Tranny swap question

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Maaac1789

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Badly adjusted TV cables usually murder the 700R4 and I have yet to see one last behind the LS motor without the use of the Bowtie Overdrives adapter (and even that often does not guarantee a proper adjustment). People thing they can eyeball the bracket, but the geometry of the bracket on the TBI and Carb setups has some variance in it at different throttle points that I do not think is properly emulated by all the home brew experts. That being said, if you have access to a 4l80e I would go that route because its just a much stronger transmission and a stock rebuilt 4l80e should outlast a 4l60e by a long shot. You will have to move the cross-member back, shorten the rear driveshaft, and lengthen the front driveshaft. Likewise you will need to make sure you get a 4l80e adapter and either a NP208 that was behind a th400 or take your current one apart and swap in a 32 spline input shaft on your transfer case. After that you do a pin swap in the wiring harness for the 4l80e connector and have your tuner update your tune for the 4l80e (do the segment swap and adjust the shift points). I would recommend going on ahead and having a rear aluminum driveshaft made as well. There is a reason most all the new LS trucks have them, especially the 4x4 trucks with taller gears. The forces involved kind of dictate it.

Likewise you can take a chance with the 4l60e. There were incremental improvements on it beyond what is offered in the 700r4 and those changes make it a better trans overall. the computer also does a much better job of managing pressures and shift points than the manual TV cable ever did on the 700R4.

One thing that will also help, if you have not made this change yet, is bypassing the trans cooler in the radiator and just mounting an independent cooler. A lot of folks never think about it, but running it through the radiator essentially guarantees that your trans fluid will never be less than 170 to 190 degrees as it enters, because that is static temp of the water as it circulates. Moving it out of the radiator will allow it to cool as low as possible and heat is the enemy of any automatic transmission.

I am using the TV Made EZ from Bow tie Overdrives, but the trans never acted just right from the start. I even took pressure readings and called Bow tie to confirm the pressures. When you were slowing down from highway speed, it would jump out of OD into neutral. You would have to manually shift to third, then back to OD.
I am also using an external cooler. I'm just kinda done with than trans. I'm back on to my quest for a 4L80. I know it will kinda be bullet proof that way. Thanks for the advice.
 

rpcraft

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Yeah, I have never believed that adapter was right because when setting the TV cable on a carb adjusting the TV cable doesn't really require measuring the fluid pressure. Sure you can, and sure a shop may, but I have seen many transmission guys do the adjustment just using the WOT and snap the adjuster method and have no problems...

I think you are right to go with the 4l80E.. It's a bit costly, but if you keep an eye out in the wrecking yards you can get all the parts you need there for under a few hundred bucks and even that aluminum driveshaft. Just keep an eye out for them off a z71 truck after 2000 and it should be what you need.
 

Maaac1789

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I have a local salvage yard that is a gold mine of Chevy truck parts. We became like family when I was doing the LS swap. I am calling them Monday and getting the ball rolling. They should have everything I need, and they are CHEAP. Lol
 

rpcraft

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I've been holding off on doing anything to mine because I'm about 2 months from my house being built and I really want to tear it all back apart and clean/paint things but it's driving me crazy to not be working on it, lol.
 

Maaac1789

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Understand. My daughter is having a fit wanting hers fixed, and I have been torn between quick/cheap fix of the 700r4 and the longer more expensive, but superior fix, 4L80e. I'm gonna go ahead a do it right and be done with it. My wife had surgery last week and I'm having to cover for her in her cleaning business. It's driving me nuts because I need to be working on the truck. Such is life.
 

Maaac1789

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The solution to my problem. 2004- 4L80E!
 

rpcraft

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Sweet!!! just curious how much you ended up paying for it?
 

rpcraft

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Not too bad overall.
 

bucket

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Did you get the t-case adapter with it too?

So is it a good unit that you can just put into the truck?
 

Maaac1789

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I did not get the adapter. The t case was sold before I got there. I did get a torque converter though. It came from a running driving truck. Had been wrecked and they were parting it out
 

Maaac1789

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I guess I am about to have a TV Made EZ system for sale. Lol
 

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Please post how you do the swap, I will be going this route on my 4x4 and looking to see how the process goes.
 

bucket

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I did not get the adapter. The t case was sold before I got there. I did get a torque converter though. It came from a running driving truck. Had been wrecked and they were parting it out

I forgot to mention earlier that while the th400 adapter can be used, it does require some minor machining for it to work.
 

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