sweetk30, time to play teacher

[thatK30guy]

Rather than send you a PM, just post our conversation here so others can learn what I'm gonna ask.

Regarding the 4L80E tranny I picked up last week, my biggest and main question has to do with the production year of it. Being mine came out of a '99 truck, what difference does it make on years of these transmissions? Which years are more favorable than others? And why? Any pros or cons of using and avoiding certain years?

 

[sweetk30]

fyi mister

i might be a smart a$$ but i am not a knowit all.

heard a little over the years that newer is better yes. as some parts inside just a bit better. but the biggest thing is all the hot atf from the rear of the tranny has to flow up to the front to get out of the cooler line ports on all the older models.

if you have the split cooler line location ( 1 front & 1 rear ) then thats a good one to have.

what more do you want ? you are not a noob use the search button or google

 

[thatK30guy]

Not trying to mock you or be a smart ass at all.

Reading your comments all over CK5 about these trannys made me think of only you for the most reasonable and logical answers.

I have been doing searches about these but came up void. There are no threads or posts on which years of trannys are better than others, hence the reason to ask you and get one started so we finally have this info for others to search for.

My smartass-dom goes hand in hand with my "mr. obvious-dom". You either love it or hate it. I'm not here to make enemies.

 

[cuervo]

I think some 91s and later had an updated harness as well. Not sure what the advantages of that harness are.

As far as 4l80Es are concerned I don't think there is a bad one. I've read about people putting 700 lbs of torque to them without issue.

The only other info that I found was that is different is in the 91 diesel model as it doesn't need a computer.

 

[COCHEV]

I'd like to know why the newer electonic controled trannys can not be converted to one controled by vac and line pressure like the older ones. maybe thats a stupid questions, but it never stops me from asking.

i'm not a fan of $1200 wire harnesses and programing just to make something shift. certainly limits overdrive options for our trucks.

 

[Kenny78]

On controllers/harnesses, the optishift is $590 with harness. I have had an optishift for a couple months and eerything is peachy. There is a kit to remove the force motor/epc and use a vac. can to control line pressure. However that still leaves you needing a computer to shift based on throttle/speed or you could use shift switch or paddles. Ive thought about how cool it would be if somone made a valvebody to make it auto without a computer but I think that things like a speed reference(governor) and probably would limit demand below supply.

On the year differences, I believe mid 93 got the bulkhead harness change and an epc upgrade. Not much money to upgrade that. Up thru 95 4wd should have the rear speed sensor reluctor ring but they usually get removed during a rebuild. I found this out the hard way. Thats about the extent of my knowledge as I swapped in one from a 95 truck using an optishift controller

 

[boz42]

93 is correct for updated harness. I thought epc was 94. Not sure on that one. It is easy to upgrade the internal harness in the trans, but the truck harness if older than 93 will need to be upgraded also. Not hard to do, but you must make sure you get wiring correct.

'91 & early diesels had a stand alone TCM to shift the trans. It can be adapted to use for non computer controlled gas burners. You would still need a tps though.

There are some center suppport & lower gear train differences, but those only apply if you are trying to build a trans with hard parts from two different years. The later years are a little beefier. Also the overrun unit changed in the later years.

As long as yours has good hard parts none of that stuff will matter. You only really run into that if you are trying to mix parts.

Baumann also builds an affordable controller.


The newer the 4l80e the better. As with most transmission runs the longer GM used it the better they get. The split cooler lines are the best thing to work off of. The trans that have them run cooler & have a better oiling system. Not sure when the case changed for the split cooler lines, can't find that info published.