I have a 4l60e in my Yukon on a 5.7 vortec and wanting to know would I benefit putting the 4l80e in or is what i have good. Is there a place that I can find out the diffrences on the tranny and if i was to do this swap would i need to change out the electrics as well?
What do you do with the trucK? The 4L60 is a good tranny, as is the 4L80. The 80 is stronger, obviously. If you're staying within the specs of the truck, you're probably good to go. Maybe add a bigger tranny cooler if you're towing heavy, that's about it. The swap, I believe, would probably be more trouble than it's worth.
thanks for the information I would be hauling my motorcycle in a 6x12 enclose trailer and its about 4000lbs at the most. If not really not a straight drop in then I will pass on it,and also had a question about towing it for like 1000 miles or so do I need to leave it in D or should I tow it with it in 3 posistion all the way there? I am not worried about gas wasting but more like making it there and back? (my shifter is D 3 2 1 ) d being overdrive i take it
If you want to be safe, put in a tranny temp gauge. As far as the selctor, I would do what the owners manual told me to do. There should be a Tow Haul button somewhere, right? Even my Dodge Dakota had a TH button...
700R4/4L60E trans rebuilder here... An 80e isnt a drop in/bolt in deal and with the minimal weight your towing a 60E should be ok as long as you keep a few things in mind. 1. Install the BIGGEST trans cooler you can find/fit/afford in front the radiator behind the grill and plumb it in series after the stock in-radiator cooler. If youre really handy put an aux electric fan on the cooler too. 2. If you live where there are substantial grades then pull the shifter down into 3rd (D) when climbing a grade loaded. In manual 3rd you have a little more line pressure in the trans and holding it there manually keep the constant 3 to 4 and 4 to 3 shifts from cooking the fluid. Once the road levels out you can put the shifter back in 4th (OD). Basically you want to avoid the constant up/down shift which makes the fluid SUPER hot and beats clutch in the torque converter to death as well. 3. If the trans has more than ~120k-ish miles it may last 10 miles towing or 10 years so its a crap shoot really but on average the 60Es I rebuild out of full size trucks usually make it to about 120k before dying (how the truck was used has a huge influence on this IMO). 4. Install a trans temp gauge and put the sending unit in the fluid out line as close to the trans as possible. In the pan or anywhere else doe not give you an even closely accurate idea of what the temps are on the inside of the trans which is the most important to begin with. 5. If the fluid starts climbing much past 255-265 degrees then ease up on the throttle or take a break to let the trans fluid cool some (pull over and let the engine idle). Once you go past 270 deg regular trans fluid has started to break down and your trans is eating itself slowly and as the temp goes up even further it eats itself at an even faster rate. Syth fluid will tolerate higher temps but the seals in the trans wont take much more than 275-285 before becoming hard/brittle. 6. Get yourself on of those cheapy B&M shift improver switch set ups (ebay ~$30) and use the tow setting when loaded. Firms up the shifts when towing which makes life MUCH easier on the clutches/fluid. 7. A deep trans pan that holds extra fluid isnt mandatory but isnt a bad idea either. 8. If you tow a lot with a 60E change the fluid/filter every 15k miles or so. Clean/unscorched fluid is a MUST to make a 60E live if your towing with it. There are lots of things you can do to help with durability but they involve dropping the pan, swapping parts out, taking out the 2-4 servo assembly, etc but I dont think thats what youre after. HTH
