Future lq9 swap

[RDF1]

Really any year will work. They all have the same bolt pattern and electrical connections.
The newer (98?+) have the provision for park neutral safety switch.

Be wary of the type of yoke used also. If it's a bolt on yoke and you have a one piece drive shaft, you gotta get creative. I had to cut down a yoke to get me by on my last transmission. It works, but not ideal.

The odds are 50/50 really if it's a good trans or bad.
I always pull the pans, material in the bottom of the pan is a tell tale sign. Plus the smell of the fluid.

Y’all are very convincing wth this 4l80. Is there a certain year I should look for? Also is a straight swap as far the housing goes, and should I just take the drive shaft front the donor (plan on going to the junkyard)? The biggest question is what are the chances on getting a bad tranny?? Don’t won’t to put it in and that one be bad

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[df2x4]

Y’all are very convincing wth this 4l80. Is there a certain year I should look for? Also is a straight swap as far the housing goes, and should I just take the drive shaft front the donor (plan on going to the junkyard)? The biggest question is what are the chances on getting a bad tranny?? Don’t won’t to put it in and that one be bad

Pretty much any year will work, if I were you I'd look for a '97+ since you'll be changing cooler lines and everything anyway. Here's a basic outline of the differences by year.

https://sites.google.com/site/sloppywiki/everything-ls/4l80e-info

Housing will bolt up no problem, crossmember will need to be moved backwards on the frame rails. The driveshaft from the donor truck will only be useful if it's from the same wheelbase and cab style as your truck.

Lots of yards will mark good transmissions from vehicles that drove in under their own power. That's what I did, checked car-part.com and found one locally that was marked good. Like I said it has 250K miles on it, but they didn't lie. Shifts great.

 

[Steve A]

[/QUOTE]
https://sites.google.com/site/sloppywiki/everything-ls/4l80e-info

Housing will bolt up no problem, crossmember will need to be moved backwards on the frame rails. The driveshaft from the donor truck will only be useful if it's from the same wheelbase and cab style as your truck.
[/QUOTE]

Cab style makes no difference as long as wheelbase is the same.

 

[df2x4]

Cab style makes no difference as long as wheelbase is the same.

Correct, I'm not sure why I worded my post that way. I think the thought going through my brain at the time was that finding an identical body style truck with the 80E would be an easy way to get a donor shaft. Brain fart...

 

[Supercharged111]

Don’t have money at the moment to buy another one build it up and swap it. Isn’t it also heavier and longer gears ?

Gonna be more expensive to keep rebuilding POS 4L60s time after time.

 

[RDF1]

Gonna be more expensive to keep rebuilding POS 4L60s time after time.

Ha you speak from experience?
I've found the right balance of power and tune with only 1 4L60E and I put it together myself and didn't have a clue what I was doing. It's behind a 6.0 with very little worked over 317 heads and a Isky low end cam. Truck has 4.10s and 33s plus weighs 7000#.
I got the tune dialed in best I could on 93 octane. If I set my cruise at 60-62mph I can go anywhere on my daily route and it has been fine for the last 90k miles. The secret is not having it down shift every time the wind blows or every hill it goes up.
And when I tow I always just run 3rd gear manually. Temps stay low and it's been happy.
But I'm very easy on it.
I do have a couple spare 4wd 4L80E's tho. One hint of trouble and throwing that 4L60E away.

If you can get a 60E done with a good warranty for 1000-1200$ it might be your best bet. But if you plan on abusing it, better start saving up for a 80E.


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[Supercharged111]

I blew 2 700R4s long ago and cracked the case on my 4L60. Admittedly, the 4L60 was my fault, and maybe the first 700R4 was, and maybe #2 was garbage from the start but there are too many built 4L60 fails out there for my liking. The 4L80 has more metal from the start and tolerates what I put to it with just a stock rebuild and shift kit. I like the peace of mind of wondering if, not when the trans may take a dump.