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Stuff I broke in the quest for more power

Jorge6.5

Jorge6.5

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Location
Upstate New York
Lets hear about what you broke on your truck in the search for more power and performance on these 6.5s

Got me an HX40II and put it on the truck drove it for 20 miles or so taking it easy ran awesome!.

Next decided i better lower boost and get it dialed in. Well about another 5 miles doing a few wide open throttle runs to check max boost and the tranny didnt seem to like it, too much power in the wrong rpm ranges for the stock used and abused 240k mile transmission.

Well no longer gonna mess around with the autos. Since having this expeierence im on the quest to upgrade to a 5 speed. No more screwing around
 
Must watch this!

I have untold amounts of broken parts for my cummins projects.
Will refrain since you specified 6.5 parts.


I like to see others carnage. PICS!
 
Agreed with mike. A beefed up 4L80 will take what ever a 6.5 will throw at it. Some guys even run these trannys with the duramax mated to them.

I have taken out both trannys on my 6.5s im leaning more towards the fact they were warn out they let go. I had the project truck beefed right up Even a custom built torqe converter($800) the other one i just got a stock rebuild both have worked flawlessly. My duramax i took out the first tranny cause of to much power had it replaced under warrentee. now this one is done for the same reason. Next will be getting a MikeL GMAX build.
 
a stock rebuilt 4L80e that isnt worn out can handle pretty much any upgraded turbo and tuned 6.5. These trannys were put behind slightly detuned duramax vans and big block V8s so they got the strength. Plus they are going to shift faster than any truck manual tranny ever could. Sorry for the derail
 
Yeah my tranny prior to turbo upgrade has seen big time serious abuse, so much it could make a man cry lol. With that, high miles and the added power of that turbo, the transmission had enough. The transmission simply wasnt up to par at that time and not upgraded to match the motor.

Anyone got any stories of their own to share?
 
I had a 92 C3500 with a cold air intake, shift kit in the 4l80e, Then i decided to turn up the injection pump about 1/4 turn. I DID NOT HAVE a pyro yet so I figured I would just take it easy until I got one. That worked good until a little ricer started messing with me at red lights, so I launched hard on green, left the little eclipse in a cloud of smoke, then burned up the engine. When I tried to turn it over it just made a clunk clunk sound. I sold the truck to a guy that was going to drop a fresh 6.5 in it and he called a couple of weeks after buying it saying he tore the engine down to try to salvage any parts from it, and that one of the pistons had fused its self to a cylinder, and another had mushroomed out of the cylinder taking out a head, and broke the crank :mad2:
 
Well... since you asked... I blew out my rear 10 bolt, both u-joints, and the trans in one swing. That is what prompted my to stuff a sf 14 bolt under her along with beefing up the 4l80e a little bit (redline clutches, koleen steels, trans-go stage 1 shift kit and a towing convertor for the lower stall speed)
 
Well, if you must know... All I did was put in a ssdiesel 80hp chip in my 94 one ton and a few months later I developed a sorta rod knockish noise. I parked the truck about 4 or 5 years ago. I'm now revisiting the idea of a major rebuild (port, polish, gasket match, multi position chip, hx40 turbo, etc...) We'll see...
 
i didnt have my truck too long when one day i was on the way to town and a car was slowing down in front of me to turn. there so happened to be a car show where the car turned in and i was in 4th gear so i downshifted to 3rd. well 3rd was a couple too many rpms. when i got to where i was going and turned my truck off everything was alright. when i started it back up it would hit one stroke that the starter didnt want to mess with so when i finally got it started i wouldnt do anything but white smoke and while it was running there was vapor coming out of the exhaust. needless to say i blew the heck out of a headgasket.
 
Mike K3500 said:
I would think that a "well built" 4l80e / 85e would take anything a 6.5 could ever throw at it...
Click to expand...

Woody35 said:
a stock rebuilt 4L80e that isnt worn out can handle pretty much any upgraded turbo and tuned 6.5. These trannys were put behind slightly detuned duramax vans and big block V8s so they got the strength. Plus they are going to shift faster than any truck manual tranny ever could. Sorry for the derail
Click to expand...

:skep: Say what?
GM had to put an Allison behind the Duramax to hold it.

The 4L80 was the very first thing I turned into a grenade first week I owned the truck. The 4th gear planet set ate chunks of both the sprag and bearing. 50K later the rebuild wouldn't hold again and had to be rebuilt. The 2nd gear overrun was the first thing to completely fail and no compression braking for the last 20K miles on the trans.

Not impressed with the 4L80E. :nonod:

Launch shudder required a poly carrier bearing from the power. U-Joints were fatigue flaking the bearing surfaces at 50K miles. Found I had also bent the drive shaft.

Lift pumps by the 6 pack.

Injectors.

Burned 60 G glow plugs off to the nubs.

Cracked the #1 piston.

Cracked the main bearing webs.

