Changing Trans Cooling lines to Rubber. Is this OK

Guys,

In doing the stroker I woudl like to cut my rusted trans cooling line and just use rubber lines. I am adding a trans cooler anyway, so I do not need the fitting that are on the radiator any longer, they will be plugged. I planned to cut them around 6" from the trans, and go all rubber after that.

Is this OK to do? I assume it would be since this is not high pressure (that high at least) lemme know your thoughs.

Thanks!

Todd

can I ask why? not saying its bad or anything just why do that? You know you can get replacment lines at napa for like $30 each. But if you do decide to do this you MUST flare the ends of the metal lines just incase there is any line slippage or anything.

I left as much of the steel as I could then compresion to anl fittings and hose with nylon brading (i know it is ovewr kill) but I would leave as moch of the steel and have it secured in a couple spots. The plastic fittings at the trans do not like to have any movement or they will leak. At some point I would like to replace with the more traditional fittings right at the trans but havent found them yet.

bzdel2441 said:

can I ask why? not saying its bad or anything just why do that? You know you can get replacment lines at napa for like $30 each. But if you do decide to do this you MUST flare the ends of the metal lines just incase there is any line slippage or anything.

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Ease of use, and ease of routing. The trans cooler will go on the passenger side of the rad, where as the stock connections are on the drivers side. Also I wouldn't want to buy brand new lines, and then cut them anyway for the cooler. I'll flare the lines, that's no big deal, hell I'll even double hose clamp each end. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything detrimental that would happen.

i swapped an AW4 in so I didn't have the hard lines, just a few inches of them, I found a hydraulic hose that would slip over the hard line and put 2 hose clamps on each, then routed that to a cooler (not in the radiator). It has been working great like this for over a year, including a dozen or so trail runs and over 10,000 street miles.

XJJack said:

I left as much of the steel as I could then compresion to anl fittings and hose with nylon brading (i know it is ovewr kill) but I would leave as moch of the steel and have it secured in a couple spots. The plastic fittings at the trans do not like to have any movement or they will leak. At some point I would like to replace with the more traditional fittings right at the trans but havent found them yet.

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OK, so maybe cut the lines after they mount to the oil pan? This would minimize movement, and still give me the routing that I need.

Just ask for high pressure hydraulic hose line (SAE J189, IIRC) and flare or double clamp the connections to the steel lines or barbed fittings.

If the rubber lines are close to exhaust pipe, take care to run the line inside a larger diameter conduit stub with an air gap, or utilize some other heat shield to protect the line.

Leave room for expansion or flex between the mounts on the suspended engine/trans and the mounts on the frame/body. You also need to have clamps or hold-downs on the hose to assure the weight of the hose is not supported only by the barb connector (or flair, or the junction between the hose and metal line).