Some in general4x4 had said this was something they wanted a write-up on when I was done, but its all chevy parts so it belongs in here.

I lost 3rd and 4th in my 4l60e on highway 101 about 90 minutes by freeway from home. Being limited to about 40mph in 2nd and not wanted to turn more than 3500rpms I took the backroads to the tune of about 3 hours.

I looked at options to fix the 60e which had most likely lost the 3-4 band. All of my searches resulted in costs of anywhere from $1200-2000 for a built to stock or built tough 60e. Now thats a lot of money when I see alot of other guys with built 60e's still having problems in fullsizes. Add to that my rig is heavy and just seems to get heavier spending $1500 and still wondering if its strong enough didn't sound like a good idea.

I had been a nay sayer about the 80e for a while as I didn't like the higher 2.48 1st as opposed to the deeper 3.06 1st of the 60e. I also thought the .75 OD in the 80e might be a bit much, but it turns out I could use a little more RPM's on highway to help keep the tires turning to go up grades and in headwinds.

I looked into the 80e swap and it seemed simple enough so I hunted around for used 80e to pop into my truck. I had a lot of options but alot were from the 1st run in 91-93 and the 80e has recieved a lot of upgrades since so newer was better within cost reason of course. I finally stumbled on a unit on Craigslist for $400 with a +3 qt pan and 241 attached. Snatched it up the same evening.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e1.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e2.jpg

One step I needed to do was drop the t-case and swap in a 32 spline input from another t-case I had. the input in the t-case attached to the 80e when I got it is also 32 spline and from a 241 but I have been told(but not confirmed) that old p-drop 241's have a different pitch to the teeth and will whine and eventually destroy if mismatched with later model gears. I luckily had recieved a p-drop 241 with a 32 spline input fomr a K20 Burb a couple months back so I tore the one in the truck and the K20 unit down to get the inputs out and swap them.

Case from the truck.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/241internals.jpg
Burb case.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswappics1001.jpg
32 spline vs. 27 spline input
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswappics1003.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswappics1004.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswappics1002.jpg

With the t-case done I had to get the 60e out, home made tranny attachment and some tippage later it was out(oops).
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswappics3002.jpg

Had to do some wire splicing in the main harness, just cut 2 wires and croos them basically. 4L60e connector pins U and S are the two. Colors should be brown and white.http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswap6.jpg

Tossed the 80e into the truck and bolted the bellhousing up. Then massaged the floor boards a bit so I could tuck the t-case up just a little further.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswap6001.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswap7003.jpg

With those in it was time to build the belly pan to hold the transmission and to bolt the flat skid to. I mated some 2x4 .120 tube to some 3" long 1.75" .120 tubing for the frame side poly mounts which will bolt into some 3/8" link tabes welded into the frame rails from ruffstuffspecialties.com. They do great work over there and the customer service I recieved was some of the best in my dealings.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80eswap7001.jpg

I cranked the welder up and beveled the edges of the 3/8" and welded both sides. It worked pretty well but I was very close to the upper limit of what Id try to do with my 175 with single passes.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e8002.jpg
Then I bolted the new crossmember assembly in and tacked it together, removed it again and full welded it. At which poin tI started putting in the crosspeices to limit the open spans so I could use some thinner plate.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e9002.jpg
I also put the new trans mount in and I did use a stock rubber unit as I don't want to crack the bellhousing and i don't trust the 1.5" bushings to flex as much as the worn motor mounts do.

At this point I put in the new cooler for the tranny, I went with the biggest I could find in this 40k rated unit with a thermal bypass. The thermal bypass is nice as it lets the transmission get to operating temp before it will flow through and keep it cool. The stock trans cooler became the PS cooler for the new hydro assist I also added.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e903.jpg
I added an inline filter as well as the stock unit is more of a screen than a filter. It has a temp probe that I can hookup later in the mount as well.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e1203.jpg

I finished the crossbeams in the pan about this time.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/4l802101.jpg
I finally recieved the inspection cover and dipstick tube as well. these are 80e specific as I found and finding them used was a chore. I found them at the Performance Automotive and Transmission Center, transmissioncenter.net.

I finally cut some of the plate I found at the scrap yard up, the skid is made of .200.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/Bellypan.jpg

The last part of the swap was getting the stock computer tuned as I needed the 80e .bin files. I oredered a tune from Westers tuning as they were the only company I could find that said it would be no problem.

After alot of other non-transmission related issues the truck is now driving well. All the gauges work as they should and the transmission shifts normally. the higher 1st is a little different as you have to keep your foot in it, but the close ratio's keep you in the power band so its a much smoother cycle as a whole. Im pretty happy with is all so far.

very nice. im going to be swapping a 4L80e into my k5. haveu driven it yet?

nice nice nice
i'm leaning toward the 80 myself to hold up to a turbo diesel.

what, if anything do you have done to your motor, and what size tires are you running?

I have driven it, today is actually the fisrt day its made it more than 5 miles without spitting out some accesory(first the alt, then the hydro ram leaked, then the ac comp locked up and nuked the clutch bearing and warped the clutch pulley).

Motor is stock and shall remain stock until I get the urge to take it down for a bit and swap in an LQ4, the trans will also get some work at that time as well though it probably won't need it. Tires are just little 38's.

