'04 Yukon XL U-Joint and Steering shaft repair

[HK45CT]

I just spent $1400 in maintenance and repairs on my wife's '04 Yukon XL SLT. Mileage was just short of 50K. It was purchased new in May of '04, so were talking just over 3 1/2 years old. The steering shaft was replaced as well as the U-joints. Is this common? The service advisor said the U-joints have been a problem with the Yukon.

This is a family vehicle. The only thing that gets destroyed is the interior by my 4 and 7 year olds and their friends. I shouldn't have to spend this kind of money for repairs considering age and mileage. They told me to call GM which I did. The only thing they said they would do was reimburse the steering shaft repair since it's been addressed before. They pretty much told me to stick it on the rest. I was going to purchase an Acadia soon but I've nixed that idea.

Anyone else have this problem? Did GM do anything to remedy it? I've never had any major problem with a car before. I've owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Eagle Talon, and quite a few Japanese imports. I'd like to stick with an American owned company but it may have to be Ford.

 

[bamachevy89]

It may be a defect with the late 2004 models, I don't know. I have an '04 Tahoe LT with about 40k on it and I had the steering shaft replaced just before it went out of warranty in November. That was an expencive repair and the service advisors recommended puchasing an extended warranty on the Tahoe because of their track records (that could have just been a sales pitch, I dont know.) But anyways I bought a $2500 125k 6 year warranty that covers literally everything on the truck.

Back to the point. My Tahoe makes a thud when I hit the accelerator after a dead stop and I called the dealer and they said it sounded like we were dealing with a U-joint. So, looks like we're both having the same problems. All in all, though, my truck has been fairly maintnence free.

 

[Getwired]

bamachevy, my '04 Yukon XL Denali did exactly that and it was the right u-joint and front diff that was toast. It was fixed under warranty; I had the extended warranty as well, but it was still under the factory warranty... I didn't have issues with the steering though. That was one of the only two issues I had with that vehicle. The other was a dead passenger power seat (front) that had to be replaced.

With all the recalls, you could not PAY me to be owned by a Ford.

 

[bamachevy89]

bamachevy, my '04 Yukon XL Denali did exactly that and it was the right u-joint and front diff that was toast. It was fixed under warranty; I had the extended warranty as well, but it was still under the factory warranty

With all the recalls, you could not PAY me to be owned by a Ford.

Yeah, I've heard of quite a few of the bad U-joints, there was a thread about it that I saw the other day from a few months ago.

I won't ever go back to Fords. The last ford truck I owned was a 2000 F-150 extended cab styleside Lariat, really nice truck and looked awesome, but that thing stayed in the shop. I got rid of it when it had about 30k on it when the transmission started slipping after just having the engine partially rebuilt. Thought I better get out of that thing before the warranty was up :wow: . What amazed me was that the few miles that were on it were totally highway, not even city driving. Might have used the 4x4 once or twice. Besides the Mustang, I switched right to Chevy for good after that.

 

[turbodieselguy]

I just spent $1400 in maintenance and repairs on my wife's '04 Yukon XL SLT. Mileage was just short of 50K. It was purchased new in May of '04, so were talking just over 3 1/2 years old. The steering shaft was replaced as well as the U-joints. Is this common? The service advisor said the U-joints have been a problem with the Yukon.

This is a family vehicle. The only thing that gets destroyed is the interior by my 4 and 7 year olds and their friends. I shouldn't have to spend this kind of money for repairs considering age and mileage. They told me to call GM which I did. The only thing they said they would do was reimburse the steering shaft repair since it's been addressed before. They pretty much told me to stick it on the rest. I was going to purchase an Acadia soon but I've nixed that idea.

Anyone else have this problem? Did GM do anything to remedy it? I've never had any major problem with a car before. I've owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Eagle Talon, and quite a few Japanese imports. I'd like to stick with an American owned company but it may have to be Ford.

