transmission cooling

[GBritt]

I had a transmission mechanic tell me yesterday that there where some check balls in the lines to the transmission cooler on Dodge trucks. He says his company removes these on every truck that comes in their shop because sometimes they will stick and not allow the fluid to flow thru the cooler. He also says that they put a larger cooler on every truck they rebuild the transmission in and will not guarantee the transmission without it. Does anyone know anything about these balls and exactly where they are at in the lines. Also is the larger cooler mandated. Thanx

 

[Joe G.]

A larger cooler would be nice, but there are a lot of people getting a lot of miles out of their transmissions without it. If you are stock you are probably ok. Towing with a hot engine can run up the transmission temps pretty good if the trans is stock. I believe the check balls are only in certain year trucks.

 

[PHaller]

The check ball is in the cooler line right under the coolant to transmission oil cooler under the exhaust manifold. Mine is a 97. The check ball is there to help prevent TC drainback. It does help with that but it also reduces TC coolant flow and they do on occasion stick.

If you upgrade your valve body so you get higher then normal coolant flow and TC fill in park, it's a good idea to remove the check ball so you can take advantage of the increased flow rates. I have heard but never substantiated that the ball can be removed from the line and the old line reinstalled. I just put in a BD line without the ball. I now suffer from drainback big time. I start the truck and I have to wait 90 seconds until the TC is ready to transfer power. The price of better coolant flow.

A transmission temp guage is the only way to monitor your transmission temps and KNOW if you require extra cooling. Pulling my 37 foot 5er I do need some help. I do not when stock or pulling light.

-Paul R. Haller-

 

[RustyJC]

On our 96 3500 V-10/automatic, we added a B&M Supercooler (the largest one they make, plumbed with 1/2" NPT inlet and outlet ports) to the factory towing package coolers. That, in conjunction with a lower temperature aftermarket fan clutch, cured a high engine coolant temperature problem when pulling a 36' 5ver in stop-and-go traffic during Texas summers (100*+ ambient temperatures). To lower the heat load on the engine cooling system, we installed this cooler on the hot fluid (cooler supply) line between the transmission and the radiator tank ATF cooler.



Rusty