Looking for some insight. I have a 91 Chevy suburban running the 4l80e and I'm done with automatics. Where my question comes in is can I swap to manual pedals using a universal clutch pedal and shaving the brake pedal down instead of getting the three pedal assembly from a donor truck?
The hydro clutch setup likes the ratio on the GM pedal setups, and is the easiest setup route for change over Ordinarily I condone automatics, but it will cost you more to change over than to have a reputable shop build the 4L80
I understand where you are coming from concerning the 4l80e. I just prefer manual transmissions for their heightened control of the vehicle. And I have had a shop quote me on a rebuild, around here it is the same cost as just buying a manual. plus no pto ports on the 4l80e.
4L80E is a great trans too, and 91 was the only year you could find one in a square body anything. I may be mistaken, but I believe it should have a stand alone trans controller. This would be a 2500 Suburban?
You still have to do drive shafts and all unless that was part of your quote Don't get me wrong, I am one of the few standard guys still holding the line around here
No drive lines are not part of the quote but I was going to have to do that anyway with dual transfer cases anyway. I just need to know about the pedals. Weather or not I can use a stand alone pedal or if I have to find a pedal set out of a donor truck.
I would hold out for factory pedals. If you're going to use a hydraulic clutch, the pedal assembly incorporates some small braces that double as mount studs for the master cylinder. Fwiw, your 91 will have dimples on the firewall marking the spots to drill for those braces and also for the bigger hole the pedal push rod goes through. The trans tunnel will have an imprint of the 4 spd hole and boot plate so you can see exactly where to cut. Also, with respect to the driveshafts, I'm pretty sure that if you find a long tailshaft, 32 spline 4 spd and a 241 adapter (not sure if a 208 version will work) your transfer case will remain in it's current position allowing you to reuse your existing shafts.
Ok so 1year later up date. I had the transmition shop go to rebuild my 4l80E and what they found inside has disuaded me from ever owning an automatic truck ever again. No in cab or fluid based symptoms of failure but upon physical inspection of the internal components gave a whole different view. The planetary gears were about to begin defying the laws of physics and the master builder said and I quote “you drove this here? It didn’t get towed? S*** I’ve seen more teeth in a crack den that are on your gears!” So I have been happily running a SM465/NP205 combo with a center force clutch. I swapped the old linkage based clutch system for a hydrolic conversion and found some stock pedals on eBay that bolted right in. Got the master cylinder from a local shop here. Honestly it’s a little Frankenchevy but it get so many questions every where I go. Still haven’t hooked up the front axle again I’ve been waiting for this years taxes to get the ranger torque splitter to get my od back. And 3 more gears. I’ve decided for the time being to skip the doubler the granny gear is really low when droped into 4 low. Once everything is back together I’ll post pics of the entire drive train (if it will let me)
