This is how I picture you stuck under that truck pulling your poop into a group:
Suck it up hand.
Suck it up hand.
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Texas82GP's GMT900
- Thread starter Texas82GP
- Start date
Did the 4L80E swap on my TBSS when the 70E lost first and second gear at 105000 miles. LC32 makes a great kit for those trucks.
https://tbssowners.com/forums/4l80e-4l85e/95539-07-2wd-4l80e-swap.html
If you haven't made a choice on the converter, may I suggest the 278mm 3000-3200 Stall from Circle D. I've had that converter in my TBSS for 125000 miles without issue (daily driver). It changed the whole attitude of the truck. I have the stock 400hp LS2 with no mods. Just the Circle D converter and the 80E with a shift kit. It's like a whole different truck. I grin like a little boy every day I drive it.
Hutch
https://tbssowners.com/forums/4l80e-4l85e/95539-07-2wd-4l80e-swap.html
If you haven't made a choice on the converter, may I suggest the 278mm 3000-3200 Stall from Circle D. I've had that converter in my TBSS for 125000 miles without issue (daily driver). It changed the whole attitude of the truck. I have the stock 400hp LS2 with no mods. Just the Circle D converter and the 80E with a shift kit. It's like a whole different truck. I grin like a little boy every day I drive it.
Hutch
Small update. I got a call from Circle D this morning that my converter was ready. I went over at lunch and picked it up. I went with a 258mm billet unit with a single disk lockup and 3600-3700 stall....
http://circledspecialties.com/4l80e-pro-series-258mm
I went with the 6 bolt 4L80 style to match the new flex plate. I know this was overkill, but I like overkill....
That's some good looking made in USA parts right there friends. They were really generous with the swag too. 2 koozies, a pen, a sticker, a t-shirt. I would have taken a discount and forgone the swag but I'll take it...
Very good customer service and I love that they are a local business. They gave me a $200 credit for the torque converter from the 4L65E, which was one of theirs. If anyone is wondering, these guys are the real deal. I've been there, a few times now. The last time they were kind enough to give me a tour. Very nice equipment in there. Car guys too. There was a mid-60's LS swapped Tempest and a C7 Vette in the parking lot, among others. I don't know why I didn't take pictures. I guess I was rushing back to the office.
Small parts have been coming in. I have plans to get with my buddy on Sunday to modify the crossmember. He is a better welder than me and has a bigger welder than my 110 volt Hobart.
Anyway, that's the news for now gents. I should have another update Monday. Until then, thanks for following along and thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.
Best,
--Jared
http://circledspecialties.com/4l80e-pro-series-258mm
I went with the 6 bolt 4L80 style to match the new flex plate. I know this was overkill, but I like overkill....
That's some good looking made in USA parts right there friends. They were really generous with the swag too. 2 koozies, a pen, a sticker, a t-shirt. I would have taken a discount and forgone the swag but I'll take it...
Very good customer service and I love that they are a local business. They gave me a $200 credit for the torque converter from the 4L65E, which was one of theirs. If anyone is wondering, these guys are the real deal. I've been there, a few times now. The last time they were kind enough to give me a tour. Very nice equipment in there. Car guys too. There was a mid-60's LS swapped Tempest and a C7 Vette in the parking lot, among others. I don't know why I didn't take pictures. I guess I was rushing back to the office.
Small parts have been coming in. I have plans to get with my buddy on Sunday to modify the crossmember. He is a better welder than me and has a bigger welder than my 110 volt Hobart.
Anyway, that's the news for now gents. I should have another update Monday. Until then, thanks for following along and thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.
Best,
--Jared
Thanks for the kind words Jeff. Glad to have you along.
It actually happened out next to the truck thankfully and I was able to mostly get out of the way. Yes, I did fell somewhat like that. The look on my face mostly looked like the agent though.
