6l80E Torque Converter for towing
6l80E Torque Converter for towing I did a search, but didn't see anything directly relating to a torque converter for towing. Does anyone have a suggestion for any vendors that make a reliable converter for towing? Its a 2018 Silverado 1500 5.3 with the max trailers option. The tune will be modified with HP tuners to eliminate TCC lock up in all but 5,6. Going on a 5000 mile road trip this summer and I'm trying to make sure I have my ducks in a row.
TECH Junkie
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,618
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From: Iowa
The factory converter has lots of tq handling capacity. make sure you tune for increased lockup pressure and also to eliminate all slip.
The factory PCM targets slip...it purposely will reduce TCC pressure until it sees 20-60 rpm slip. It is silly
Once you correct the tuning, the factory converter is quite good. Even without any billet parts.
Next best upgrade would be a billet PISTON. Not a billet cover. A billet PISTON.
Precision of New Hampton is a converter manufacturer that offers this option. I'm sure Florida torque converter and any of the other large remanufacturing operations offer the same.
The factory 6L90 converters are a dual friction surface converter and that would be the next step up. The cores are hard to come by and they're quite expensive tho.
After that, a billet cover/billet piston triple disc is about the end-all-be-all option for the 6l80e. That with the proper tuning will be nearly impossible to slip no matter the load you're hauling.
The factory PCM targets slip...it purposely will reduce TCC pressure until it sees 20-60 rpm slip. It is silly
Once you correct the tuning, the factory converter is quite good. Even without any billet parts.
Next best upgrade would be a billet PISTON. Not a billet cover. A billet PISTON.
Precision of New Hampton is a converter manufacturer that offers this option. I'm sure Florida torque converter and any of the other large remanufacturing operations offer the same.
The factory 6L90 converters are a dual friction surface converter and that would be the next step up. The cores are hard to come by and they're quite expensive tho.
After that, a billet cover/billet piston triple disc is about the end-all-be-all option for the 6l80e. That with the proper tuning will be nearly impossible to slip no matter the load you're hauling.
My 2012 ran a bone stock 6.0 and 6L90 for 267k miles before failure. That truck towed construction equipment all over Houston its entire life... maybe 3k miles without a trailer hooked up. The cause of failure was the output speed sensor inside the case that caused further damage but she still drove to the transmission shop for rebuild. These were all OEM converters, coolers, maintenance, internals, tune, etc. with several of each 5.3 and 6.0. The 5.3 can't pull the same load without more RPM so I think those benefit more from the billet converters and upgraded coolers. If you decide to put a higher stall in, you WILL need to upgrade trans cooler. IMO you don't want or need a higher stall for towing because 6 gear ratios with a very steep 1st.
We had a bunch of similar gassers under the same conditions and only a couple had transmission problems with the early A6 behind both 5.3 and 6.0. The diesels however had several engine related recall/TSB problems and my personal Duramax has been dead since October waiting on a TCM.
Be aware, the tune on a 6L80 and 6L90 can kill a perfectly good transmission quickly. Choose your tuner carefully and I highly suggest having a way to data log engine and trans parameters.
We had a bunch of similar gassers under the same conditions and only a couple had transmission problems with the early A6 behind both 5.3 and 6.0. The diesels however had several engine related recall/TSB problems and my personal Duramax has been dead since October waiting on a TCM.
Be aware, the tune on a 6L80 and 6L90 can kill a perfectly good transmission quickly. Choose your tuner carefully and I highly suggest having a way to data log engine and trans parameters.
