bggrnchvy
11-10-2006, 12:43 AM
Jay reminded me indirectly that Id never posted the trials and tribulations I had gone through getting the trannsmissions swapped that I was discussing with a few members at BlazerFest. Well anyways here it is:
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. I can't recall which they were offhand, but Ill look it up a bit later.
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.
[img]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.
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. I can't recall which they were offhand, but Ill look it up a bit later.
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.
[img]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.