Well. I bought a used converter from a sketchy member on here a few months ago. And it already took a ****. So while the trans is out to swap converters, I'm just going to bite the billet and swap in a built trans now, rather than sometime down the road.

I'm looking into the level 4 60e from FLT, I've also taken a look at performabuilt.

Anyone have any recommendations on a company?
Truck has 35's and 4.88, will be on 37s next round of tires.
Haul a 6k lb boat regularly, and has basic bolt ons, cam,heads, long tubes, intake mani

Your input is appreciated!
80e seems to be out of the question, as the truck is my dd and I don't have the time/cash to do the other mods required to make it work

 

I thought the 80 would have been more than a build 60 but after digging around for deals I did the 80 for $1500 less than a build 60e. I just wish I would have dug around sooner as i went thru 4 60's before the 80 swap. My set up is really close to yours.

 

What did the cost of the 80e swap run you?
I'm looking at the FLT level 4 - $1895 +bs and $650 to have the trans swapped.

I understand that you need a new harness, crossmember, driveline, and what else ?

 

I'm just short $1300 for everything on mine. I bought the 80e used and running it as is unknown miles, The cross member is nothing but moving two holes back just a tad. There is no need for a harness, Just get the the front VSS (i think its called that) plug and wire it to ecm with 2 pins. It takes two seconds honestly. The drive shaft is where I got lucky. A buddy of mine runs a drive line shop. He measured them and shortens my rear and built a new for the front and did new joints while there. My tuner I used did the 80e segment swap as he already tuned it before so it was still covered for any changes.I also got a Circle D 3200 stall and a true cool cooler in that price.

But in ALL honesty, I went thru a few 60e's and ready the "you need to get rid of of the 60e threads" before I figured it out for myself. All those threads are true. I wasted tons of $ on 60's. I guess heavy truck,big tires and a little HP eats them alive. So just shop around and you can find deals.

 

1300 is very cheap for the swap. thats impressive. I have been thinking about the swap since I bought my truck but have a fully built 70 that has held the power and abuse with no sweat. What actually broke in your 60/65/70s? I'm wondering if all the horror stories is mostly from the same part failure like planetaries or sprag?

The issue I am running into is I want to trade my truck in but I do not have a stock 70 to swap into it so the dealer would be getting my 2500 built trans and converter and never know about it.

 

I had problems with loosing 3rd and 4th gear in one and other stuff in a few others. I went thru 4 60's all were rebuilt and fairly fresh less that 1200 miles when stopped working. I'm not sure what parts gave up the ghost. I'm NOT a trans guy by any means or ever care to be. I bought the 80e and a trans case for 350 off Craigslist and did all the install myself. I was worried about the swap but it was way easier than I thought it would be.

 

I ran a FLT LVL6 with my setup along with a circle D 4C 245mm multi disk for a couple years and it worked flawless even with the way I drive my truck but I knew I was on borrowed time so I did the 80E swap.
it was cheaper for me to do the swap then my old 60E setup and its a stronger trans.
not a hard swap to do at all, just make sure you read and figure everything out before you start

 

I know mine is quite a bit cheaper being 2wd, but I have just under $500 in my 4l80e swap and that's with a transgo hd2 shift kit. Craigslist is your friend.

$250 for trans, yoke, stock converter
$35 for flexplate spacer and bolts
$20 for conversion u joint
$120 for shift kit
$50 for fluid and filter
$2 for vss connector at pick n pull

 

So what would you guys say on swapping a 4l80e with a heads cam only 5.3 truck? I'd like to start off with the trans swap first and do everything later so I dont have to worry about breaking stuff down the line, but I'm not sure how much of a slug a ~350? wheel truck will feel with an 80e in it versus one of the built 60e's. Not sure if I'm making sense here, but the general consensus is that putting a junkyard 80e in even a low abuse low power truck is better than a built 60e despite the sluggish first gear. Hell, I don't even know exactly what the 'sluggish' first gear really means especially of both applications are running a higher stall

 

You will notice some but no much. It will be well worth it in the long run.give a little to gain a lot.