Thanks Hutch. That's a great looking truck you have there. I went with a much higher stall speed to match my cam. As I'm sure you saw, it was Circle D. They are local to me and this is my third converter from them. They are great! I'm excited to get this thing back together. I'm glad I went with the 4L85E instead of just fixing the 65E again.Did the 4L80E swap on my TBSS when the 70E lost first and second gear at 105000 miles. LC32 makes a great kit for those trucks.
https://tbssowners.com/forums/4l80e-4l85e/95539-07-2wd-4l80e-swap.html
If you haven't made a choice on the converter, may I suggest the 278mm 3000-3200 Stall from Circle D. I've had that converter in my TBSS for 125000 miles without issue (daily driver). It changed the whole attitude of the truck. I have the stock 400hp LS2 with no mods. Just the Circle D converter and the 80E with a shift kit. It's like a whole different truck. I grin like a little boy every day I drive it.
Hutch
I have the 3600 triple billet 80e converter from circle D. Sweet piece for sure!
Made some progress on the swap this weekend. Didn't work on it Saturday as we had a family commitment. Sunday, I went over to a friend's house to modify the transmission crossmember. He has the bigger 220V version of the Hobart MiG welder. Ours is the 110V 140 amp that we bought for sheet metal. Also, frankly, my friend is just a better welder than me. He's also really good at measuring and cutting. He was nice enough to help me with this. It wouldn't have turned out near as well if he hadn't. He's the same buddy that helped me weld up the crossmember for my GP when we modified it for the T5. Here's a look at the victim. I forgot to take a picture of it before we cut it....
We needed the center section of the crossmember to move rearward 5-3/4" inches to accommodate the 4L85E. The first step was to cut the crossmember into three pieces. The crossmember bolts into brackets that hang off the frame rails so we needed the cut inboard enough to clear them but wanted to stay as close to the outside ends as we could so that we were working with a relatively 'square' section of the crossmember (for measuring, marking and cutting). Here it is in three pieces...
You can tell in the first pic that the cuts were very nice. We cleaned them up a little with a flap wheel in a grinder. We removed 1/4" of material on each side to accommodate 1/4" thick plates to provide the setback we needed while maintaining the original overall width (so it would still bolt in when we were done). Clamping up and tacking....
Once we had it tacked, we went to the storage to test fit it. We also looked at clearance for gussets or a brace. We decided to go with a rectangular piece of 1/8" thick tubing for a brace. It clears everything nicely. Here is a look at finish welding it all up....
And here's the finished project...
I know it looks like it is bowed out at the front in the picture above but it isn't. It must be an optical illusion from the angle I was holding my phone when I snapped the picture. here is a look at the profile....
I wish I had snapped a pic when we test fit it but you guys will see it in there soon enough. My next priority is to get it primed and painted. Then it will go in so I can get the jack out from under the transmission.
That's it for now gents. I'll update when there is more progress to report. Thanks for following along and thanks for the feedback.
Best,
Jared
We needed the center section of the crossmember to move rearward 5-3/4" inches to accommodate the 4L85E. The first step was to cut the crossmember into three pieces. The crossmember bolts into brackets that hang off the frame rails so we needed the cut inboard enough to clear them but wanted to stay as close to the outside ends as we could so that we were working with a relatively 'square' section of the crossmember (for measuring, marking and cutting). Here it is in three pieces...
You can tell in the first pic that the cuts were very nice. We cleaned them up a little with a flap wheel in a grinder. We removed 1/4" of material on each side to accommodate 1/4" thick plates to provide the setback we needed while maintaining the original overall width (so it would still bolt in when we were done). Clamping up and tacking....
Once we had it tacked, we went to the storage to test fit it. We also looked at clearance for gussets or a brace. We decided to go with a rectangular piece of 1/8" thick tubing for a brace. It clears everything nicely. Here is a look at finish welding it all up....
And here's the finished project...
I know it looks like it is bowed out at the front in the picture above but it isn't. It must be an optical illusion from the angle I was holding my phone when I snapped the picture. here is a look at the profile....
I wish I had snapped a pic when we test fit it but you guys will see it in there soon enough. My next priority is to get it primed and painted. Then it will go in so I can get the jack out from under the transmission.
That's it for now gents. I'll update when there is more progress to report. Thanks for following along and thanks for the feedback.
Best,
Jared
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Made some more progress on the swap, though it's going slower than I would like. I got the crossmember painted up one evening last week....
