Basic transmission cooler install

[J. Mark]

I thought I'd write up a basic no frills install with some pictures.

Remove air intake hose, 2 plastic press anchors. (Not necessary, but gives you more room to see what is going on and to move shroud easily)

Remove grill 4 screws across top, one in center under emblem (Phillips)

Remove 2 bolts from top of Radiator shroud (8mm)

From under vehicle cut the return line coming from the bottom of the radiator with a mini tubing cutter. Stick a 2 " piece of scrap hose over the ends for now to stop drips. You'll use this later by splitting it to keep the lines from rubbing. If you look at the underside of the plastic filler panel there is a large access hole you can run the line through on the passenger side, just off center.

I bent one side of the line forward above the sway bar, but you could remove some more line if you wanted to. You can bend the line gently by hand if you don't have a tubing bender, but be careful not to kink it. Wait until you are going to attach the lines to bend this if you want to avoid any drips.

Attach rubber lines to the cooler and clamp in place, mine came with the proper line for Transmission fluid, only use line meant for ATF fluid. The nipples should ideally point sideways to prevent any chance of the cooler trapping air, but with this large cooler and the tab mounts pointing them down allowed me to use shorter lengths of hose and made the instillation easier. If you leave the line in one piece and attach it as a "U" you can cut it underneath and not run short of line. Feed the line through the opening I mentioned before.

Using the plastic mounts feed them through the cooler and place a foam insulator on the back side of each one and then feed through condenser and radiator and put locking tabs on them. Cut off the excess.

From underneath cut the hose so you have enough to go to each line and trim off a little excess to use later to prevent rubbing. Slide on two clamps on each side and remove the scrap of hose I had you place on the cut lines. Slide the rubber onto the lines and clamp one inch from the end and one inch from where the metal line stops inside the rubber line. Get them good and snug, but don't go overboard. I was able to slide 4-6 inches of line inside the tube on each side.

Clean the areas after you finish so any leaks will be obvious.

Reattach the bolts holding the radiator shroud and start it up. Let it idle for a few minutes and then put it in gear for another minute or two then shut it off and check all connections.

If all is tight and dry reattach air intake hose and grill, close the hood and your done.

Check the lines after the next couple of drives and make adjustments if there is any leakage at all.

[J. Mark]

Can't get pics to upload. Sorry, I'll fix as soon as I can

[Bronco4Life]

Originally Posted by J. Mark

The nipples shouls point down to prevent any chance of the cooler trapping air, plus this makes the instillation easier.

Using the plastic mounts feed them through the cooler and place a foam insulator on the back side of each one and then feed through condenser and radiator and put locking tabs on them. Cut off the excess.

The inlet and outlet should be horizontal to help prevent it trapping air, with them on the bottom, the air is much more likely to be trapped at the tops of the bends, especially with a (imo crap) tube and fin cooler. I'd think it would be less likely to happen with a stacked plate cooler.

Also, I'd never mount anything to a very weak AC condenser/radiator with those stupid plastic tab things, that's just asking for trouble.

Nonetheless, thanks for the writeup.

[J. Mark]

As for the mounting, my Bronco doesn't do any wheeling at this time.

As to the trapping air, you may be right, I'm going to edit my write up to reflect that . . . but the cooler I used is to big to mount sideways with the tabs and I doubt the air will get trapped in on road use. If I start wheeling it, I'll remount it and turn it sideways.

[Stealth]

you had think that as massive as the front area is in our FSB, someone
would have found out by now a different spot to mount trani coolers other
than smack in front of the rad / condenser.

[sewiv]

Why? With a good clean radiator, everything still works fine with a cooler mounted there.

[Need4racin]

Originally Posted by Stealth

you had think that as massive as the front area is in our FSB, someone
would have found out by now a different spot to mount trani coolers other
than smack in front of the rad / condenser.

the 04-07 f150s have the cooler in the bumper.

[California Monkey]

Originally Posted by Bronco4Life

The inlet and outlet should be horizontal to help prevent it trapping air, with them on the bottom, the air is much more likely to be trapped at the tops of the bends, especially with a (imo crap) tube and fin cooler. I'd think it would be less likely to happen with a stacked plate cooler.

OEM ford cooler (stack-plate) is mounted with the inlet / outlet on the bottom. I just installed one and I'm still freaked out about the thought of the air that could be trapped in there. 3 days now and it still shifts fine. The nice thing about the OEM is that it mounts to stock location meaning no drilling, fabricating or figuring out where it should go. I just wish I would have thought to grab the hard lines when I grabbed the cooler. Would have saved me 2 hours of bending lines.

[kenny714]

Got two mounted on the 86. One for Tranny and one for Power Steering. Even packed with mud and beating the hell out of the truck I never had any kind of temp or air issues.

[unixdude]

I know this is going to sound obvious, but I do not see in your procedures where you say to add additional fluid / check the fluid levels to make sure you have enough.

