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2006 Vortec Max 4L80E swap

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Old Jul 14, 2018 | 07:37 PM
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Default 2006 Vortec Max 4L80E swap

Hi there guys new member here.

Have a 2006 GMC Sierra, vortec max 4wd truck. Came with a 4.10 gear and LQ9/4L70e from the factory.




has been a great truck for me so far, use it to tow my 8,000lb travel trailer fairly often.




my second gear has started to slip and rather than replace it with another 70 I have bought a complete parts truck and was hoping someone could give me some insight on the swap. I have a pretty good idea but just want to make sure I’m not in for any surprises before I start.




i currently have

-4L80E (pulled from complete truck, 2002 gm Sierra 1500hd with the LQ4)

-261hd (I believe?, from same truck, has autotrac like my vmax)

-all other usable parts from the 1500..cooler lines etc. Didn’t keep the stock flexplate as I sold it with the motor

-Michigan Motorsport 4l60 to 4l80 adapter with iss plug

-hp tuners mpvi2 for doing transmission segment swap on my current ecm (will go over power enrichment and torque management at the same time )




i feel like this should have me well on my way.. I know I will also have to :

shorten my driveshaft (not sure how much but would like to use the 1500hd transfer case. I’ve heard it’s shortened by 1.5” if using stock case.)

move my trans mount back appx 2.5”

And does anyone know if I need a flex plate spacer and the bolts for my setup?

any other relevant info would be great thanks guys n gals!

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Old Jul 22, 2018 | 10:37 PM
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Bump 🙂
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Old Jul 23, 2018 | 01:13 AM
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https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...-4l80e-424904/
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Old Jul 23, 2018 | 01:46 PM
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Anyone have an idea about dimensions from a vortec max transfer case length compared to a 1500hd transfer case? I think my vortec max is actually a 246 and the 1500hd uses 246hd
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Old Aug 10, 2018 | 05:57 PM
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Swap is done.. ended up just pulling the input shaft from other case and jamming it into mine as the older case uses a different encoder motor for 4wd.

i segment swapped my ecm and works perfect, drives nice.. although I can’t believe how much more sluggish the truck feels now. It’s not slow by any stretch but I need some ideas.

i made a tune basically deleting power enrichment and torque management .. but is there anything else I should look at here?
I pull a heavy travel trailer , and some guys have recommended some stuff like changing the tcc ..
thanks
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Old Aug 10, 2018 | 06:11 PM
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Delete power enrichment?

Are you sure you worded that correctly? That's not something to "delete", you need that.

More power would help with the sluggish feel. Optimize the timing curve the best you can with the stock camshaft.
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Old Aug 10, 2018 | 07:15 PM
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Sorry meant to say delete torque management, enable power enrichment.
Yeah , it’s weird.. thing would boil the tires into 2nd before the trans swap and with the higher gear ratio of the 80 I just don’t feel the same performance.
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Old Aug 10, 2018 | 08:49 PM
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In transmission, torque management :
torque reduction, performance:
multiplied whole table by .5 (15413 table)
abuse mode, torque reduction:
1600 rpm on set whole table to 100 (what my 4L70E table was) (15400 table)
abuse mode, speed:
set speed for abuse mode to 255

shift scheduling
part throttle shift , d1 urban:
set 1>2 shift, 2>3 shift as 255 for the whole table to hold 1st If ever need be

with towing close to 10k with this I was thinking I would leave the tcc lockup the way it is for now but does anyone see an issue with what I have done?
any more areas I can look to improve for some better tow performance?
Thanks very kindly
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Old Aug 13, 2018 | 03:34 PM
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The 80E is a pig of a trans in many ways. You for all intents have made your truck into your donor being the 1500HD you robbed it from. A tuned LQ4 makes very close to the same power an LQ9 does with a tune to the point you really would not feel any difference and your Max half ton is within a couple hundred pounds weight wise of a 1500HD. They are not really fun to drive nor will they ever be...

For towing I have the TCC lockup that GM commands in second gear at WOT disabled on my 80E trucks. I never liked it and never will lol. For torque management I run none on my trucks, so disabled. I also decreased my shift times to 0.2 seconds I believe or the fastest an 80E can handle anyhow. I have had my 05 1500HD setup tune wise this way for 130000 miles or so now.... and the truck has over 200000 miles on the clock on the original 4L80e. It still shifts great and I throw whatever I want weight wise behind it haha.
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Old Jan 27, 2021 | 08:08 PM
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As far as feeling sluggish- the 4L80 doesn’t have the same low 1st gear as the 4L70, but a custom torque converter made all the difference in the world on my swap
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