I have a 1985 K5 4WD. I will be pulling a gen 3 in the following week. I just got a rebuilt 4L60E, and had him refresh my transfer case. No drivetrain issues, everything is an exact match. I'm wondering if there are any specific pieces I should be looking for on the pull to make it work. I'm going to stay carbureted until I can save for an EFI. What are some good recommendations for a shift controller for the transmission and an ECU. I was looking at the U.S. shift controller quick 4 and the terminator x. Has anyone tried this? Am I way off base? Thanks for the help!

 

You received a detailed reply to this question last year when you asked it. I am sorry to say that there just aren't many fullsize trucks on the forum and even fewer that have done an LS swap.

I will say that if I were doing the swap, I would not be keeping it carb'd. I would wait until I had everything together to do a full LS swap keeping with the fuel injection offered with them. I would keep saving money if your truck is running well enough now, buying the parts as your budget can afford. The most affordable way to do this is as MuttWagon suggested in the other thread by getting the ECU from an early 2000's truck with a cable actuated throttle body and a manual transfer case, programming it for your use case with VATS removed.

I can also say that the 4L60E isn't the strongest choice for transmission as MuttWagon stated previously. It is nearly the same as the 700R4 in terms of length though. The 4L60E can certainly handle the power of a mild LS when built properly. The aftermarket has a LOT of upgrades available to beef up the 4L60E, cutting out many of its short comings (e.g. Billet Sun Shell).

Not to mention that moving to the 4L80E would necessitate different driveshafts unless the motor/trans can be moved forward in the truck enough to keep the transfer case in the same location. The 4L80E transmission is ~3 inches longer from engine mounting flange to the transfer case mounting flange. Not to mention that I believe the output shafts to be different as well which woud necessitate a different transfer case.