inspect and lube the shaft.Which if you still have warrenty it is covered.Dont really see why you need an apointment just to have it done?