Suspension Rattle - Front End

[Jiver11]

Hey guys! Sorry for taking so long to check back in.

Mines a 24, been doing it since driven off the lot. Been at dealer 3 times for unrelated issues and techs were never able to recreate the sound or find anything out of the ordinary.

I swapped my SLT grille for a Denali grille, same sound remained.

My hitch is a BW MPT hitch, others with alternative hitches have the same sound.

My truck is the 6.6 GAS, others with Duramax have the same sound.

I have Air Lift bags in the rear.

I’ve been chasing this sound for almost 2 years. I’m confident it’s suspension or frame related in the drivers side wheel well area, possibly under the drivers seat area. Mine will only make the sound if the left front tire is making contact with road bumps. Brakes applied or not, sound is still present. Bumps on passenger side, no sound. Trailer on, sound still present.

I’ve checked the front shocks and all is tight and good. This has been the best GM truck I’ve owned, other than this noise, the truck has been flawless. I’m tempted to swap out the front shocks and see what happens.

Yeah it seems quite a few of these trucks have this noise issue going on but struggling to identify the culprit of the sound. Now, my next plan of attack for the dealership was to have them put new front shocks on the truck and see if that fixes or quiets down the issue.

The reason I bring this up is because my dad has the exact same truck I have except he has the Duramax instead of the 6.6L gasser. He swapped his shocks out for Fox 2.0 Performance shocks when he put a leveling kit up front with aftermarket wheels/tires and he did this with about 500 miles or less on his truck. His truck is quiet as could be and obviously the brake setups are the exact same.

The ironic part about this is that a newer Chevy Silverado LTZ durmax was driving through our town the other day and my wife & I were on a walk. Truck went across our local bridge and by golly the noise I heard when he got to the bridge interchange was the exact same as our trucks. I looked at my wife and just started laughing.

I have a weird suspicion that the Rancho shocks are junk on these trucks given the mass production between multiple vehicle brands. I wasn't very pleased with them when I owned my 2018 Silverado ZZ1 so I have a feeling they haven't gotten much better since and maybe they are blown/shot from the factory? I did stumble across a thread in a different forum that a guy complained about a noise similar to ours and it was shocks that were the issue.....

 

AT4 Forum Fav 👍

American Flag Metal Trailer Hitch Cover - Grab one through Amazon!

[pinebaron]

With GMC techs, one needs to be persistent. I had a rear squeaking issue (I reported on a thread here in 2024) on my truck only days/weeks following purchase. At the third repair attempt, I had them jump up/down standing on the tailgate, while a tech used a stethoscope below; they discovered an issue with both rear spring packs. Three weeks later, both rear spring packs, U-Bolts etc. were replaced and the squeak went away.

 

[aviatorat4]

Yeah it seems quite a few of these trucks have this noise issue going on but struggling to identify the culprit of the sound. Now, my next plan of attack for the dealership was to have them put new front shocks on the truck and see if that fixes or quiets down the issue.

The reason I bring this up is because my dad has the exact same truck I have except he has the Duramax instead of the 6.6L gasser. He swapped his shocks out for Fox 2.0 Performance shocks when he put a leveling kit up front with aftermarket wheels/tires and he did this with about 500 miles or less on his truck. His truck is quiet as could be and obviously the brake setups are the exact same.

The ironic part about this is that a newer Chevy Silverado LTZ durmax was driving through our town the other day and my wife & I were on a walk. Truck went across our local bridge and by golly the noise I heard when he got to the bridge interchange was the exact same as our trucks. I looked at my wife and just started laughing.

I have a weird suspicion that the Rancho shocks are junk on these trucks given the mass production between multiple vehicle brands. I wasn't very pleased with them when I owned my 2018 Silverado ZZ1 so I have a feeling they haven't gotten much better since and maybe they are blown/shot from the factory? I did stumble across a thread in a different forum that a guy complained about a noise similar to ours and it was shocks that were the issue.....

Already done on mine with no change. I installed 5100’s and still have the noise.

 

[Jiver11]

Already done on mine with no change. I installed 5100’s and still have the noise.

Then I am shying towards brake pads rattling or something of that nature. I mean mine is so severe that people will look over at me when I am driving through town because of the noise. It's embarrassing.

 

[reb0957]

I got under my truck the other day. Along the frame where the exhaust comes down, there is vertical heat shield and 2 heat shields that meet on the floor board. I bent that vertical heat shield and it stopped for a day and the noise is back. The shield isn't loose just a bad design. Can't decide if I am pulling it off or not.

 

[Jiver11]

I got under my truck the other day. Along the frame where the exhaust comes down, there is vertical heat shield and 2 heat shields that meet on the floor board. I bent that vertical heat shield and it stopped for a day and the noise is back. The shield isn't loose just a bad design. Can't decide if I am pulling it off or not.

Good to know. I was checking for loose bolts on the heat shields and couldn’t find anything but the noise definitely sounded tinny which would make sense.

So we are narrowing this down a bit - brake dust shield or exhaust heat shields.

I think the front grille and shocks can be ruled out by this point.

 

[Jiver11]

Got confirmation from dealership today that the noise did not go away from replacing the grille….which I think we all were concluding that wasn’t the issue but so be it I’ll take free new grille.

Luckily, they were able to reproduce the noise so they have a general understanding of what it sounds like and plan to keep it until they address the issue. Hopefully I’ll have an answer for you guys in the next week or so.

