2000 Suburban K1500 budget low lift with 37"s

[CrazyDrei]

So long 4L60 hello 4L65

Couple days ago I pulled the 4L60 out of the Suburban. Today was a long day. Pulled the 4L65 out of my parts truck and bolted it up to my Suburban.

4L65 bolted up to the Sub and it fits perfectly, not that I was expecting anything different. New transmission came from an 2005 truck and PRNDL switch is different for 2000-2002 and 2003-2006 GM trucks. My 3" body lift made reaching all the transmission bolts ridiculously easy and kinda fun, bet you will never hear a GM mechanic say that. I also replaced the transmission mount with a spare that I had laying around.

So yes, GM glued 2000-2002 plugs into the switch. I got the smaller one out easily but the upper bigger one got destroyed. eBay and their $15 parts are amazing.

Starter was original and I destroyed it too. Only after removing it I realized that I did not have to remove starter to pull the tranny and bolt a new tranny back up.

These are the only two pieces that I damaged during the swap, both were original to this truck with over 300,000 miles on them. Not too bad.

I finished the day off with bolting up the transfer case, re-installing the driveshafts, bolting the catalytic converters back up and topping off, transmission fluid, transfer case fluid and rear differential fluid.

Maiden voyage tomorrow. Can't wait to see how my old transmission tune which was partially responsible for the destruction of the old tranny works with the slightly more heavy duty 4L65.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[CrazyDrei]

I really thought I was going to drive the Sub today...

Truck fired up with no problems, transmission shifts through all the gears as it should. But it doesn't move.

Service 4WD light is screaming at me.

Hooked up the scanner and it was not happy at all.

6 chassis trouble code all relating to the speed sensors. Left front wheel erratic, missing and open circuit.

Right front wheel erratic and missing signal.

Rear wheel speed signal erratic.

More fun freeze-frame data while the truck is not moving and engine is not running. Yep it really thinks that it's actually moving.

The transfer case is stuck in 4x4 high and will not shift into neutral, 4x4 low or 2wd high. neutral or low I can understand however it should be able to switch into 2wd high from 4x4 high on the fly.

Looks like I get to dig through my parts bins and replace a couple speed sensors to see if this fixes the problem or does anything at all.

Moral of this story is: don't drive in the ocean. It may be fun driving through 3-4 feet of water to an island but in the long run might not be worth it.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[Overlandtowater]

So the plugs do suck but a heat gun makes quick work of softening the glue. I had to wrap mine in aluminum foil and use a torch to soften mine.

 

[CrazyDrei]

So the plugs do suck but a heat gun makes quick work of softening the glue. I had to wrap mine in aluminum foil and use a torch to soften mine.

dirtdobberoffroad,

Yeah, I used a pry bar and completely destroyed the neutral switch. Now I know, but thanks to eBay I got a got a brand new one for under $15 shipped.

Still trying to figure out what is going on with the transmission.

Flex-wheel spins when the engine is running. Transmission worked fine before I pulled it from the donor. This leaves either transfer case or ECU that's malfunctioning. I am going to swap in my spare working floor shift transfer case first, see if that does anything. I am also going to put the old supposedly busted 4L60 into the donor truck and see what happens.

I have a 03, 04 and 05 ECUs laying around but they are not plug and play with 00-02 trucks. Hopefully next week I will be able to trouble shoot and figure out where I want to go with the Sub.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[ThundahBeagle]

The devil you do know can be better than the one you don't.

You can have that 4L60 built to to be much stronger for less than the cost of getting into another rig.

I like full on builds too, but I'm at a point where I just want to use my junk rather than start over on a new build. So don't overlook the perspective of what your time is worth on the build too. Are you missing out on prime camping exploring when you are building?

You like the rig as is. My vote would be fix it and get back to camping.

About 10 years ago I had the 4L60E to my full sized Chevy Blazer Silverado 2-door rebuilt. I seem to recall $1700 or 2 grand or something. Even if the price doubled, as long as the rest of the vehicle is tip top, it could be worth it.