With 4.88's and 38's Im spinning at 2100rpm's at 65, its actually pretty nice.

very nice. any full shots of your rig? sounds sweet. i cant wait to swap mine in. im gona be going over to diesel at the same time. im tired of the stupid 700r4

BigGrnChevy, so your 60E didn't even last behind a stock SBC 350? What's your reason for making such a huge crossmember... thing?

SouthernK5, What diesel are you putting in front of the 80E? i'm assuming your probably running a 350 too, yes? is it messing with your 700R4?

The 60e fails pretty regularly with more rotating mass under a heavy truck, but yes it died behind a stock Vortec 5.7L. Its a poor choice of a transmission for a fullsize truck simply in the ratio's. GM finally got rid of it in the 07 trucks, they have gone to the new family of 6Lxxe trannies.

I built the crossmember to hold the skid plate so I could have a flat belly. You know, to slide over rocks, ledges and mall curbs:flipoff2: What did you think it was for?

Here is a pic back in January, hydro tube bender is almost done so she's getting a facelift really soon.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/CIMG1545.jpg

The 60e fails pretty regularly with more rotating mass under a heavy truck, but yes it died behind a stock Vortec 5.7L. Its a poor choice of a transmission for a fullsize truck simply in the ratio's. GM finally got rid of it in the 07 trucks, they have gone to the new family of 6Lxxe trannies.

Actually the new 07 trucks still have the 60 and a variant of the 60 the 4l70E! There not dead yet!

The only thing you can get a 6l80E is the caddy and denail trucks. I hope later they will make the 6l80E a option for 6.0L trucks. But not yet.

Oops, I though they were coming out with the 900 series. Guess we have to wait until 08 for the 4l60e/65e/70e's to die.

I built the crossmember to hold the skid plate so I could have a flat belly. You know, to slide over rocks, ledges and mall curbs:flipoff2: What did you think it was for?



:laughing: don't get me wrong.. i'm VERY familiar with the theory of overkill being jussst about right :)

just wondered if there was a reason i wasn't imagining. i like how it incorporates the crossmember for the tranny. what are the dimensions of the pan you fabbed up? it looks really big in some pics, and really short in others.

BigGrnChevy, so your 60E didn't even last behind a stock SBC 350? What's your reason for making such a huge crossmember... thing?

SouthernK5, What diesel are you putting in front of the 80E? i'm assuming your probably running a 350 too, yes? is it messing with your 700R4?

yea im currently running a 350tbi/700r4 in addition to 39.5's in my k5. i wasnt really having problems with it until this summer when i took a 300mile trip down to the beach. on the way back it started pissing fluid all over the place on the highway. fortunately it was falling and hitting the y-pipe with was causing blue smoke so i was able to see that there was a problem. thank god i had some lucas stop leak and some extra fluid that i was able to limp it the rest of the way home (had 240 miles left to go:eek: ) it made it, but damn it was scary, it would slip pretty bad and shift rough, i drove in fear the whole ride home. i think what my 700r4's main problem was that i never put a tranny cooler in it:shaking: (i was planning to but never got around to it, IDIOT). originally i weighed my options. 1) rebuild current 700r4 2) buy a built heavy duty 700r4 3) go 4L80E. after pricing things out, i decided i wanted to go with a 4L80E. at the same time im planning a 6.2 swap, so i got the stand alone computer and wiring harness. once i get the 6.2 itself ill begin my swap.

:laughing: don't get me wrong.. i'm VERY familiar with the theory of overkill being jussst about right :)

just wondered if there was a reason i wasn't imagining. i like how it incorporates the crossmember for the tranny. what are the dimensions of the pan you fabbed up? it looks really big in some pics, and really short in others.

Your right, it some pics it looks really long. Its only about 3 feet long and 4 feet wide.

i was only asking cuz i'm trying to see where the driveshaft clears the sturcture you made. can you take a pic for me? i like it more and more

1410 2 peice rear shaft makes it possible. I was previously using the stock crossmember that sits in about the same place for the 2wd version trucks with the stock 2 peice shafts.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e905.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/bggrnchevy/80e906.jpg

it makes all the sense in the world now that i see it with a 2-piece drive shaft!

you wanna make one for me?!?!? :)

I know this thread is old and i hate to bring it back to life but i am in the process of doing this swap and need a little help for the wiring. I am just wondering did you add the second vss sensor, what pins did you add the two wires to on the PCM. In here it only shows that you crossed the brown and white wires. Is that all you did + had the PCM reflashed and it works fine?

i'm about to do this myself and have the same questions

I know this thread is old and i hate to bring it back to life but i am in the process of doing this swap and need a little help for the wiring. I am just wondering did you add the second vss sensor, what pins did you add the two wires to on the PCM. In here it only shows that you crossed the brown and white wires. Is that all you did + had the PCM reflashed and it works fine?Read this!
http://www.performancetrucks.net/forums/showthread.php?t=413157

Good thread revival, I was just about to search. Getting a 4L80E soon. I'm done w/the 700r4's after breaking two input shafts and a torque converter. :(


EDIT: looks like some intelligent harness-bashing is needed to work this on an '89. :D Fun.