'97 C1500 4L60E to 4L80E Swap

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Supercharged111

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I just used a crossover u joint when I did my 14b swap. You ought to be able to run a slip yoke, the bolt in would be used I believe with a 2 piece driveshaft. You should have 1 piece, right?
 

df2x4

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I just used a crossover u joint when I did my 14b swap. You ought to be able to run a slip yoke, the bolt in would be used I believe with a 2 piece driveshaft. You should have 1 piece, right?

Yup, one piece with the slip yoke is what came in my truck.

Just talked to my mechanic again. The shaft he found is one piece and he believes it has the correct slip yoke for the 80E on the front end. He thinks the rear is probably set up for a bigger U-joint than what my 10 bolt pinion yoke uses. If that's the case he's going to chop that end off and weld up the correct one. He wants to avoid conversion U-joints if possible, which I'm fine with.
 

Supercharged111

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Well you're needing the driveshaft modded anyway so makes sense. But really there is nothing wrong with a crossover u joint. Having said that, I would prefer to just have the driveshaft out of a unicorn ECSB 8 lug 2500 but at this point everything works with it and I'd rather have functioning not leaking PS.
 

df2x4

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Decided to wait and install the HD2 shift kit later and just get the 80E in there to make sure it works. I'll have them throw the kit in when I inevitably destroy this trans somehow and it needs a rebuild.

Also figured out I need a new radiator, so that's happening. Tiny little crack on the top edge.
 

Bob L

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All this because you like to burn rubber? Put a line lock in before doing any more brake stands. Your truck and pocketbook will be happier.
 

df2x4

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All this because you like to burn rubber? Put a line lock in before doing any more brake stands. Your truck and pocketbook will be happier.

:lol: No brake stands here! I learned my lesson on that years ago after cracking both rear drums. Donuts are a different story...

Truthfully I don't beat on it as hard as most people tend to think I do. It sees WOT shifts on a fairly regular basis though. I'd imagine that's what the 60Es didn't like.
 

df2x4

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Quick update. The driveshaft that my mechanic located is actually a two piece shaft out of a one ton, so it's set up for the bolt on yoke that's already on my 80E. He test fit it earlier today and it's pretty much the perfect length as it is. Considering that fact, I talked to him about my plans to swap in a 14 bolt SF rear end down the road and we decided to go ahead and use a conversion u-joint on that end of the shaft. That way whenever I do get around to the 14 bolt swap my driveshaft is already set up for a 1350 size joint. He's not a big fan of the conversion u-joints but he assured me that my V6 definitely won't hurt any part of this setup. The only other driveshaft related thing he has to do at this point is adjust the pinion angle slightly on my 10 bolt.

Making progress!
 

L31MaxExpress

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Quick update. The driveshaft that my mechanic located is actually a two piece shaft out of a one ton, so it's set up for the bolt on yoke that's already on my 80E. He test fit it earlier today and it's pretty much the perfect length as it is. Considering that fact, I talked to him about my plans to swap in a 14 bolt SF rear end down the road and we decided to go ahead and use a conversion u-joint on that end of the shaft. That way whenever I do get around to the 14 bolt swap my driveshaft is already set up for a 1350 size joint. He's not a big fan of the conversion u-joints but he assured me that my V6 definitely won't hurt any part of this setup. The only other driveshaft related thing he has to do at this point is adjust the pinion angle slightly on my 10 bolt.

Making progress!

This may help someone on a parts search. My stock 60E/8.5 10-bolt Express van had 1350s on both ends. The front yoke was roughly 12" long. The rear end had a four bolt flange that mated to a matching flange on the driveshaft. When I swapped to the 9.5" and later 10.5" all I had to do was remove that flange and connect the U-joint to the rear end with a universal strap kit.
 

df2x4

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IT WORKS!

Just got the call from the mechanic a few minutes ago, everything is in and it's driving just fine. He wants to keep it one more day to drive a little more and check for leaks, but it's alive! Decided to hold off on the shift kit for now, everything else went in just fine.

Talked to him about the future 14 bolt SF swap a little more too. Apparently he has a machinist in house, which I did not know. Explains why he was so comfortable with the driveshaft work. He's going to talk to said machinist about what it will take to get the 14 bolt converted to five lug to work with my wheels. Looks like I might not have to send the shafts off to be plugged and re-drilled after all.

Amazing day. I'm so excited right now.
 

df2x4

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It's back home!

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Labor cost was pretty high, around $2K. I knew it was going to be going in though so no surprises there. I'm in this for just shy of $4K including parts and I feel like I probably went about it in the most expensive way possible. Like I said earlier, you could get this done for way less money if you were so inclined. However, every part on my list went in perfectly with no issues. The new cooler is mounted on factory brackets, and the flexible Russell lines look awesome. Factory intake and throttle body blade are back on as well, and the rear end was drained and refilled with 80W-90. New EVO sensor too.

I just got done unloading all the old parts. Was going to re-tune my stereo but my head unit actually remembered all my settings after being disconnected for over a month at a time. Kudos to my old Pioneer Premier! I'm getting ready to go wash the eight months of dust off of it and take a night cruise. Couldn't do any WOT runs with all that stuff in the bed. So far though I'm extremely impressed. It shifts like butter. I'm actually thinking I may hold off on the shift kit indefinitely, I kind of forgot how nice it was to drive this truck without the neck breaking 1-2 shift. :lol: The fluid in my 80E looked brand new so they didn't even bust it open. I've got the pan gasket, filter, and the shift kit sitting for whenever that happens down the road. Thinking I'll take my old factory PCM with the 60E tune on it and have Black Bear put an 89 octane 80E tune on it, that way I can have a performance and an economy PCM to swap back and forth between.

I also talked to the machinist up there about the 14 bolt swap in the future. Unfortunately he doesn't have the necessary equipment to plug and re-drill the axle shafts for five lug, so I'll still have to send those off. My mechanic is confident that they can find the proper brake parts to make that work, though.

I'll update again once I beat on it some more and get a feel for it. It's definitely a tiny bit slower feeling off the line, and you can feel the difference in first gear. All things considered though it's not nearly as noticeable as what I was expecting. Still gets up and goes just fine, it drives awesome!
 
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