transmission Cooler location

[AndrewKing]

HI All,



I am going to be towing daily with my truck this summer (lawn care... . total weight pulled is 3450 lbs)... . To make sure the transmission is cool I installed a B&M deep transmission pan and will be installing an aux transmission cooler..... I realize that the factory aux cooler is under the bed but a friend at a trans shop says he can put one in front of the radiator / intercooler where it will get better cooling because of the better location for ram air... ... I don't think he realizes just how little room there is BUT assuming he can get one to fit there, would this adversly affect the inlet temp for the engine since it would be in front of the intercooler?... . I know the goal is to have cool air for the engine but my other trucks have the trans cooler in front of the AC condensor with no ill effects?..... What do you think?... . I kinda lean towards putting it under the body but up front would get the best air for cooling BUT then again putting it in front ove everything would raise other temps too..... Help!... . or maybe I'm worrying too much?

Thanks in advance for your help and opinions

Andrew

 

[cguthrie]

When i got my transmission rebuilt they put a new cooler next to the battery tray. I'm not to sure but i think the ones that came under the bed had a fan that turned on to keep the fluid cool, if you did that it would be more of a hassle than installing one in front of the radiator.



Chris

 

[dan brooks]

I installed one under the bed and it was a simple project, made a huge difference, too. There are pics on my "Reader's Rigs Gallery" (<-------click under my username on the left).

 

[paccool]

Andrew, do you realize that the coolers under the bed have fans and a temp switch to turn them on and off? Just want to be sure you don't think it is just a " cooler " that relies on air passing thru like the ones put in front of the radiators.



If you already knew that then disregard what I said above. Another cooler in front of the radiator working with the OEM cooler will help the transmission. The coolers in front of the radiator don't cost too much so you might want to try it and see what happens.



Good luck, I hope it works good for you.



Stan

 

[cerberusiam]

With the kind of weight your talking about I don't thin you will have to worry about a larger aux cooler. The water/fluid cooler is pretty effective and if most of your driving is from job to job in town the factory cooler setup should work fine. Where the aux coolers come in handy is wwhen you are pushing up around the 12k to 15k at hiway speeds.



It makes no difference wher the air comes from for tha aux cooler. The temp difference between the grill area and under the bed is small when you are rolling. The under the bed cooler should have a fan to pull the air thru where it is not needed in front, but in front you are pushing heat into the IC, AC condensor, and radiator.



As I said before with 3400 lbs and slower driving I don't think you will need a larger cooler or another one in front won't even be noticed.

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

Just as a thought... keep in mind that you've already got a lot of stuff up front. . the rad needs cool air, the IC core needs cool air, the secondary trans cooler needs cool air... at this point there isn't much of that left to go around without negatively impacting the other "coolers" already up front... .



pb... .

 

[AndrewKing]

Thanks for all the input guys... . just to let you know what I am doing, I have installed a second cooler on the front wheelwell running parallel with the engine... kind of inline the battery but behind it when viewed fron the front of the truck... . I figured this would be a good compromise spot since putting more transmission cooling in front of the AC or intercooler or radiator may put too much heat up there... . I did think of putting it behind the ratdiator in front of the fan but per the instructiions this spot is only 60% efficient... plus it would be a little too close for comfort to the fan for me..... I am also going to try to put one under the bed w/ a fan too..... transmission man thinks it's overkill but then again I figure he'd like to make another payment on his new truck if I burned my transmission out!

Thanks again

Andrew