In the meantime they have me in a brand new 1500 high country which is a pretty smooth ride but I’m not a fan of this 3.0 Duramax. Kinda laggy throttle and then snaps into power once you put your foot down and turbo kicks in. I’d definitely rather have the 5.3 if I was to go back to a half ton but no way I’d buy a 6.2 at the moment

 

[Jiver11]

Alright, dealership thinks it could be because of my aftermarket side steps I put on but I had these same steps on my 2018 Silverado and never experienced this noise.

They won't take them off and verify the noise is gone because I put them on so they won't touch it. They want me to come pick the truck up, take them off and determine if the noise is gone.....What a PITA.

So I am going to take my tools up there, pull the steps off at the dealership and determine if the noise is gone or not. Anyone else have issues with this noise due to their nerf bars or side steps?

 

[GMsince8080]

Highly doubtful it’s the steps considering it’s the left front area the noise is coming from not below the door in my opinion. It’s something by the tire I feel.

 

[Jiver11]

Highly doubtful it’s the steps considering it’s the left front area the noise is coming from not below the door in my opinion. It’s something by the tire I feel.

That’s my opinion as well. I’ve installed a lot of side steps and never had anything like this.

I also checked all bolts on the steps when I first heard the noise. This isn’t my first go around with vehicles and suspension noise, so I’m a bit frustrated but I’ll address it Monday and let everyone know the outcome.

 

[Jiver11]

Well ladies and gents.......I'm dumbfounded but went to dealership this morning, pulled the side steps off and noise is gone.

I didn't check before I removed the steps to see if noise was there or not but I'm honestly stumped. Going to put them back on tonight after work and see if the noise comes back. If noise is present again, I will loosen all bolts on the steps and re-tighten to see if that fixes the problem.

I've personally never had this happen with side steps and have put a ton of these types of steps on multiple brands of trucks without issue. I'm wondering if cab/frame is flexing and causing significant vibration in the steps? It's weird that others have this exact same issue but probably have different side steps than the brand I am running.

Might be worth pulling your steps and seeing if noise disappears....I honestly thought there was no way my side steps were causing the noise.

 

[reb0957]

Well ladies and gents.......I'm dumbfounded but went to dealership this morning, pulled the side steps off and noise is gone.

I didn't check before I removed the steps to see if noise was there or not but I'm honestly stumped. Going to put them back on tonight after work and see if the noise comes back. If noise is present again, I will loosen all bolts on the steps and re-tighten to see if that fixes the problem.

I've personally never had this happen with side steps and have put a ton of these types of steps on multiple brands of trucks without issue. I'm wondering if cab/frame is flexing and causing significant vibration in the steps? It's weird that others have this exact same issue but probably have different side steps than the brand I am running.

Might be worth pulling your steps and seeing if noise disappears....I honestly thought there was no way my side steps were causing the noise.

I bought some aluminum tape and taped these 2 together and put tension at the top. It was part of the noise for but not the biggest part!
Rode around with this new fix for a couple of days and it got worse!
I am out of warranty so it falls on me anyway!
Opened the hood and started shaking everything for the 23rd time in a month. The coolant tank has a bolt that screws into the fender. That bolt was about 1/2 way out. Tightened the snot out of it and it appears to be fixed. I have a 6.6 gasser so may be different than yours. I guess the bolt was constantly backing out getting worse. Was about to trade this thing in, it was that annoying!

 

[Jiver11]

I bought some aluminum tape and taped these 2 together and put tension at the top. It was part of the noise for but not the biggest part!
Rode around with this new fix for a couple of days and it got worse!
I am out of warranty so it falls on me anyway!
Opened the hood and started shaking everything for the 23rd time in a month. The coolant tank has a bolt that screws into the fender. That bolt was about 1/2 way out. Tightened the snot out of it and it appears to be fixed. I have a 6.6 gasser so may be different than yours. I guess the bolt was constantly backing out getting worse. Was about to trade this thing in, it was that annoying!

I checked my coolant tank bolt/nuts and seemed to be fairly snug. I also have a 6.6 gasser so I think our coolant tank only had (2) nuts that you could tighten down to fasten that to the fender.

Those pictures that you sent are the aluminum tape you put on I take it?

 

[24Titanium3500]

Checking coolant tank tomorrow!

 

[Jiver11]

Well....I guess there is a first for everything.....I remounted those side steps last night, positioned them slightly different than the first time I installed them and no noise currently on my way to work. I made sure to snug them down to the body pretty good with a couple extra ugga duggas with the 3/8" impact..If you the do the same thing I did make sure you understand the amount of ugga duggas needed or you will strip threads on the body and have a bigger issue on your hands

If you have similar noise issue I do and it's coming from one side or driver side I would check the following in this order:

(1) Coolant Reservoir Tank - 2 bolts holding that reservoir on and factory sometimes doesn't tighten those down very well

(2) Side Steps - unbolt the bracket that mounts to the body, reposition slightly and snug that SOB down so it limits as much vibration as possible

(3) Check suspension parts over and make sure bolts are tight and no loose ball joints or end links, etc.

I will keep everyone posted over the next few weeks on whether the noise comes back or not. If it does and I can trace it to the steps for sure then I will probably make some rubber washers to place in between the body & bracket to reduce vibrations. Hope this helps anyone with similar issue as mine.