Cost is a factor I use. If you have to do like Ivanko did and spend $5K on a 700, you've waisted your money. You should've gone with a 4L80E and been done with it. When I worked with Nightdiver, what we found was, once you get so quick, 1st gear in the 700 becomes useless in the syty. He would go through it so quick, it was hard to datalog first gear. I mean it was almost instant and he had zero traction. 1st gear in the 700 is so low it's hard to get traction. Same truck that won't hook up in the 700 and has to be detuned, will do fine in the 80 because of the gearing. Parasitic drag is a tough one. Parts in the 700 weigh less. But they do double duty. If you follow the components of the 80, you'll see it's not doing double duty on anything. The big 1-2 shift is not the big band as much as it is the gear change. It's much more extreme on the 700 than it is on the 80. You don't get the kick but you get an actual useful 1st gear. I use 9.5" converters in the 80 now. Any rotational mass issues are pretty much done away with there. I've done both. Seen lots of broken 700s. NEVER seen a BROKEN 4l80E that wasn't overheated.....5th wheel with 4 cars on a trailor being towed with no auxillary cooler going 85 mph on the highway(my brother) from Louisiana to Ohio.
Brian did a 4L80e in a syty a long time ago. Didn't use the BW4472 transfer case. Never heard much about it. Back then though, it was REALLY hard to get a converter that didn't weigh 80 pounds for a 4L80E. I think Brian was wanting $1200 for the output shaft alone to go to a 27 spline. Probably why most guys just passed on it.
Static Weight. A 700 weighs 140 pounds. 80e=170 pounds. The case alone is 15 of it.
700s have their place. If you get to the point you need a billet output shaft in a 700, it's time to move on. There is still the aluminum drum issue even after going with a billet output shaft. Ticking bomb. 80e does not have that weakness. 700s also have the little 29 element sprag that can flip. 80e has a 34 element wider dogged sprag. Again, no comparison. You make enough power to break an 80e input shaft or main shaft, billet parts are readily available....and they cost less than a billet output shaft and a reinforced cryo'd 4L65/4L70 sprag.
Just adding something to a comment about JS not doing a true back to back test...if you followed their progress, which they doc'd on here pretty well, there wasn't any tuning that could be done because of all the drivetrain issues. Trans....transfer case....Jeff's finger...trans....trans.....4L80E just in time for nats. I worked on the thing till 2 AM just so they could have it in time. There was NO tuning specific to the 4L80E. I know.
Brian told you to go with a standard because that was his opinion. You trust him obviously. Don't ask us what we think. Brian knows you, knows your truck, knows how you want to use it and that's what he thinks. (And I'm sure you kinda hinted you wanted a standard shift because of the way you want to use it anyway)
