Even though my truck only has 17,000 miles and is still under warranty, I have a looseness in the tilt mechanism that also makes a clicking noise if I push and pull on the steering wheel. I get this same noise if I am in a bumpy section of road. I am pretty sure the play is in the knuckle or where the tilt attaches to the dash.


Do you think it is possible to remove the steering shafts and have one solid steering shaft fabricated? It seems that the steering wheel would be in the right position for me.

Sounds like your intermediate shaft needs to be greased, thats much easier then reinventing the wheel

This was already done. I believe this is more of a design issue that Chevy is choosing to ignore. Over the last year, I have seen many GM products (GMC and Chevy) that have this problem including new trucks and SUVs (Silverados, Avalanches). The new ones aren't as bad as mine but then I have 17,000 miles now. Mine has gotten worse over time. It seems like the manufacturing tolerances are too loose for this knuckle. My steering wheel has the same problem even if the shaft you mention isn't installed. I should have said that you can feel the looseness when you pull up and down on the steering wheel or from side to side. It is different from the normal "flex" you feel on other cars. You can definitely feel metal to metal contact which is what makes the tick noise.


The easiest way to see if you have this problem is to stop your truck on an uphill incline. Put the truck in neutral and shut it off. Then, wiggle the steering. I am betting 50% of the trucks out there have this problem. Now, many drivers can deal with this especially if they are used to older trucks and such.


If I do want to reinvent the wheel, do you think it is possible? I am stuck with a $50k truck that I hate driving. My other option is to look at trading it in on a Ford or Dodge assuming they have a better design. I have always driven foreign cars for the last 20 years since my first 2 experiences with American cars were bad (Mustang and a Daytona). After 11 new vehicles in the last 20 years, this truck was my introduction back into buying from an American manufacturer. Now, I am thinking about a trade for the Nissan Titan (no diesel though) or waiting 2 years for Toyota's diesel truck. Again, no guarantee they won't have problems but my experience has been more positive with German and Japanese engineered cars. I might just be spoiled with German engineering when it comes to handling. If I could spend another $2k to fix this problem, I would. Other than this, I am happy with the truck. I just wish I wasn't having an issue with the one component that I am connected to 100% of the time when driving. It wouldn't bother me near as much if say my telescoping mirrors wouldn't work.


Any help is truly appreciated. I am not someone who just yells fire for every little problem. I truly have a huge amount of tolerance and try to work through issues in a diplomatic fashion. I would love to have a non-tilt wheel if it would solve this issue once and for all. I am betting a few others out there could use a replacement like this too if it would work. Although I have a pretty good engineering mind, I don't have access to the equipment to try.


Are there any schematics that would show how the steering components are put together? I haven't torn into this at all to this point other than removing some of the surface plastic around the steering wheel.Edited by: jonekelly