I didn't work on the truck on Saturday. There was too much other stuff going on. I had new glasses to pick up that day so I made Saturday an all chores day. I did buy a new tool box for the storage. It was on sale at Harbor Freight. I'm thinking once I buy the top box, this will be last toolbox I buy. We'll see....
Sean took me to Harbor Freight to buy it. They loaded it in his pickup with a fork lift. It wasn't that fun unloading it. It doesn't look like 300 pounds. It's really well built. That picture was actually taken Sunday morning. That heater is my friend's Mr. Heater Big Buddy that he lent me to try. It worked really well. I'll be getting one for next winter. Sunday morning I did work on the swap. First I got the crossmember in and got the transmission sitting on it. Everything lines up perfectly....
Next, I pulled the transmission pan to get a look inside.....
It looks really clean. Obviously the salvage yard pulled the pan and drained the fluid before they shipped it. Also, they drained the torque converter. What I can't decide is if they cleaned out the pan. I'm guessing yes since there was no clutch mud and nothing on the magnet. What do you guys think? Can it look this good with 118k miles on it? It was behind a diesel in a totally stock application.
Is that a stock pan gasket with the torque limiters? I'm wondering if the transmission got serviced recently (like at 100k miles) and that's why it looks so good.
Next, I wanted to fit the deep aluminum pan I bought. The stock pan was a little rough and I wanted a drain plug for easier maintenance. Also, I wanted the extra fluid capacity. It's a nice piece, made by PML. Made in the U.S.A.......
Here's a look at the pan installed (just hanging by a few bolts) on the transmission. No clearance issues with the crossmember. All bolts are accessible with the crossmember in....
I'm going to have to paint it or clear it. It was getting dirty just hanging it under there. Next, I wanted to see if the mid section of my exhaust system was going to work, and if not, what I was going to need to modify it or rebuild it to make it work. This was really my main goal for the weekend. To my surprise, the exhaust fits, and fits better now with the modified crossmember than it ever did before....
I had long had trouble with the inside curve of the Y rubbing on the transmission crossmember. You can see the mark in this picture. Now, with that section of the crossmember moved back 5-3/4", that is no longer a problem.....
A different angle....
And another, lots of clearance on the crossmember. The pipe is a little tight on one of the fins on the transmission pan. I may grind some of it off.....
Once I got the exhaust all tight and realized it was going to fit without modification, I was in a bit of a quandary as to what to do next, so I picked up all the tools. I entertained thoughts of putting in the driveshaft but I know it is going to fit, so why? At this point everything needs to come back out (I didn't have a torque converter when the transmission went in) and I need to decide if I'm going to have the transmission overhauled/upgraded or if I'm going to just put a shift kit in it myself and go with it.
I've gotten a lot of advice on here to just put a shift kit in it and go with it. From a financial standpoint, I like that thinking. I'm just having trouble with going with a transmission that has 118k miles on it. That may be an old way of thinking though. My engine only makes maybe 400 ft. lbs., which is well below the transmission's factory rated capacity of 460 ft. lbs. in a much heavier vehicle. I'd be satisfied with getting 100k miles out of this install behind the 5.3. That would put 270k miles total on the 5.3 and would buy me about 6.5 years. I'm thinking that if I were to build something with substantially more torque before then, I could freshen up the 85E at that time. The only thing that scares me is I think the salvage yard cleaned out the pan so I really don't know what I have. It has to come back out anyway so maybe I should have it freshened up? What do you guys think? Any strong opinions?
I'm going to try to get over there weeknights this week and work towards getting it all pulled back out but we're busy at work so we'll see. That may all happen on Saturday. Moving forward, here is what is left:
That's it for now gents. I'll update when there is progress to report. Thanks in advance for your feedback requested above. Thanks for following along and thanks for the likes.
Best,
Jared
I didn't work on the truck on Saturday. There was too much other stuff going on. I had new glasses to pick up that day so I made Saturday an all chores day. I did buy a new tool box for the storage. It was on sale at Harbor Freight. I'm thinking once I buy the top box, this will be last toolbox I buy. We'll see....
