I noticed that you bought a new crossmember. Where did you buy this from?

Also did you have FLT rebuild your transfer case and swap input shafts? Or did you do this yourself? You running your stock size u joints or did you upgrade to 1350 u joints?

Hey there - I had a shop in Dallas build the crossmember, but the guy half-assed it so I'm not giving his name out. I had to shim it in several places to get it to clear the driveshaft and to hold the transmission in the proper place. After I get all this back together and get the money tree blooming again (it's taken quite a whacking this month) I plan to take it to a local shop to get it made properly.

I picked up a salvage yard transfer case a year before I did all this when I was having 4WD problems, so when I did this I shipped the original transfer case to FLT. They did a total rebuild on it including swapping the 4LPOS60E input for the 4L80E input. Total for the job, if I remember, was around 3600 bucks and that was with them taking the 4LPOS60E as a trade.

I'm running stock sized U-joints, but have the heavy duty 4x4 joints that have the grease zerk in the end cap instead of in the body. While this is not as strong as the 1350s, they are stronger than the factory joints. I don't know if I'll be going to 1350s or not. It'll depend on how it goes. The ones I have usually hold up under me.

It's definitely worth doing though. The 2001 I'm driving now has a 4LPOS60E, and man am I hating it. Feels all spongy and crap. The minute I get the 2000 running again I'm going to do a little work to the 2001 and put it up for sale.

Cool thanks for the info Speeder. I'm planning on sticking with the 1/2 ton u joints. I just don't hear of these things breaking. So the $3,600 was everything including rebuilding the T-case? Wow that's a pretty good deal. I just got my truck yesterday and the 1-2 shift is pretty bad. It's got 96,000 miles on the clock. Pretty good little flare then slams into second. I'm sure it's life is numbered. Also the engine was only showing 2 quarts on the dip stick. Either this 5.3 is burning oil like crazy or the dipstick is off. I'm going to change the oil this weekend and see what the stick looks like with 6 fresh quarts.


Does anyone know where to buy a decent crossmember for this 4L80E conversion?

If it's flaring it's dying. Pull two quarts out, replace with one quart TransX and one quart Lucas trans additive, then take it easy on it. Every 4LPOS60E I've had that has problems has gotten this treatment and has lasted until I had the cash to get a trans together.

3600 bucks roughly, and I don't remember if that included the TCI low gear unit that changes from a 1st 2.48 2nd 1.47 gear ratio to a 2.75 1st 1.57 2nd gear ratio. Well worth the money to add this in, although Chuck won't be too happy if you want one after all the problems he had with mine due to TCI not machining the unit correctly. He worked with TCI on it, they back and forthed it a few times, and he was able to get them to correct it but he said it was a huge headache. But I gotta tell ya, the 2.75 gives me almost the same acceleration as the 3.01 and the 1-2-3 shifts feel right. It doesn't feel like there's too much of a drop like the 3.01/1.47 does. When I test drove a stock 4L80E, the 2.48 1st made the 6.0 in the truck I was driving feel more like I was taking off in 2nd in my own truck. You wouldn't think that little bit of a difference would be that noticeable but it is. They also make a 2.97 1st, but that one is about 600 bucks more than the already high 2.75 is.

On the U-joints, so long as you don't use the ones with the grease zerk in the body of the joint itself. Those always crack on me within a year with the crack starting at the zerk hole. That hole in the corner is a huge weak spot.

If you find an 80e out of a dump truck or motor home they will come with the straight cut low gears. Had that conversation with my trans guy yesterday