Usually crack the precups beyond reuse.

Wiped the bearings to the copper in another 6.5.

Exhaust manifolds warped.

Burned the paint on the passenger side floor pan under the carpet. From exhaust temps very high and sustained.

Ate a 1/4 worm clamp - heads/valves/pistons ruined.

Broke exhaust flange where it mounts to the turbo.

Engine mounts.

Injector set or two.

Injection pump.

Harmonic balancer - dealer part and warrantied a few times.

And as of today I figured excessive heat is coking up the biodiesel I am using. Aka turning the fuel into a solid in the fuel lines!

Cooked off a set or two of oil cooler lines.

Then replaced the GM3 with an ATT and started making some power to brag about! :thumbsup:
 
Husker, back when I thought I knew more than I really did, (around 22 or so) I did a brake tourque in 4 lo without the hubs locked in (1980 blazer all jacked up) told my buddy "watch this" and stomped the brake and gas. Luckily, the drive shaft flew away from him. Had to limp home in 4 hi with front end pulling me all the way home.

War wagon, I thought most of that stuff was normal maintenance. LOL. Just messin.

Now I'm thinkin we should start a "give us your best WATCH THIS thread" watch out, I'm on a roll now.
 
WarWagon said:
:skep: Say what?
GM had to put an Allison behind the Duramax to hold it.

The 4L80 was the very first thing I turned into a grenade first week I owned the truck. The 4th gear planet set ate chunks of both the sprag and bearing. 50K later the rebuild wouldn't hold again and had to be rebuilt. The 2nd gear overrun was the first thing to completely fail and no compression braking for the last 20K miles on the trans.

Not impressed with the 4L80E. :nonod:

Launch shudder required a poly carrier bearing from the power. U-Joints were fatigue flaking the bearing surfaces at 50K miles. Found I had also bent the drive shaft.

Lift pumps by the 6 pack.

Injectors.

Burned 60 G glow plugs off to the nubs.

Cracked the #1 piston.

Cracked the main bearing webs.

Usually crack the precups beyond reuse.

Wiped the bearings to the copper in another 6.5.

Exhaust manifolds warped.

Burned the paint on the passenger side floor pan under the carpet. From exhaust temps very high and sustained.

Ate a 1/4 worm clamp - heads/valves/pistons ruined.

Broke exhaust flange where it mounts to the turbo.

Engine mounts.

Injector set or two.

Injection pump.

Harmonic balancer - dealer part and warrantied a few times.

And as of today I figured excessive heat is coking up the biodiesel I am using. Aka turning the fuel into a solid in the fuel lines!

Cooked off a set or two of oil cooler lines.

Then replaced the GM3 with an ATT and started making some power to brag about! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I used to plow snow with my K2500 Suburban, however it was powered by a vortec 350 (I know, not the same tq as 6.5), but when being in thigh deep snow at that time, my 80e saw lots of D to R at 4,000 rpm not just once either and I don't like getting stuck or shoveling.... I had friends riding with me that could verify that. Just a very fresh 80e with a Transgo HD-2 kit, super street mode...

I would have to imagine with the Arizona heat and a GM3 under the hood, probably sent everything into nuclear melt down.. Possibly including heat transfer into your transmission causing it to cook as well.
 
Mike K3500 said:
I used to plow snow with my K2500 Suburban, however it was powered by a vortec 350 (I know, not the same tq as 6.5), but when being in thigh deep snow at that time, my 80e saw lots of D to R at 4,000 rpm not just once either and I don't like getting stuck or shoveling.... I had friends riding with me that could verify that. Just a very fresh 80e with a Transgo HD-2 kit, super street mode...

I would have to imagine with the Arizona heat and a GM3 under the hood, probably sent everything into nuclear melt down.. Possibly including heat transfer into your transmission causing it to cook as well.
Click to expand...

Temps were under control. Trans temp gauge 220 was peak. More from the extra power and extended high load at full 'extra' power. Not an easy 1/4 mile track run but a 6 mile 7% climb while towing... The overrun clutches for compression braking are the weak design link. Then the TCC lockup override switch is simply a bad idea and will burn off the overrun clutches if used while slowing down on long downhill runs. Also eventually burns up the TCC clutch. 4th gear set has wear issues for highway use at rebuild time. Yes, it is better than a 4L60E POS... (The 4L70E, upgraded 4L60E, in the Trailblazer SS only lasted a week on the parts route with trailer.)

Better to make more power and not cheat with a TCC lockup switch at WOT.
 
red eagle and kolene steels 34 element sprag new style case (tranny lines split) and fixx you pressure boost valve( fixes pressure spikes) convertor shouldnt have a problem
 
I shattered the flexplate a few years ago... What a hellacious noise that was!

Other than that, I seem to eat lift pumps and serp belts (stretched).

FWIW I like the 4L80E... The 4L60E not so much, it is a POS.
 
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