The 80-E crossmember I have is 3 pounds lighter than the stock one for the 60-E.

Here's a picture:

 

woops, sorry must have hit the wrong button, that is my reply on bottom

 

thanks for the info. i think i'll go with a 65 when my 60 blows up.

 

I did some fine tuning with Edit and finally got it to run without pinging. It had been so long since I started with a stock program that I was forgetting to change lotsa stuff. After I got the motor straightened out I then zeroed out the shift delay and tq mgt tables and it really came to life.

IMO GM should only put the 4l60e in S-10's and maybe full size/4.3 combos-everything else should come with the '80e!

 

so comparing a FLP level5 65 to a 80 with a kit
price?
longevity?
where should the line be drawn as far as power and or times?

 

price depends some on who does the work. if you do the work yourslef the 80e with shift kit would most likly be a few hundred cheaper than the level 5 but it will require a little more work to get into the truck and running. not a direct bolt in.

longevity, i killed my stock 80e with kit about where i would expect a level 5 to take me but it may have been converter related. as far as i know i am the only one to kill an 80e yet.

here is my break down for your truck, a rcsb 2wd. and this is just my $.02.

12.0 up keep the 4l65 for sure and build it

10.99 and down swap to the 80e

11.0-11.99 grey area, a 80e will probably hold the power better but sap several tenths from your ET so you will need to make more power to make up for it. if it were me i would go for the level 5 and keep the best ET.

 

I killed my first 4l80e within about 500 miles or so. It was still working ok when I had to pull it down for other reasons and we found some clutches that were smoked bad and about to lay down at any minute. This was a salvage yard unit that supposedly had about 30,000 miles on it. I rebuilt it with stock parts and have beat the absolute crap out of it since with no probs.

I agree with Parish on his ET ranges except I would say 11.49 and faster should go with the 80. I still feel just a little violated when I think of how much $$ I have wasted on trying to make the 60 hold (on 2 different trucks) I think it also depends on how hard you are on the truck-if you race it every single weekend with slicks, or if you just occasionally punch it down, etc.

 

I would really like to see 12's someday
so level 5 it is
Seeing people on here switch trannys so many times
kinda has me thinking do it once and do it right

it also seems like theres alot of good feedback
at FLP