It's official. I'm on steering shaft number FIVE!!!!!

[2tough2park]

Yep. You read that right. THREE MONTHS after installation of steering shaft FOUR, steering shaft FIVE went in. For those that care, '06 Silverado K3500 with 30,000 miles, purchased new. So not only am I not happy with GM, I have a couple chips on my shoulder with Radley Cheverolet, but that's another thread.
Other than a new egr valve I had to pay for, the truck is still ok. It's been good overall, except for the ongoing steering shaft problem. But it's been such a nag, I'm fed up. Such a small issue, but it's been such a big problem. Not only do I lose the truck for a few days getting yet another shaft put on, but driving it with a worn shaft is an experience. So why can't GM just fix it? What's so hard about that?

[DmaxMaverick]

Find another dealer. I've seen many steering shaft complaints and repairs (and attempted repairs, like yours), and it seems more dealer-specific with successful repairs than the failure itself. And, it should be more like a couple hours of vehicle loss at most, certainly not a couple days.

Add to that, your EGR valve should have been replaced under the emission system warranty (8yr/80K?). Go to another dealer.

[2tough2park]

The egr valve was replace by them because I took the truck in for a check engine light that came from an egr code. They cleaned the egr system and cleared the code. On the way home from the dealer, the light came back on so I turned around and took it back. They looked at it and said the egr valve was bad and would replace it free since it was related to the $150 egr bill I already paid. I wouldn't have paid for it anyhow since was assured the check engine light trouble was fixed and it wasn't.
As for the shaft, it is a couple hour job, but I'm not taking the day off work to wait on them so I just drop it off and pick it up when I can. I think the fastest they've ever done it(from drop off to call me) was one day, but I'm a single guy so I can't just send a wife/girlfriend/family member/friend/dog/etc to go get it.
The "get another dealer" deal crossed my mind at the egr incident(due to wanting to sleep in the waiting area after coming off a 24 hour straight shift).

[tufcj]

Fix it for good with one of these:

http://www.borgeson.com/xcart/home.php?cat=34

I've had one on my truck since the first one started clunking.

Bob
tufcj

[Quack_Addict]

My truck (2006 2500HD D/A) is on shaft #4 at 51k miles. Shaft #4 has been deteriorating since about 40k miles on the clock. Interestingly, at about 48k miles, I installed a new set of shocks (Bilstein) and the steering shaft rattle was decreased to the point that I'm not in a hurry to install a new shaft/bearing at this point, and I do have a new shaft/bearing for the truck sitting in my garage.

The old stock shocks weren't bad, but I have a suspicion that the shock tuning may be such that they cause the steering shaft rattle to "light up" via some kind of system harmonic. I understand the architecture of the GMT800 front ends pretty well... and changing shocks out doesn't make a whole lot of sense for decreasing steering shaft rattle... but the fact is the new shocks pretty much turned off the rattle. The steering shaft rattle is still there on occasion, but it's decreased at least 75% in frequency and severity.