Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Only 6 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
There are 6 reports of steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 2500, 6 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 54,500 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $700–$2,600 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 200,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 15; the 2006 has 6. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I have a 2006 chevrolet silverado that has presented a problem in the steering assembly of the vehicle. I noticed a moaning noise that was present while turning to the right. I brought this up to the dealer in my area and they informed me that my problem was my steering box was leaking and needed replacement. I went ahead with the suggested repair. This however did not fix my problem. I brought the truck back, they examined it and told me to replace the power steering pump as it was leaking and that should take care of it. I did as suggested but still not fixed. Mind you this was at 50,000 miles. I brought the truck back, examined it again, and this time was told that I needed to replace both tie rod ends and the idler arm to correct the problem. So I did as suggested. Still not fixed. I took it back again, they examined it, and by this time the problem is getting worse, louder noise etc. They said, well the power steering control valve needed replacement, I agreed, they said this would do it. The dealer fixed half of it. Now I have a high pitched noise under the hood and the remedy for that is to replace the steering box that I…
I have a 2006 chevrolet silverado that has presented a problem in the steering assembly of the vehicle. I noticed a moaning noise that was present while turning to the right. I brought this up to the dealer in my area and they informed me that my problem was my steering box was leaking and needed replacement. I went ahead with the suggested repair. This however did not fix my problem. I brought the truck back, they examined it and told me to replace the power steering pump as it was leaking and that should take care of it. I did as suggested but still not fixed. Mind you this was at 50,000 miles. I brought the truck back, examined it again, and this time was told that I needed to replace both tie rod ends and the idler arm to correct the problem. So I did as suggested. Still not fixed. I took it back again, they examined it, and by this time the problem is getting worse, louder noise etc. They said, well the power steering control valve needed replacement, I agreed, they said this would do it. The dealer fixed half of it. Now I have a high pitched noise under the hood and the remedy for that is to replace the steering box that I…
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet silverado 2500. The contact stated that noise emitted from the steering column. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was informed that the steering gear box and pitman needed to be replaced. The contact also stated that the front bearings and bushings were previously replaced. The failure mileage was 59,000 and the current mileage is 64,000. Updated 07/13/12 *bf updated 07/18/12
Also reported on the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Other brake problem
Other powertrain problem
Loss of braking
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Blower motor or climate control failure
Radiator or coolant leak
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 6 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does steering rack, gear or tie rod failure happen on the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 98 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed