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The "Chevy Shake" at 65MPH

BucksOSU

BucksOSU

Full Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
17
I was driving on the highway the other day and noticed a pretty significant shake between 65 and 75 MPH. I could get it to go away over 75 MPH. I did a little research and many people were sharing their horror stories on the "Chevy Shake" and the thousands of dollars they had spent chasing it down and finding no real solution. I'm happy to report for my situation that I drove it again and put it in neutral at 75MPH and the shake did NOT go away. This means it had nothing to do with the drive shaft. I took it to the place that installed my tires and they re-balanced them for free. The shake... is gone. Score one for the good guys! (Always do the simplest things first)
 
Never heard of the CHEVY SHAKE
Never heard CHEVY SHAKE on any AVY.

Heard of the jeep death wobble due to front suspension design though
 

I know this isnt the first time something like this has come up. I remember someone having a similar issue 10 years ago at the very least. from a few glances at google, it does seem to have been a issue people have brought up. That said, i've never experienced it on any of our gm vehicles over the years.


That said, in the day and age of sticky wheel weights. It's always good to check balance first. They are prone to flying off if the wheel isn't cleaned well before adhering them.

I actually noticed a small vibration with my avvy just before taking it in this last time. Small enough that i had gotten used to it and brought it up while it was in the shop. Just a wheel weight.

The more terrifying thing that i've experience was with my sho, It had your typical low profile wide wheels on it and I drove it in the winter. There was one day where it was totally buried in snow. I dug it out and drove to work. On the way home it had an awful vibration. Turns out the brakes melted the snow and the ice pooled to the bottom and threw it off balance. The wheels on that were far too enclosed to see that for myself. I had actually taken the time to clean out between the spokes. clearly I missed a ton.
 
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I've had it on and off since I bought mine. It would get so bad the entire truck shook. Rear u-joints replaced twice, yoke repaired and I still get it at times. I do need to get my tires rebalanced as it's been a while since I've had it done.
 
Those articles were about vehicles after 2013 - the last year for AVY...

"The problem has been known occur in K2XX-platform Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon/Yukon XL and GMC Sierra vehicles"
2014 and beyond...

So does that apply. I think not.

I mean a vibration is different to me then a shake.
Shake is violent and where you loose control of steering.

Vibration makes your stuff rattle..

Now if tires way out of balance they can start to "bounce" on road and this tends to kill shocks and flat spot tires.
 
ygmn said:
Those articles were about vehicles after 2013 - the last year for AVY...

"The problem has been known occur in K2XX-platform Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon/Yukon XL and GMC Sierra vehicles"
2014 and beyond...

So does that apply. I think not.

I mean a vibration is different to me then a shake.
Shake is violent and where you loose control of steering.

Vibration makes your stuff rattle..

Now if tires way out of balance they can start to "bounce" on road and this tends to kill shocks and flat spot tires.
Click to expand...
My point was that it does exist and does crop up from time to time. It's not a gm specific issue, it's a supplier issue and this nickname is the result of that lawsuit more than anything else. It's not a critical design problem like FCA had with the hellcat driveshafts twisting and they wound up revising it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the term originated from the typical places. AKA dodge and ford guys poking fun.

said nicknames don't have to always make sense. They're calling it a shake because.. well.. it sounds catchy and people tend to be pretty ignorant when it comes to cars and terminology.

That lawsuit was dismissed after being settled privately, so its a bit of a mute point as being a wide enough issue to cause a recall as far as I know.


I don't think i've ever seen a wheel hopping as a result of wheel balance, that would be undriveable. Though, unbalance in combination with bad suspension and steering components, I guess that could happen and there are people dumb enough to let it get that bad. There are those idiots that have driven for miles with death wobble.. so they're out there..

I have had awful wheel hop in my dad's old montana. The rear torsion suspension in that thing.. my god.. when the shocks go bad and you hit a set of cracks on the highway.. it hops around so much, you may as well have a set of caster wheels back there. I refused to drive that thing after that.
 
My point was:
CHEVY SHAKE does not apply to the AVY Model; which is what this forum is about...

The OP research about the CHEVY SHAKE was about different GM vehicles and later model years
which would having nothing to do with what the avy he has issues with.

So if others in future search I hope they do not look up this CHEVY SHAKE as it does not apply to the AVY.


Tire bounce:
come around here on country roads... I will show you out of balance bouncing tires...
probably once a year... and I laugh every time as the driver is bouncing too like going down a washboard road.
Trailers... wowza... peeps just either do not car or do not notice or their Wallet is empty.
 
Never heard the term "Chevy Shake" either.. Now "Death Wobble" is a more common term used to describe the front end shaking violently but that can happen to any make vehicle, car or truck that has worn front end steering components. Out of balance tires would be more of a vibration, although I've seen some pretty out of balance tires on the road jumping on and off the ground pretty violently..
 
I had a ujoint go bad, of course I was out of town. I'll say it was a death wobble. The whole truck was shaking but only at certain speeds.
 
I keep thinking I should R&R my u-joints since they are original 270,000 plus miles. Kinda surprised they've lasted this long...
 
I probably should be doing the same at least for the rearward shaft while I'm doing the axle.
 
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