3 rebuilt 4l60e's later.....

[Bloodwater79]

Find a 6.0L or an 8.1. No way would I put a 5.3 in place of a 5.7L. It will have NO balls at all. I did a 383 in place of my 5.7. Could not be happier. Far better running than the LQ4 6.0L with a cam and ported, large valve 5.3 heads that I built. 6.0L has the Trailblazer SS intake and headers as well. Stock that LQ4 was a DOG. 5.3s are an even bigger dog. Helped a friend move some stuff to Texas from Kansas pulling a smaller 18 ft enclosed trailer with his 03 Suburban. Running 75 and 80 mph the thing spent most of its time at 5,000+ RPM. Went back the next weekend in my Express van with the 383/4L85E pulling a 28' enclosed trailer...3,000 rpm in OD the whole way at 80 mph. Went across the scales at a truck stop at nearly 14K all together in the van. Running the Marine dual plane and the 4bbl throttle body never got off the primaries of the throttle body accelerating up to speed. The secondaries start to open at about 65% throttle.

What 4bbl TB are you running?

 

[Supercharged111]

Find a 6.0L or an 8.1. No way would I put a 5.3 in place of a 5.7L. It will have NO balls at all. I did a 383 in place of my 5.7. Could not be happier. Far better running than the LQ4 6.0L with a cam and ported, large valve 5.3 heads that I built. 6.0L has the Trailblazer SS intake and headers as well. Stock that LQ4 was a DOG. 5.3s are an even bigger dog. Helped a friend move some stuff to Texas from Kansas pulling a smaller 18 ft enclosed trailer with his 03 Suburban. Running 75 and 80 mph the thing spent most of its time at 5,000+ RPM. Went back the next weekend in my Express van with the 383/4L85E pulling a 28' enclosed trailer...3,000 rpm in OD the whole way at 80 mph. Went across the scales at a truck stop at nearly 14K all together in the van. Running the Marine dual plane and the 4bbl throttle body never got off the primaries of the throttle body accelerating up to speed. The secondaries start to open at about 65% throttle.

We put a 4000# camper behind the wife's Envoy with 5.3/4L60 and I thought it was a bit on the gutless side. But I was still passing people with campers over mountain passes, there must be a lot of gutless crap out there. My 1500 pulled it with anger, whereas the Envoy just sort of dealt with it. Even the wife thinks the 5.3 isn't enough motor for the wee little Envoy.

 

[Wheeler]

My 4L60E was rebuilt at A&C Transmissions in Acheson Alberta. I had the Corvette Servos installed & Z-Beast Shell Clutch Pack installed. I tow 7k with my 383 truck. I pull 3200rpm+ at 65mph+ for hours. I did install the largest BTU Tranny Cooler the shop had. 28K I think... My temps run 165-195. IF you find a shop that KNOWS what they are doing, your tranny will be good to go...

 

[ponyboyt]

My 4L60E was rebuilt at A&C Transmissions in Acheson Alberta. I had the Corvette Servos installed & Z-Beast Shell Clutch Pack installed. I tow 7k with my 383 truck. I pull 3200rpm+ at 65mph+ for hours. I did install the largest BTU Tranny Cooler the shop had. 28K I think... My temps run 165-195. IF you find a shop that KNOWS what they are doing, your tranny will be good to go...

and another 4 digits in my wallet. I have an 03-04 4l80e sitting on the floor and hoping it can be made to work for a few hundred bucks.

 

[Wheeler]

Don't get me wrong.. 4L80E way to go.. When mine craps out, I"m doing the conversion...

 

[GreenvilleZ71]

I’m looking at having my 4l60e rebuilt with a big cooler, shift kit, new/better torque converter, corvette servo, etc

guy here in town wanted $3500 to convert to 4l80e. $1800 for 4l60e built up.

my truck is a 1998 k1500. I think I’ll keep if for 2-3 years then sell it for a 2500.

Hard to justify the 80e swap for the $$ unless doing a big build of some sort. I also see a lot of people with 250k miles plus running original tranny and engine.

 

[thegawd]

A built 4l60e is bullet proof. They have a bad rep but don't actually deserve it. Sure I've blown 3 of em but they were either over 300 000 kms or unknown from the junkyard. They were even used in a few supercars.

I was guna do the 4l80e swap because the internet makes it sound easy and simple. We'll its neither. Talked to a tranny shop in the business for over 50 years. He talked me into building the 60e strong like a 80e. He also said racecars dont use the 80e and if they are auto it's a purpose built 60e.

Nothing wrong with the 4L60E when maintained, not abused, not towing in OD, and have a tranny cooler installed. And when they do blow rebuild it strong with upgraded parts.

Al

 

[df2x4]

All you guys defending the 60E... I used to say the exact same stuff. Eventually if you spend enough money on a 4L60E platform you will get tired of it, I assure you.

I'm not even saying the 4L60E is the worst transmission ever, what I am saying is that IMO it was a poor choice for any full size truck.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

All you guys defending the 60E... I used to say the exact same stuff. Eventually if you spend enough money on a 4L60E platform you will get tired of it, I assure you.

I'm not even saying the 4L60E is the worst transmission ever, what I am saying is that IMO it was a poor choice for any full size truck.

AGREED!
A low mileage 4L85E swap was about $1500 said and done for me. Its not nearly as complicated as some make it out to be. I modified my stock cross member with an abrasive saw, a welder and some plate steel, swapped the yoke to an aftermarket 4L80E slip yoke (on my van it had the same length driveshaft with a 4L60E or 4L80E and even used the same U-joint), replumbed the cooler lines, used a trans connector pigtail I found in the wrecking yard to extend my harness and flashed my PCM with a segment swapped file. I also had to swap the lower portion of my trans dipstick tube, the trans dipstick and the shifter cable. I have given the 4L85E hell and it has never even wimpered and the 4L85E is rated to take its maximum input torque in all gears. With a 2,800 rpm stall purpose built HD towing converter from Performance Torque converters of Texas and a 5.13 gears it vastly outperforms the 4L60E/3.73 gear combination and actually turns less RPM in OD towing than the 4L60E did in 3rd. My empty highway mileage saw a slight decrease but my city mileage actually improved. The custom converter, deep sump aluminum pan, larger trans cooler and shift kit added another $1000 to the swap but I did them later. It runs cool and does what it is supposed to. I change the fluid and filter every 2 years or 24K whichever comes first. I run Dex III, refuse to swap to Dex 6.

GM did not even have the confidence in a 4L60E to put it behind a 4.3 TBI in an 8-lug chassis.

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Find a 6.0L or an 8.1. No way would I put a 5.3 in place of a 5.7L. It will have NO balls at all. I did a 383 in place of my 5.7. Could not be happier. Far better running than .

My next motor...