I hear a lot of talks about people's car making a pinging/popping/ or clunking sound whenever you turn your steering wheel. Well there could be a number of things that could cause this (hubs, ball joints, etc.). One of the culprit that I am particularly interested in is the Intermediate Shaft lacking lubrication. The intermediate shaft is commonly known to be responsible for these noises during a steer. But it could be easily fixed without having to replace a part. GM made this lubrication kit which you could pick up from any Chevy/GM dealership for 15 bucks I believe. I was having trouble looking for instructions to remove the intermediate shaft but I had no luck on the searches on JBO. So I went ahead and did the removal and lube work myself. So I decided to write a HOW TO to help you guys out with this kind of work. Here it goes.
The intermediate shaft( IS ) is located under your dash. Get under there and you will see the steering column which extends all the way down to the firewall. Attached to the firewall is this rubber boot. The IS is located inside this rubber boot. Just simply slide off the boot and the IS will be revealed. The IS part that you see under your dash extends( through the rubber boot) to the outside of the firewall out to the engine bay. if you look down your engine bay you could follow the rubber boot. Slide off that side of the rubber boot and you will catch the other end of the IS. Each side of the IS is held on by an 11mm bolt. So theres a 11mm bolt at the head of the IS and another 11mm bolt on the other end.
GM#26098237
Heres what it look like.
1. Remove the intermediate shaft from the vehicle.
Avoid prolonged or repeated skin or eye contact. Wear protective gloves and safety glasses during use. Do not use around food or tobacco products. Wash hands after product use. Avoid inhalation of smoke or vapors if overheated.
2. Slowly extend the intermediate shaft of max lenght.
Do not allow grease at any time in or near the pinch bolt holes (1) located on both outer clamp yokes.
3. Place the pre-measured syringe (2) into the aluminum yoke (3) opening. Direct grease as deeply into the yoke as possible.
4. Inspect for grease inside the yoke opening.
5. Place the rubber plug (2) into the aluminum yoke (3) hole to seal the inner tube.
6. Push the rubber plug (2) down with your finger until the rubber plug (2) is seated correctly.
7. Secure the rubber plug (2) by swinging the outboard yoke (1) 90 degrees down. One ear of the yoke (3) will hold the rubber plug (2) in.
If a hard surface is used to ease collapse of the IS, only apply pressure over the ears of the yoke (1) attached to the solid shaft.
8. Manually collapse the intermediate shaft to tforce the grease through the tube. When full collapse is reached, verify the distance A between tube (2) and yoke (1). The measurement should approx. match the dimension in the table below.
9. Swing the outboard yoke (1) out to release the rubber plug (2).
10. Collapse the solid shaft to push the rubber plug out of the aluminum yoke hole.
11. Remove the rubber plug (2), pushing it by one side with a screwdriver, and pulling it out by the other side with your fingers.
12. With the IS fully extended, inspect for approx. 10mm of grease (1) covering the solid shaft (2).
13. Slowly extend and collapse the slip joint fully. Repeat 15 times to distribute the grease.
14. Install the IS into the vehicle and you're done.
hm.l. oh yea. could someone put a STICKY onto this HOW To. It could be useful in the future.
hehe shaft lube
My car may run 18s, but I can do your taxes in 10 seconds flat.
JBO lube - they would never have enough in stock and we'd never see RodimusPrime again
its for cav/ fires 95 - up. I believe this would work for the 2000-up as well because it uses the same parts. If not, then the dealer should have it for those models and it also comes with instructions. I wrote up this HOW TO based on the instruction manual that came with this lube kit.
it works on the '00+ I actually had this done under warranty.
Do you have a GM part # by chance?
Jeff E. wrote:Do you have a GM part # by chance?
Good god, cant you read?
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how long does this take?? is it a quick fix or something that'll take a few hours?
im in the middle of doing this right now. the IS comes out pretty easy but getting it back in is a PITA!!! the end that connects to the steering rack just slides back on but the end thats connects to the column puts up a real fight. ive been at it for an hour and i can only get it on half way.
if anyone has any suggestions on how to get the column end on please let me know!!!!
thanks guys
http://registry.gmenthusiast.com/images/my2005cav/my%20car%20the%20bash.jpg
man i wish i seen this before i put my shaft back together bc it poped out.
I want to share something with you - the three sentences that will get you through life. Number one, 'cover for me', Number two, 'oh, good idea, boss', Number three, 'it was like that when I got here.'