Also, since you are cutting the lines, that would be the best time to add the external filter that Sixlitre has preached 1000x times on this site. Small piece of insurance to keep the trans running.

[J. Mark]

I suppose I should add that to the write up!. Interestingly enough, when I cut the line I lost only a few drops of fluid and after running it and checking it, it did not need to be topped off. I doubt that even a larger cooler holds more than 6-8oz of fluid.

I would like to add the filter, but for now this is just as I named it a basic install.

When I add a filter I will likely change the mounts to something a bit sturdier than the zip tie mounts, but I have used them before on a mustang and they held up for years without a problem.

[bossind]

Originally Posted by J. Mark

As for the mounting, my Bronco doesn't do any wheeling at this time.

As to the trapping air, you may be right, I'm going to edit my write up to reflect that . . . but the cooler I used is to big to mount sideways with the tabs and I doubt the air will get trapped in on road use. If I start wheeling it, I'll remount it and turn it sideways.

I don't think air will get trapped in there, its just tubing with fines attached to the side of them. After all its under pressure.

[California Monkey]

I let mine Idle for about 20 minutes swiching through gear periodicly to try ad make sure all the air bubble had passed.

[Lambo]

question? yes i have searched. how much better is one of the aftermarket coolers then the stock one? i have the stock one already installed and my tranny is having shifting problems when it warms up, usually after about 10-15minutes of driving it starts not being able to find the next gear. no i dont have a gauge so i am going to be installing one of those here shortly and i am going to get the it flushed and filled see if that does anything.

[California Monkey]

Depends on which one you have but if the stock one isn't clean, it won't cool very well.

More info would help your tranny problems. (miles on tranny, miles since last service, what's the truck used for, anything happen when it started having problems or was it more out of the blue?)

[Lambo]

truck has about 140,000 on it been lifted for about 40,000 on 35's with the stock 3.55 gears(i know i know bad juju). its been proly 30,000 since my last tranny service thats why i am going to start with that. the problem started kind of out of the blue with it shifting hard from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd about a year ago. just havent been driving it very hard since it started but it is my DD right now with a little bit of off-roading nothing to intense now it just kind of doesnt want to find the next gear but i can make it shift it just takes some work.

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by sewiv

Why? With a good clean radiator, everything still works fine with a cooler mounted there.

IMO, the less heat one puts into the engine compartment, the better
the rubber items, the plastic connectors and battery are. heck, it might
even help combustion to have cooler air going into the throttle intake?

cooking promotes brittle and failure. heat from the transmission being
brought forward for cooling? why not cool the fluid back there where it is?
isnt there room next to the transmission for a ducted-air-trans-cooler?

i seen reports of people moving coils to the side of the engine compartment
so that they will run a bit cooler.

personally, i wouldnt mind seeing an upper or side engine compartment exit
port for the hot air that normally flows under the chassis. when i run in Baja
at slow speeds, with ambient of 115F, all systems running, i wonder what
the temp is front of the firewall - maybe i should stick a thermometer in
there, the kind you buy for the house with a long lead for outside temp?
on the hwy, it dont matter .. there is so much air coming through anyways,
but a slow 5mph climb on gravel/dirt, set at LOW RANGE for a couple of hrs - its
cooking in there.

high tech?
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5828967-claims.html

low tech?

by 4x4wire's Terry L. Howe

If you live in a dry area or wheel exclusively in dry areas, removing or cutting the inner fender wells can greatly enhance the cooling of the engine. ......... easier air flow around the engine. If you wheel in wet areas, the water and dirt on the engine might cause more problems than it is worth.

Another benefit of running open fenders is easy maintenance.

jeezzz, he messes up a climb like that and it is a long way down.






our trucks arent getting any younger.






.

[sewiv]

Okay, I just didn't catch that you were talking about 1%-type extreme severe conditions. Even so, it seems a ridiculous amount of work to reduce underhood temps by a degree or so. For a full-on race truck, it might be worth it, but for anything else, fuhgeddaboudit.

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by sewiv

Okay, I just didn't catch that you were talking about 1%-type extreme severe conditions. Even so, it seems a ridiculous amount of work to reduce underhood temps by a degree or so. For a full-on race truck, it might be worth it, but for anything else, fuhgeddaboudit.

only 1% ?

maybe more. think about the thousands of Broncos in the SoWest,
in heavy traffic, 100F ambient and the aging plastic components in there.

[Bob G]

and Southeast, dont listen to the weather channel, here in N.central Fla, where there is no sea breeze its near 100 everyday since april and humid. but our trucks are used to it, i guess. some cool mud thrown in there cools stuff down. the biggest prob we have is with batteries here. the acid/water evaporates real fast, and the heat overall kill them fast here, i run optima's in the CJ and Bronco and have no troubles.