6.0 or 5.3

[David Smith]

That all depends on your control of your right foot. The trans won't know what's in front of it- 5.3, 6.0, 7.0... It only feels how much power/torque is put on it. You could put a 1,000 HP big block to it and it'll live just as long as it would with a 4.8 hitting on 6 cylinders as long as you don't apply any more than about 1/4 to 1/3 of that 1,000 HP.

That being said, there's no point in swapping in a more powerful motor if you're not gonna use it. The trucks that got the 6.0 got heavier-duty transmissions so that they'd have the same general life expectancy of the weaker motors with the weaker transmissions.

Decide what you ultimately want and will have for a motor and buy a trans or build up your trans accordingly.

If the current trans is fine and you end up with a stronger motor, just know what you have and drive it accordingly. It may live plenty long enough for you or it my go all Tonyrodz and crumble under pressure.

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't let the trans hold me back from a 6.0 swap. Like what has been said, drive it accordingly (minimal asshattery on the street, no full-throttling when pulling heavy loads, etc.) You're gonna burn the tires at least once. This doesn't put nearly as much strain on the trans as hard towing does because the power is transmitted through (and out) of the tires.

Yeah, I don't really dog my Tahoe now, and probably won't in the future. I am going to go with a 6.0. The towing that I do is minimal so I think that I will be fine there.

 

[#1taho]

You will be ok.

 

[David Smith]

Just out of curiosity, is the complete 6.0 drivetrain a direct swap (engine and tranny)? Any modifications needed or is everything identical aside from the computer?

 

[#1taho]

mostly yes, If you get the motor and tranny out of a caddy or denali. motors are direct swap out of almost anything. but 2500-3500 work trucks have the bigger tranny and they do fit but not directly. there are alot of threads on this and its worth the read, do your research first and it goes quick once you do the swap.

 

[David Smith]

mostly yes, If you get the motor and tranny out of a caddy or denali. motors are direct swap out of almost anything. but 2500-3500 work trucks have the bigger tranny and they do fit but not directly. there are alot of threads on this and its worth the read, do your research first and it goes quick once you do the swap.

Thanks for the reply.

Mostly all I am finding online are just the engine swaps. I am looking to pull out the entire drivetrain from a Denali (6.0) and put it in my Tahoe. most of what I have found online shows that I will need to swap the computer.

I mainly need to know if all of the transmission mounts and wiring harness etc. will be plug and play with my tahoe or if there will be any serious modifications.

 

[#1taho]

Thanks for the reply.

Mostly all I am finding online are just the engine swaps. I am looking to pull out the entire drivetrain from a Denali (6.0) and put it in my Tahoe. most of what I have found online shows that I will need to swap the computer.

I mainly need to know if all of the transmission mounts and wiring harness etc. will be plug and play with my tahoe or if there will be any serious modifications.

transfer case will not work out of a denali or caddy, they are awd. but motor and tranny will directly fit. I swapped out the motor and tranny from a 02 escalade into my 05 taho. I used my taho computer (had the computer tuned ) and my intake. It's all interchangeable.The trannies out of the denali and caddy are a bit better than the taho.

 

[David Smith]

transfer case will not work out of a denali or caddy, they are awd. but motor and tranny will directly fit. I swapped out the motor and tranny from a 02 escalade into my 05 taho. I used my taho computer (had the computer tuned ) and my intake. It's all interchangeable.The trannies out of the denali and caddy are a bit better than the taho.

So I can use my transfer case on the Denali drivetrain?

 

[Cattivo]

So I can use my transfer case on the Denali drivetrain?

Not to thread jack but I would like to know the answer to this question as well...I want to swap the Esky's engine and tranny into my Tahoe

 

[#1taho]

So I can use my transfer case on the Denali drivetrain?

Yes.
I used my taho transfer case on the caddy tranny. The 6.0L swap is suprizing easy. I figured there would be more to it than just in and out. But there wasn't. I used the 5.3 intake off the Taho and the exhaust manifolds off the 5.3.

The reason for that was , the 6.0 had an EGR and the 5.3 did not. And the taho was drive by wire and the 6.0 was drive by cable.

