smier
1/2 ton status
A couple of weeks ago I bought a used '06 Chevy Silverado with roughly 56k miles, and after driving it everyday back and forth to work I love it!
HOWEVER.... I started to notice this annoying rattle/clunk that I could feel and hear thru the steering wheel/column sometimes. It was just annoying enough to drive you crazy, and the more I drove the truck, the more I could pick it out. So I started searching the web, and quickly discovered that this is an ongoing problem that almost every one of these trucks develop eventually. Apparently it's a lubrication issue on the intermediate shaft in the steering column, and you can either grease the splines on the shaft, or buy a replacement Intermediate shaft for $50 to $200. Some say the new shafts aren't any better, so I was hesitant to spend much money just yet. I found some write ups on other sites explaining how to disassemble the shaft and reapply grease, but being a lazy SOB, I decided I liked the idea of simply drilling and tapping the intermediate shaft, then installing a grease fitting so I could simply fill the whole thing with grease with my grease gun. It worked like a charm, no more rattle/clunk noise or feel!!! Cost me less than $1 for the grease fitting, took me less than 5 minutes to drill, tap, and install it.
You can see where I installed it, in the upper shaft, just above the 15mm bolt that holds the two shafts together. There is a flat spot on the shaft where I drilled and tapped it. It took 2 separate applications of grease with the grease gun to reach the splines, then I pulled the bolt and actually slid the intermediate shaft in and out of the cowl a few times to make sure it was lubed up really good. Guys on the other sites say when the rattle/ clunk returns, just grease it up again and drive it. I'm not worried about the grease fitting or grease interfering with the columns ability to collapse in a collision, because the ends of the shaft are open, so of anything it will just shoot the grease out of the shaft and collapse like normal. Hope this helps someone else!
HOWEVER.... I started to notice this annoying rattle/clunk that I could feel and hear thru the steering wheel/column sometimes. It was just annoying enough to drive you crazy, and the more I drove the truck, the more I could pick it out. So I started searching the web, and quickly discovered that this is an ongoing problem that almost every one of these trucks develop eventually. Apparently it's a lubrication issue on the intermediate shaft in the steering column, and you can either grease the splines on the shaft, or buy a replacement Intermediate shaft for $50 to $200. Some say the new shafts aren't any better, so I was hesitant to spend much money just yet. I found some write ups on other sites explaining how to disassemble the shaft and reapply grease, but being a lazy SOB, I decided I liked the idea of simply drilling and tapping the intermediate shaft, then installing a grease fitting so I could simply fill the whole thing with grease with my grease gun. It worked like a charm, no more rattle/clunk noise or feel!!! Cost me less than $1 for the grease fitting, took me less than 5 minutes to drill, tap, and install it.
You can see where I installed it, in the upper shaft, just above the 15mm bolt that holds the two shafts together. There is a flat spot on the shaft where I drilled and tapped it. It took 2 separate applications of grease with the grease gun to reach the splines, then I pulled the bolt and actually slid the intermediate shaft in and out of the cowl a few times to make sure it was lubed up really good. Guys on the other sites say when the rattle/ clunk returns, just grease it up again and drive it. I'm not worried about the grease fitting or grease interfering with the columns ability to collapse in a collision, because the ends of the shaft are open, so of anything it will just shoot the grease out of the shaft and collapse like normal. Hope this helps someone else!
