CURE FOR A CLUNKER

Borgeson Has the Fix for Noisy Steering

If you are towing your rig with a ’99-’06 General Motors truck, or a Chevy or GMC vehicle, there’s a good chance you have experienced a strange clunking noise when making slow turns. The clunking noise seems to originate from within the steering column, and some owners can actually feel a small vibration in conjunction with the clunking. If you have encountered this problem, it’s not your imagination, as there appears to be a unique conundrum associated with Chevy and GMC pickups, and their corresponding SUVs.

We first removed the bolt attaching the steering shaft to the steering box using a ratchet with a long extension.

he two-piece steering shaft is bolted together just in front of the firewall

We removed the connecting bolt, enabling removal of the lower half of the steering shaft.

The clunking you hear does originate from within the steering shaft—the upper part of the two-piece shaft is splined, and after thousands of miles, the grease inside the shaft contracts, allowing loose play between the metal splines. This is what creates the noise and feeling from within. While this particular glitch does not create any known safety problems, it certainly can be an annoyance. There is a quick fix performed by a dealer, which involves shooting additional grease inside the shaft. The dealer can also remove the shaft and actually pump the inner shaft to spread the grease inside. This action works to eliminate the problem, but only for a period of time. When the clunking reappears—after another few thousand miles—the same steps must be taken again.

You can see how the upper steering shaft slides inside the lower steering shaft.

The lower end of the steering shaft slid off the upper shaft and away from the steering box.

There are four nuts holding the steering shaft support to the firewall. We removed the nuts to remove the support.

The folks at Borgeson Universal recognized this unique problem, and went to work to create a permanent fix. Borgeson has built an upper replacement shaft specifically for these vehicles. The installation takes less than an hour and the cost is minimal compared to the aggravation associated with listening to the clunking and dealing with the service department of your local dealership.

The support cover slid off the upper steering shaft, allowing it to drop downward.

The upper steering shaft connected to the end of the steering column with a bolt inside the Yukon under the dash.

Getting access to the connecting bolt under the dash proved to be a tight squeeze. Steve Arnett disconnected the bolt.

A friend of ours recently purchased a GMC Yukon with just a little over 40,000 miles on the odometer, and while he was happy with his purchase, he noticed the clunking noise when making turns at slow speeds, in instances such as entering a driveway or backing his boat trailer. At first he thought he was imagining things, but then he could actually feel the clunking through the steering wheel rim. To verify his apprehension, we slid behind the steering wheel to experience the problem for ourselves. We learned of the dealership fix through a friend who worked at a dealership, but we didn’t think this was much of a solution, as the new owner did not feel comfortable having to return every few thousand miles to service the steering column. About this same time, Borgeson Universal sent us a press release covering this problem, as the company figured that a lot of boat owners would be towing their boats with one of these vehicles. Borgeson’s press release covered the new replacement shaft (PN 937), so, with timing on our side, we couldn’t wait to tell our friend about this remedy, and he decided to put it to the test.

The new Borgeson Universal replacement shaft (top) is slightly smaller in appearance to the factory shaft (bottom) but is built strong.

Ted Thomas slid the new upper shaft through the firewall while Arnett worked inside to align the shaft into position and reinstall the connecting bolt.

We ordered the kit and then disconnected the two-piece steering shaft from the steering box. Next, we removed the lower shaft from the upper shaft by removing the connecting bolt just outside the firewall. The shaft cover was then removed from the firewall. The upper shaft ran through the firewall and connected to the lower end of the steering column under the dash. Removing the shaft from the column required removal of a large bolt located on the end of the steering column. The new shaft was a direct replacement, so we simply reversed the steps to make the installation. One thing to remember is to make sure the steering wheel is realigned before tightening all the bolts.

The steering shaft support was placed over the shaft and bolted back in place.

The upper steering shaft slid inside the lower steering shaft. We aligned the bolt hole so the connecting bolt could be installed.

Once we finished our installation, we took a quick test drive. The clunking noise disappeared, and the steering was smooth and free of the vibration experienced previously. The installation took about 45 minutes with the proper tools. Borgeson has done a good job with this quick fix, and it sure beats having a dealer perform regular service on your vehicle when you could be using that time to trailer your boat to the water, without the annoying clunking noise that drove you nuts to begin with.