Sean took me to Harbor Freight to buy it. They loaded it in his pickup with a fork lift. It wasn't that fun unloading it. It doesn't look like 300 pounds. It's really well built. That picture was actually taken Sunday morning. That heater is my friend's Mr. Heater Big Buddy that he lent me to try. It worked really well. I'll be getting one for next winter. Sunday morning I did work on the swap. First I got the crossmember in and got the transmission sitting on it. Everything lines up perfectly....
Next, I pulled the transmission pan to get a look inside.....
It looks really clean. Obviously the salvage yard pulled the pan and drained the fluid before they shipped it. Also, they drained the torque converter. What I can't decide is if they cleaned out the pan. I'm guessing yes since there was no clutch mud and nothing on the magnet. What do you guys think? Can it look this good with 118k miles on it? It was behind a diesel in a totally stock application.
Is that a stock pan gasket with the torque limiters? I'm wondering if the transmission got serviced recently (like at 100k miles) and that's why it looks so good.
Next, I wanted to fit the deep aluminum pan I bought. The stock pan was a little rough and I wanted a drain plug for easier maintenance. Also, I wanted the extra fluid capacity. It's a nice piece, made by PML. Made in the U.S.A.......
Here's a look at the pan installed (just hanging by a few bolts) on the transmission. No clearance issues with the crossmember. All bolts are accessible with the crossmember in....
I'm going to have to paint it or clear it. It was getting dirty just hanging it under there. Next, I wanted to see if the mid section of my exhaust system was going to work, and if not, what I was going to need to modify it or rebuild it to make it work. This was really my main goal for the weekend. To my surprise, the exhaust fits, and fits better now with the modified crossmember than it ever did before....
I had long had trouble with the inside curve of the Y rubbing on the transmission crossmember. You can see the mark in this picture. Now, with that section of the crossmember moved back 5-3/4", that is no longer a problem.....
A different angle....
And another, lots of clearance on the crossmember. The pipe is a little tight on one of the fins on the transmission pan. I may grind some of it off.....
Once I got the exhaust all tight and realized it was going to fit without modification, I was in a bit of a quandary as to what to do next, so I picked up all the tools. I entertained thoughts of putting in the driveshaft but I know it is going to fit, so why? At this point everything needs to come back out (I didn't have a torque converter when the transmission went in) and I need to decide if I'm going to have the transmission overhauled/upgraded or if I'm going to just put a shift kit in it myself and go with it.
I've gotten a lot of advice on here to just put a shift kit in it and go with it. From a financial standpoint, I like that thinking. I'm just having trouble with going with a transmission that has 118k miles on it. That may be an old way of thinking though. My engine only makes maybe 400 ft. lbs., which is well below the transmission's factory rated capacity of 460 ft. lbs. in a much heavier vehicle. I'd be satisfied with getting 100k miles out of this install behind the 5.3. That would put 270k miles total on the 5.3 and would buy me about 6.5 years. I'm thinking that if I were to build something with substantially more torque before then, I could freshen up the 85E at that time. The only thing that scares me is I think the salvage yard cleaned out the pan so I really don't know what I have. It has to come back out anyway so maybe I should have it freshened up? What do you guys think? Any strong opinions?
I'm going to try to get over there weeknights this week and work towards getting it all pulled back out but we're busy at work so we'll see. That may all happen on Saturday. Moving forward, here is what is left:
- Transmission lines
- Replace transmission cooler
- Re-pin main transmission wiring connector (two wires)
- Add wiring for second speed sensor, run to TCM and pin into TCM connector
- Tuning
That's it for now gents. I'll update when there is progress to report. Thanks in advance for your feedback requested above. Thanks for following along and thanks for the likes.
Best,
Jared
Nice work! I bought a 4L80e with 40K on it and there was a small amount of clutch material in the pan. Your's has been cleaned out. I chose to go through mine for peace of mind but when I took it apart I found zero issues. If I had to do it over again it would have stayed together.
Jam a shift kit in it and run it. Buy another 80E in the meanwhile and build it if it suits the budget. Sell the modified 85E and recoup your costs. Done and done.
Worse comes to worse you'd have to pull it out again to rebuild it. The hard part of converting everything over is done. Pulling out a 2wd trans is pretty easy. Easy enough that to me it's worth a chance at saving a thousand dollars....
