2007 Tahoe 4WD
I offer the longer narrative so that you understand the workmanship of a national company and my concerns.
A few months ago I had the U-joints and control arms replaced as well as a complete alignment while in Omaha at Brakes Plus. (I generally do stuff myself, but I was in another state on contract work.) While doing the alignment they left the key in the on position which let the headlights stay on. This drained the battery and then they hooked up the jumper pack incorrectly. This set off every sensor fault code imaginable to man and it took them an hour (after they had closed) just to get the truck running. The fault codes could not be cleared from the Snap-On OBD tool and connecting - to + was the only thing that at least allowed the truck to start. (The codes were misfire on all cylinders, all O2 sensors, MAF, ....everything!)
I left Omaha the next day to pick up my boat in Missouri and noticed a vibration in the 65-70mph range. This then increased to the 60-70mph range. I latched on to my 5k pound boat and began the 5 hour drive back to Omaha. A couple hours into the drive the vibration got bad enough that I stopped in St. Joseph, MO and stayed in a hotel. I took the truck to Tires Plus and they were kind enough to let me in the repair bay to inspect everything. (I also love shops that have an absolute gear head on staff). Turns out that Brakes Plus failed to put the retainer clips on the rear U-joint and it was vibrating the caps off. Also noticed they couldn't fit the retainer c-clips on there because they had used the wrong U-Joints. Further, they had sweated the nylon pins out rather than using the Snap-On U-joint tool that would have broken through the pins. That's not a problem....BUT...they put the driveshaft in a bench vise while doing it and bent the driveshaft in two locations.
I now have a vibration at 80mph that can be attributed to the now out-of-balance driveshaft. I also notice that I don't go into V4 mode as often on the highway. My gas mileage has also decreased from 19mpg to 14mpg highway. The inherent clunk while shifting has also gotten louder.
I then drove to Colorado and took it to another Brakes Plus. They noticed and documented (in writing) the bent driveshaft caused by their other store. They lubed the control arms which the other store had failed to do and re-aligned the tires because that was also done wrong. I then drove to Florida towing 6500 pounds (I put all my gear in the boat.)
I will obviously be pursuing the replacement of the driveshaft. What should I be concerned about as far as damage caused while driving with the bent driveshaft? (Transmission, carrier bearing, rear end, etc.) Also, what concerns should I have with the electrical issue? Whenever I slow down the headlights dim quite noticeably and the blower slows at every downshift point. I'm assuming they fried my battery and I'll have to get it load tested.
I've linked to pics of the driveshaft and the U-Joint gap due to lack of retaining clip.
I offer the longer narrative so that you understand the workmanship of a national company and my concerns.
A few months ago I had the U-joints and control arms replaced as well as a complete alignment while in Omaha at Brakes Plus. (I generally do stuff myself, but I was in another state on contract work.) While doing the alignment they left the key in the on position which let the headlights stay on. This drained the battery and then they hooked up the jumper pack incorrectly. This set off every sensor fault code imaginable to man and it took them an hour (after they had closed) just to get the truck running. The fault codes could not be cleared from the Snap-On OBD tool and connecting - to + was the only thing that at least allowed the truck to start. (The codes were misfire on all cylinders, all O2 sensors, MAF, ....everything!)
I left Omaha the next day to pick up my boat in Missouri and noticed a vibration in the 65-70mph range. This then increased to the 60-70mph range. I latched on to my 5k pound boat and began the 5 hour drive back to Omaha. A couple hours into the drive the vibration got bad enough that I stopped in St. Joseph, MO and stayed in a hotel. I took the truck to Tires Plus and they were kind enough to let me in the repair bay to inspect everything. (I also love shops that have an absolute gear head on staff). Turns out that Brakes Plus failed to put the retainer clips on the rear U-joint and it was vibrating the caps off. Also noticed they couldn't fit the retainer c-clips on there because they had used the wrong U-Joints. Further, they had sweated the nylon pins out rather than using the Snap-On U-joint tool that would have broken through the pins. That's not a problem....BUT...they put the driveshaft in a bench vise while doing it and bent the driveshaft in two locations.
I now have a vibration at 80mph that can be attributed to the now out-of-balance driveshaft. I also notice that I don't go into V4 mode as often on the highway. My gas mileage has also decreased from 19mpg to 14mpg highway. The inherent clunk while shifting has also gotten louder.
I then drove to Colorado and took it to another Brakes Plus. They noticed and documented (in writing) the bent driveshaft caused by their other store. They lubed the control arms which the other store had failed to do and re-aligned the tires because that was also done wrong. I then drove to Florida towing 6500 pounds (I put all my gear in the boat.)
I will obviously be pursuing the replacement of the driveshaft. What should I be concerned about as far as damage caused while driving with the bent driveshaft? (Transmission, carrier bearing, rear end, etc.) Also, what concerns should I have with the electrical issue? Whenever I slow down the headlights dim quite noticeably and the blower slows at every downshift point. I'm assuming they fried my battery and I'll have to get it load tested.
I've linked to pics of the driveshaft and the U-Joint gap due to lack of retaining clip.
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