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tranny cooler?

whitneyj

whitneyj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Mayville, WI
So I've been thinking of how to do the tranny cooler thing on the ultra cheap. I've already got a tranny cooler, but it's not cooling enough and I don't want to spend money on another one. So I was thinking, my AC doesn't work anymore and I've got the cooler for it. . . Would that work for a tranny cooler? It's plenty big enough, it's already in place, and would be very easy to plumb into. Thoughts?
 
What is your trans temp running at?
 
you will have to get 100% of the freon oil out of the condesor or you will eventually grenade your tranny. i agree that its overkill, just add a fan to your current tranny cooler and you should be fine.
 
jpcherokeekid said:
you will have to get 100% of the freon oil out of the condesor or you will eventually grenade your tranny. i agree that its overkill, just add a fan to your current tranny cooler and you should be fine.
Click to expand...

Hey shouldnt you be in class.
 
I don't have a temp gauge in yet, working on the fullwidths first, but I do have a taurus fan setup, so I have plenty of air pulling through. My jeep doesn't see to much offroad time now due to location and job, however I think having brown ATF fluid after 15K miles is a little ridiculous. I agree that the cooler is really overkill, but what negative effect will it have as long as the the inlet line goes to the cooler first, then the radiator?
 
whitneyj said:
I don't have a temp gauge in yet, working on the fullwidths first, but I do have a taurus fan setup, so I have plenty of air pulling through. My jeep doesn't see to much offroad time now due to location and job, however I think having brown ATF fluid after 15K miles is a little ridiculous. I agree that the cooler is really overkill, but what negative effect will it have as long as the the inlet line goes to the cooler first, then the radiator?
Click to expand...

how do you know its getting too hot if you dont have a gauge? these trannys run hot, 175-210 on average. my suggestion is to first get a gauge then just hook up the taurus fan. ive got a taurus fan as well that i will be wiring infront of my trans cooler because i always seem to have alot of gear with me to weigh my rig down.
 
Last edited:
whitneyj said:
I don't have a temp gauge in yet, working on the fullwidths first, but I do have a taurus fan setup, so I have plenty of air pulling through. My jeep doesn't see to much offroad time now due to location and job, however I think having brown ATF fluid after 15K miles is a little ridiculous. I agree that the cooler is really overkill, but what negative effect will it have as long as the the inlet line goes to the cooler first, then the radiator?
Click to expand...

why would you want to cool it down, then just heat it back up again?? Just get a better tranny cooler and hook it up after the radiator. You can find them at Summit for around $40. And ya get a guage and find out if/why it is running hot.
 
i just picked up an exploder tranny cooler for $8 at the pul-a-part... just gotta mount it up now.
 
You want the radiator last after the cooler so it maintains a certain temperature and doesn't dip below. The cooler before the radiator makes sure that the temperature of the trans will not overheat the engine and to aide in cooling because the stock cooler in the radiator isn't that much really.
 
Slo-Sho said:
The older Ford Explorers have a stacked plate design trans cooler and has the barb fitting for 3/8" hose. There are plenty of them in the yards.
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I used a Ford Explorer tranny cooler. It fits just about perfect. Bent up a bracket for the top mounting holes and used an existing hole for the bottom mount. Installed it in 15 minutes total using some 3/8" hose and barbed connectors.
 
Yes, I've changed the fluid, every 15K miles I change it because it's brown. The tranny is fine, the taurus fan is fine, my tranny cooler I have now is not. Granted I don't know the temp of my tranny, but I don't need to know how hot it is when the fluid is already brown after only 15K daily driven, highway miles. Once I get my fullwidth axles under my jeep then I'll haev money freed up for other things, but until then I'm strapped for cash:hence me looking for ultra cheap methods. Otherwise I'd just get a bigger tranny cooler for $50 and call it a day. But that doesn't involve anything besides a credit card and a shipping address and what fun is that? I'd rather use somehting I already have and make it work.
 
Blaine B. said:
You want the radiator last after the cooler so it maintains a certain temperature and doesn't dip below. The cooler before the radiator makes sure that the temperature of the trans will not overheat the engine and to aide in cooling because the stock cooler in the radiator isn't that much really.
Click to expand...

If your tranny is running over 200 to where its going to heat up your engine, you've got problems....
 
whitneyj said:
Yes, I've changed the fluid, every 15K miles I change it because it's brown. The tranny is fine, the taurus fan is fine, my tranny cooler I have now is not. Granted I don't know the temp of my tranny, but I don't need to know how hot it is when the fluid is already brown after only 15K daily driven, highway miles. Once I get my fullwidth axles under my jeep then I'll haev money freed up for other things, but until then I'm strapped for cash:hence me looking for ultra cheap methods. Otherwise I'd just get a bigger tranny cooler for $50 and call it a day. But that doesn't involve anything besides a credit card and a shipping address and what fun is that? I'd rather use somehting I already have and make it work.
Click to expand...

When you say you change the fluid, are you changing ALL of it, or just draining it out of the pan and topping it off? If you're just doing the second part, you're only getting maybe 1/4-1/3 of the fluid out.
 
got me, I'm not draining the torque converter, but either way that's pretty soon to be changing the tranny fluid. But back to my original question, would it cause any harm to use the AC cooler as a tranny cooler as long as I plumbed it back into the rad then back to the tranny? That's all I'm looking for here. I understand it's overkill, I understand I can go to a junkyard and get one for cheap, but I'm trying to keep costs to a nil.
 
My concern would be flow/pressure.Most good cooler have the tubes in parallel.With a cond coil you just have one long tube wrapping back an forth!
 
my tranny cooler doesn't run in parralel now, it's all one tube wrapping back and forth, but it's also not the size of an AC cooler. so I should be worried about taxing the pump in the tranny?
 
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