Yes that is correct for a 2wd. Mine is the same way. The pressurized system should still be as tight of a fit as the splash system because of the very small amount of fluid that actually makes it through the orifice hole in that plug. I would check to make sure the bushing hole aligns up with the feed hole in the housing. I it dosent that needs to be addressed. If it does then Id say you have a stopped up orifice in that plug or a more internal oiling problem.

 

the hole in he bushing was lined up with the feed hole, I might start the car with the tailhousing removed to see if there is any fluid shooting from the orifice hole.

 

That's how I'd check it.

 

Can you post a picture of the yoke and the tail housing / bushing area?

Looks like you may have found your culprit. That 2WD plug is pretty easy to get out and replace compared to the 4x4 version.

 

What is a small amount of fluid?
How much flows through that hole?
At what temp?
What's the orifice size of the hole?

 

I compared the orifice to a piece of welding wire I have, and it appears to be around .030

 

Interesting-how can you tell what year the tail housing is
When I built an 04 unit several years ago, they didn't have a listing for
an 04 tail housing bushing-I thought I used an earlier housing, just
cant remember

 

I never paid very close attention to slip yoke slop in 4l80e conversions, but I have a customer this last week that swapped his 4l60 to a 80 in a F-body, and had quite a bad vibration at freeway speeds. Took a quick look at his drive shaft and saw some dents in the drive shaft tube and equated his problem to a sloppy u joint install/slip yoke swap install. Since it was his stock drive shaft and he has increased HP, I suggested a new updated/stronger shaft, with a new Sonnax slip yoke from a local drive shaft builder that does very high quality work. We Installed the shaft and the vibration was reduced, but they still had a vibration, especially on the float @ 80mph or so. They took the vehicle home before I had time to study the problem further and study his pinion angles. The customer crawled underneath and discovered some substantial slop in the yoke and sent me a video. They removed their tail shaft and brought it in so I could inspect & swap out the bushing, however the bushing looked really good, if not new. Pressing in a new bushing (early tail housing part# 8677464 with Transtar bronze bushing #34066C) and the slop was still some what excessive. I tried another tail housing (early-same part number) and got the same results. I then tried pressing a later bushing in a early housing, and as expected the yoke would not fit. I spent some time honing the bushing, but I was not real comfortable with trying to hone it to size (it was taking a long time).

I then pressed a new seamless bushing (babbit late type bushing Transtar# 34006E) into a late tail housing and checked clearance (using a new Sonnax slip yoke) and it was greatly reduced. That got me thinking and searching online for 4l80e sloppy slip yokes and drive shaft vibrations and brought me here. Seems there quite a few threads on this subject (some with videos) with no real solution in most of the threads. I don't think early 4L80e's ever used a slip yoke. In my memory, every one I have seen had a bolt on yoke ( I could be wrong here- Jake? ) Since the yoke is bolted to the output shaft, there is no slop. However later 4L80e's did use a slip yoke in some 2wl applications. To my knowledge, GM never produced a replacement bushing for the later 4L80e tail housings. Omega tool produced a bronze one ($25.00). Your olny choices were to buy a new housing or swap it out with a early one if you had a worn bushing. I pleaded with Sonnax a couple years ago to produce a replacement bushing for the late tail housings, we discussed making one with PTFE coating, but they never did.

About 2 years ago (or less), Dura-Bond produced a seamless replacement bushing (Transtar# 34066e) as a replacement for the 2004 & up tail housings.

Which got me thinking, how many 4L80e's swaps are out there running a slip yoke with a early tail housing? Or is this just poor quality (early) bushings that my supplier is selling me (getting harder & harder to buy quality bushings for some applications) I cannot say I have any "New" 4l80e early or late tail housings on the shelf to compare the slop with a new Sonnax slip yoke.

One thing I know for certain. Late tail housing and late bushing I installed have a much tighter fit than a early tail housing.

Ill post up results and some videos of the slop differences between the two when I get feed back from my customer.

 

I dont know the brand of bushing I got in my rebuild kit but It was purchased from North Texas Converter. My trans is an 06 model 80 with the factory slip yoke that was purchased with the trans. Both the fit in the tailhousing and the yoke were nice and snug with minimal slop, just as it should be.

 

I apologize if anyone bought this bushing, but it's incorrect for my early 4l80e, it is the wrong od to fit into my tailhousing. to get the correct bushing, just go to a local trans shop and tell them the bushing you need.

 

I think I have this issue figured out, if you have an early style 4l80 with a bolt on yoke, leave the bolt on yoke in the trans. and have a driveshaft built with the slip in the driveshaft.
my trans originally had a bolt on yoke, and my trans builder machined off the "stop" on my output shaft so that my slip yoke could have another half inch or so of travel. but i still get a vibration and my slip yoke still fits inside my trans with a substantial amount of slop.

in conclusion, if you want to use a slip yoke in a 4l80, make sure you use the output shaft that is fully splined along with a long barrel slip yoke. don't try and use a short barrel slip yoke with a bolt on style output shaft.

this is just my opinion, I don't want to step on Jake's toes, he is the best man to talk to on this subject

 

We've used the bolt on yoke shafts for years. We do machine them to be sure the yoke can slide onto the shaft adequately.

What shaft you use has absolutely zero bearing on the bushing to yoke clearance.
The housings and bushings don't differ for a given model. Early model units came with fully splined shafts on some applications, this didn't change the clearance.
The yokes all have the same O.D. Standard SAE dimensions.

The change in 2004 was likely either a metric changeover, a supplier issue, etc.

I would NOT put a slip in the middle of a high speed driveshaft.