4L80E in CUCV

[WARWAG]

Well as some of you know I travel all over this Great Country of ours for work. Ive been in almost every town and have planted seismic stations about every 40 square miles from the West Coast to so far just East of the Mississippi. In my travels I sometimes come across to good of a deal to pass up. Today was one of those days. I picked up a 4L80E and a NP241C out of a 1994 Chevy 3500 4x4 6.5 Diesel. Everything seems to be in good order and the old boy I picked it up from told me everything worked great and shifted very well before he pulled them out of his truck. The front end received some damage so he pulled the trans and Tcase out to keep for his other truck. He sold that truck and needed some room in his shop. He builds MUD RACERS or did before he retired. Hands were shook cash dolled out and a small shop lift had the 4L80E and the NP241 sitting in the back of my truck. We sat and told long tales about our great adventures and then bid farewll. I will be home sometime in the next two weeks if this ****ed weather will let up. My first stop will be my brothers. We will be installing my ORD 4" lift and then the 4L80 and Tcase! I just need to get everything we need to do the swap before I arrive. So far the Trans and Transfercase can be checked off my list. Next up will be another call to US SHIFT for the control module and cable. Here are some pictures. I will have a full write up with allot of pictures of the install hopefully early next month. Pics to follow.

Thanks goes out to Ambulancechaser who showed me the light! I did not know there were stand alone comps for the 4L80E transmissions.

 

[WARWAG]

The pictures:

 

[Recovry4x4]

What are your plans for the transfer case? CUCV drops on the passenger side, the stuff from the 94 drops on the drivers side.

 

[Cucvnut]

i have a controller i jsut need a 4l80e and my 241 will bolt up!

 

[WARWAG]

This particular NP241C will be on Ebay. I am not sure what the"C" means. I do like the lower ratio of the NP241. 2.72:1. I will also be selling my HD TH400 and NP208. UNLESS I can find a 1991 NP205 with the speed sensor. Then I will bolt in a Klune V Underdrive mated to the NP205 and have a VERY stout setup with 4 speeds in the Low range department! But a NP241 is also very nice and will out live my truck.

 

[Cucvnut]

you need a 241 from a 3/4 ton 89 burban! thats where i found mine.

 

[hatzie]

The 208 would bolt up. The coupler may need to be swapped.
Otherwise use a 241 out of an 88-92 R/V GM squarebody.

 

[WARWAG]

Thanks. I have a passenger side NP241 that was given to me. I wasnt going to use it but now that I have a 4L80E I will. Just need to make sure its a 32 spline. If not then I will be off looking for one.

 

[panzerwillie]

Remenber you have to extend the shifter rod and move the shifter cross rod, i welded my to the frame was much easy than drilling the frame , also you will be moving crossmenber back about 2 inches or so and redrill , optishift works good and is plug and play .....

 

[ODdave]

I belive the "c" means chevrolet. You can use the 32 spline shaft out of the drivers side drop in your pass drop. Also the 208 will bolt directly up to the adapter for the 241.

 

[WARWAG]

Well I had the wife count the splines on my NP241 at home. She said 27. I thought all NP241 had 32 splines but I guess the ones off of a 700R4 were 27 spline units. I dont want to crack open the cases and swap everything around. I may just go with either a Diffrent Tcase for now or I dont know what. Is the NP241 stronger than the NP208? They look almost identical but maybe the NP241 case is stronger? I know the NP241 has better lubrication ability. Other than that I am not sure. Maybe the NP208 will stay in my truck after all?

 

[Cucvnut]

Keep the 208 it will work fine with the 4l80

 

[WARWAG]

I really would like a bit lower Low range. I will be running 37" tires.

 

[1ton cucv k5 turbo]

go all out with a 203/205 doubler behind that 4L80 and have the best of both worlds.... Or an Atlas....

 

[Cucvnut]

but if you run a klune you would be ok with a 205.

 

[WARWAG]

Thought about the Doubler,Klune V and the Atlas. All three options are out of my budget for now. Maybe next year.

 

[Cucvnut]

then keep the 4l80!

 

[1ton cucv k5 turbo]

Hang on to it til then... It will be worth the wait..... Start searching salvage yards for the parts you need.. and save up... Thats how i did mine...

 

[Cucvnut]

yep I so agree.

 

[WARWAG]

OK lets see how the NP208 works out then. I can always change out the TCase later which is what I was going to do anyway with the NP241. I think a NP205 and a Klune V would be the way to go eventually. I also found a turbo kit I pulled the trigger on. But that will be after the OD install!