I got the exact same problem, when going over bumps i hear a clunk in the steering..Dealer does not want to fix even with my extended warranty...
When i took it to the chevy dealer to get my oil change they told me its the I-shaft, service department told me they would repair it but can't because it's a gmc.. So i call up gmc and they tell me they can't fix it, i heard it's a common problem..

 

[boostaholic]

Wow thats not much stuff for $1400. I'm planning on replacing all my u-joints with better dana spicer pieces but I happened across a brand new front driveshaft with u-joints from a customer's truck that didn't want his stock shaft back (we use dual cv styles for lifted applications). I know numerous people that have had trouble-free tahoes, yukons, and other chevy 1/2tons for years and years. The only real issue I know of with these trucks is the steering which seems to eat pitman/idler arms and tie rods, but other than that you won't find a better truck that is sure to provide years of service and take it like a champ.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

Yeah, I've heard of quite a few of the bad U-joints, there was a thread about it that I saw the other day from a few months ago.

I won't ever go back to Fords. The last ford truck I owned was a 2000 F-150 extended cab styleside Lariat, really nice truck and looked awesome, but that thing stayed in the shop. I got rid of it when it had about 30k on it when the transmission started slipping after just having the engine partially rebuilt. Thought I better get out of that thing before the warranty was up :wow: . What amazed me was that the few miles that were on it were totally highway, not even city driving. Might have used the 4x4 once or twice. Besides the Mustang, I switched right to Chevy for good after that.

i had a 98 f150 as a work truck, the older fords are not bad, it was always ready to go, and started well for the most part (cold cranking was not easy) anyway i quit and it had just turned 104000 still ran ok, but the electrical was crap. i owned chevy though had an 87 k5 blazer for personal truck, but after the k5 started to get old and tired (almost 300k, can you blame it?) i bought a 99 suburban 2500, great but wanted somthing new, bought an 05 expi with my experence of the f150, went to 8000k miles and the engine threw a rod, it was so bad that chunks (BIG) fell out of the engine bay and on to the road, sued ford got all my money back and bought my yukon BEEN A HAPPY CAMPER EVER SINCE, in the shop once to get the heater looked at and found it was my own stupitity so that aint really a problem 36.7 k, have until 40k to get an extended warrenty, i may very well get one just to be safe. :yesnod:

 

[bamachevy89]

i had a 98 f150 as a work truck, the older fords are not bad, it was always ready to go, and started well for the most part (cold cranking was not easy) anyway i quit and it had just turned 104000 still ran ok, but the electrical was crap. i owned chevy though had an 87 k5 blazer for personal truck, but after the k5 started to get old and tired (almost 300k, can you blame it?) i bought a 99 suburban 2500, great but wanted somthing new, bought an 05 expi with my experence of the f150, went to 8000k miles and the engine threw a rod, it was so bad that chunks (BIG) fell out of the engine bay and on to the road, sued ford got all my money back and bought my yukon BEEN A HAPPY CAMPER EVER SINCE, in the shop once to get the heater looked at and found it was my own stupitity so that aint really a problem 36.7 k, have until 40k to get an extended warrenty, i may very well get one just to be safe. :yesnod:

The way I look at the extended warranty, I have never had a GM that didn't have to have the A/C compressor replaced before 100k miles, so I figure a few hundred dollars for that and you just about walk out the door with at least a $300 bill for any repair that you have done these days, so I figure a couple good trips to the service department and it will just about pay for itself. If I don't get my moneys worth out of it, at least I will have had the peace of mind of knowing that I wouldn't have to worry about major repairs!

 

[HK45CT]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not as hot about it as I was before. It's running great now. I hope it stays that way.

I mentioned Ford b/c I've had both a Crown Vic and F-150 issued that are run hard and sometimes idle for long periods of time. Fortunately I don't have to pay for maintenance on those but I've never had to have a major repair.

If that's the end of the problems for the Y-XL I'll probably stick with GMCs. I'll just look into the extended warranty next time I buy a new one.

Thanks again for the input.