Is either of your Taho's flex fuel ?

 

[David Smith]

Yes.
I used my taho transfer case on the caddy tranny. The 6.0L swap is suprizing easy. I figured there would be more to it than just in and out. But there wasn't. I used the 5.3 intake off the Taho and the exhaust manifolds off the 5.3.

The reason for that was , the 6.0 had an EGR and the 5.3 did not. And the taho was drive by wire and the 6.0 was drive by cable.

Is either of your Taho's flex fuel ?

No flex fuel for me

 

[#1taho]

No flex fuel for me

mine was not flex fuel either. But I was told the flex fuel injectors have a higher flow rate. but your will work no problem.

 

[Tonyrodz]

mine was not flex fuel either. But I was told the flex fuel injectors have a higher flow rate. but your will work no problem.

Would those higher flow rate injectors work for mods? Do you know what the flow rate difference is?

 

[gtrslngrchris]

Yes.
I used my taho transfer case on the caddy tranny. The 6.0L swap is suprizing easy. I figured there would be more to it than just in and out. But there wasn't. I used the 5.3 intake off the Taho and the exhaust manifolds off the 5.3.

The reason for that was , the 6.0 had an EGR and the 5.3 did not. And the taho was drive by wire and the 6.0 was drive by cable.

Is either of your Taho's flex fuel ?

Depends on the year I'm guessing. My 5.3 and 6.0 had identical throttle body/intake manifold/rails/injectors/manifolds but my Tahoe was an '05 and the Escalade donor was an '06. Because of the year though it also meant some minor problems for me because I only got the motor and not the ECM and all associated modules. Even flashing my ECM to the Escalade OS/VIN so that the motor would run factory it then caused VIN mismatches with other modules in the truck, most notably the ABS module which has traction control on it which caused the ECU to reduce engine output limiting how far the throttle body would open.

Had I got all the modules in the first place I could have swapped it all and never touched the tuning but it may be slightly more involved depending on what you're working with. I believe my EBCM may have had an issue with the wrong VIN as well but my aftermarket remote start defeated that in advance.

 

[#1taho]

I used my taho ecm. Tuned and no problems at all !!! It even ran with the 5.3 tune and ran well.
I think you went about the tune wrong. Do you have it straightened up now ?

 

[#1taho]

Would those higher flow rate injectors work for mods? Do you know what the flow rate difference is?

The guy I talked to said it would be good for a cam mod but beyond that would need better ones. Sorry no I don't know the flow rate.

 

[Tonyrodz]

The guy I talked to said it would be good for a cam mod but beyond that would need better ones. Sorry no I don't know the flow rate.

Mine smells a little rich to me. I was just curious. Thx.

 

[about20ninj45]

Depends on the year I'm guessing. My 5.3 and 6.0 had identical throttle body/intake manifold/rails/injectors/manifolds but my Tahoe was an '05 and the Escalade donor was an '06. Because of the year though it also meant some minor problems for me because I only got the motor and not the ECM and all associated modules. Even flashing my ECM to the Escalade OS/VIN so that the motor would run factory it then caused VIN mismatches with other modules in the truck, most notably the ABS module which has traction control on it which caused the ECU to reduce engine output limiting how far the throttle body would open.

Had I got all the modules in the first place I could have swapped it all and never touched the tuning but it may be slightly more involved depending on what you're working with. I believe my EBCM may have had an issue with the wrong VIN as well but my aftermarket remote start defeated that in advance.

What suite are you using to tube the truck? HP tuners and efi live both have the ability to write new vin's to the ecu and tcm

 

[gtrslngrchris]

What suite are you using to tube the truck? HP tuners and efi live both have the ability to write new vin's to the ecu and tcm

HPtuners. They didn't have the ability to read the latest OS for my '05 Tahoe properly. I know this because I went back and forth with support for over a week and 2 beta updates before they got it right. The problem wasn't HPtuners' ability to change the VIN on the Escalade OS it was that I would have needed to spend another $100 to license that even though it was on the same ECM I had licensed before.