2016 Silverado Duramax 3500 Steering Issues

[DieselSlug]

So a few months ago I had to take my Boss's truck to the local Chevy dealer for service. On the way over I noticed that there was a substantial amount of play in the steering wheel (reminded me of my old 94' Silverado Plow Truck it was that bad). Id say there is a solid inch of play and when the road is uneven or not flat (lets face it none are) the truck wanders horribly. I asked them to look into it as they performed the service. Long story short the Dealer said nothing was wrong.

Fast forward to yesterday as my boss now realizes just how much play is in it, and since I told him about it (he of course didn't notice at first) he really wants it fixed. The truck was due for another service yesterday so it went in to the same Dealer and again we asked them to look into the steering slop. We had one of the shop guys pick it up and long story short they "say" they performed an alignment and all was in spec. Well obviously!! We were also told that this amount of play is "normal" due to the fact that this year truck has a hybrid hydraulic/electronic assisted steering setup.

Can anyone vouch for this? I asked my boss to take it for a separate Dealer opinion. We HATE our local Dealer and have had many problems with them in the past, however they are local. My company has also bought countless vehicles from this Dealer (several hundred thousand dollars worth) and you would think we would be treated well. This is a fully loaded LTZ Silverado and my boss paid stupid money for it. The truck IMO is unsafe and not fun to chase between the lines.

 

[BoostN]

My father has a 16 2500HD D/A LTZ.. I can't say I've noticed a ton of play in his steering, but I can't say I was looking for it either... but if it doesn't feel normal, it's probably not.

 

[DieselSlug]

That's the way I feel.

 

[btfarm]

Idler arms and pitman arms wear pretty soon on them. How many miles?

 

[DieselSlug]

Idler arms and pitman arms wear pretty soon on them. How many miles?

35k miles last I checked. But if it was one of those I would think the Dealer caught it in the alignment process right?

 

[Will L.]

Not necessarily. The wheels can be in alignment with each other, but a Bad pitman or idler allow freeplay still.

Take it to another shop that does estimates, keep records so reimbursement if available under warranty

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

It does use a new version of variable power assist steering. That said, it varys the power assist, not wether there is play in it or not. 16 was the 1st year for it, and you would not be the 1st ones to have a bad steering box. I remember when it 1st came out several had steering box failures right from the get go. If it was just an issue with power assist or steering feedback I would say it's the steering doing it's thing, but play shouldn't be there.

 

[WarWagon]

Put a tarp then a blanket down for your wet weather and have buddy rock steering wheel through the slop while watching steering components. Slop of things not moving when other stuff is moving should be obvious.