[V8] Mad as hell, and need to do something about it! GMC NAC!

[toml99 at todomundo.com]

Hey Roger, not sure how much has changed since 97, but my 04 Chevy  
2500HD truck w/72K easy, totally stock miles,needs the whole front  
suspension now.  Mine doesn't make any noise, but get the wife to  
move the wheel side to side with it running, while you look at your  
Pitman arm/Idler arm/tie rods, and verify they aren't all over the  
place.  If you bring it back to mechanic, have him shake the wheels  
while it's up, as one of mine had 1" of play in it.   Even with all  
this, it drives great, and would never have noticed till I went to  
have the tires rotated.

The shock replacement doesn't require any disassembly other than the  
bolt/nut.  I did all 4 in an hour.  Look at the fronts, and verify  
that both rubber donuts are there, and squished out to about the  
diameter of the washer.  If your shocks aren't yellow with blue  
lettering that says Bilstien, that could be the problem also(love  
mine).   Maybe you are in the possesion of a couple of Snap-on  
wrenches that got left in there?
There's also the infamous Chevy/GMC Intermediate steering shaft  
issue.  It's a part that goes from the u-joint near your feet-thru  
the firewall.  It's designed to collapse in a collision, and is made  
up from a long splined tube.  The rattle comes when the grease in  
there gets worked away from the splines.  On my truck, every 10-15K  
it starts to rattle and shake at the wheel, and feels like you are  
losing a tire, and the rattle can be annoying.  Really annoying on a  
gravel road.  They are on their 3rd generation of "new and improved"  
for $200, but the new one's do the same thing eventually.  The new  
service bulletin now actually says..."remove shaft, then stroke shaft  
up/down 7-10 times to redistribute the lubricant".  I just remove the  
pinch bolt at your feet, pull the u-joint off, and "stroke it in  
place".  Got it down to about 5 mintues.  Not sure if your truck has  
one of these, but my front suspension is the same as for the gas  
trucks.  I've forgotten to tighten my skid plate(I need to remove it  
to drain the oil), and it let me know right away something was  
loose.  Let us know what you find....Tom