PS Steering Cooler (1 Viewer)

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Here is the cooler I puchased: https://a.co/d/fNty2AZ

It tucks in behind my ARB bumper, though I'm not running a winch yet. I plan to add one in the future and may need to relocate it.

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-Rob

I've got a 4plus front winch bumper with winch...that is similar and has similar space there, this weekend I'll check it out to see if its ok to put something there (same spot you are using).. thanks for the feedback
 
good deal, pics and notes help others to see what might work or spark ideas.
 
My 87’ FJ60 with 4Plus front bumper with winch has just a hair over 2.5” from the bumper to the frame. If I recall correctly, the heat sink coolers stuck out about 3” when taking into account the mounting brackets.

This is the reason I went with the small cooler mounted to the condenser in the post above.

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My 87’ FJ60 with 4Plus front bumper with winch has just a hair over 2.5” from the bumper to the frame. If I recall correctly, the heat sink coolers stuck out about 3” when taking into account the mounting brackets.

This is the reason I went with the small cooler mounted to the condenser in the post above.

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ok, I assume mine must be the same, I've just not gotten under there to look , I did notice some room , looking from above....but good point. I don't have a pic off hand of what mine is now, but is one of those similar coolers that look like a mini radiator ....or trans cooler.
 
I took measurements for one of those heat-sink style coolers a while back and the smallest one would not fit between my crossmember and 4Plus bumper (where the fire truck above has his).

I ended up going with a small one mounted on the condenser. I currently have the fluid going through the stock paperclip cooler as well. I haven’t had any issues. I also have one of those Magnefine filters on the return line.

Small black cooler is PS.
Large cooler is Trans - I know, way overkill.

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Be careful of those 'through the fins' mounting straps. Even cinched tight they will eventually move and cause radiator damage. I encourage you to come up with some durable, preferably metal, mounting straps. More initial work, long time reliability. BTDT.
 
Yes I'm not a fan of things mounted to the radiator (as in through the radiator) or through the condenser.

One of the things that is aggravating too, is the room between the condenser (if you have ac), and the grill.

I have a p/s cooler right now and its mated to the condenser which I don't like and its been ok, I do agree that there is potential to damage the condenser.

as noted....and an observation..... I've never seen an OEM setup that mounts a cooler to the radiator or condensor..... they use brackets etc. As I have done and others have done...you make it work sometimes.

Best approach is to have some type of bracket that gets the cooler off the condenser or radiator, but in the air-way if possible.

Then consider the 4wd aspect.....where for many people, the truck is not just driven on the street, thus more vibration/shock/stress than just driving around on the road.

not much room to work in on a FJ60 with A/C ....and how close the grill is.
 
Be careful of those 'through the fins' mounting straps. Even cinched tight they will eventually move and cause radiator damage. I encourage you to come up with some durable, preferably metal, mounting straps. More initial work, long time reliability. BTDT.

I hear ya, but it was the best option for my application. As noted, there isn’t a lot of room between the condenser and the grill.
I check it occasionally and take it off to remove debris from between the condenser and coolers. I’ve never seen any sign of damage. In fact, on my old condenser the PO had a trans cooler mounted to it for 140k miles (many off road) and when I removed the cooler from the condenser, it was in perfect shape. No damage to fins or anything. There are pads between the two surfaces that help prevent damage.
Just to reiterate, I agree it’s not the best option… But I’m not too worried about it since I do look it over occasionally.
 
ok, I assume mine must be the same, I've just not gotten under there to look , I did notice some room , looking from above....but good point. I don't have a pic off hand of what mine is now, but is one of those similar coolers that look like a mini radiator ....or trans cooler.

yea I checked that out...and yea space is limited in that area with the 4 plus bumper, I'm still looking around as to path I want to take. If I can't lock in on something, I'm just going to leave the cooler I have in place and swap the steering gear. I got a 80 series rebuilt steering gear to replace my leaking but functional 60 steering gear. When I say leaking ...its massive.
 
Okay, as with most things, I change my mind at least 3 times. I didn’t like the derale, too small and didn’t match my tranny cooler. I really like the tough stacked plate design. So I went overkill and my tranny cooler is a B&M 70274 (29,200 BTUs) so I went with B&M 20273 for PS at 15k BTU. Only required 3 custom brackets, couple spacers, nutserts and 3/16 bar stock.

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Okay, as with most things, I change my mind at least 3 times. I didn’t like the derale, too small and didn’t match my tranny cooler. I really like the tough stacked plate design. So I went overkill and my tranny cooler is a B&M 70274 (29,200 BTUs) so I went with B&M 20273 for PS at 15k BTU. Only required 3 custom brackets, couple spacers, nutserts and 3/16 bar stock.

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Your power steering fluid will never get more than two degrees above ambient :lol:

Gonna last you a good long time .
 
Good that you mounted with the fittings 'up'. It takes a while to get all the air out otherwise. And yes, air can get trapped if not installed correctly.
 
looks good, is the smaller cooler going to move around on the edge near the center of the radiator....I'm guess there is a bracket on the back we can't see.

I like the brackets and mounts.....looks like a good approach. You might want to put some scrap heater hose or something around the pipes where they cross the radiator support hole, there just lower of the headlights, on the driver side.

Did you also make a custom pipe there with the a/c condensor....where that pipe crossed the front...?
 
looks good, is the smaller cooler going to move around on the edge near the center of the radiator....I'm guess there is a bracket on the back we can't see.

I like the brackets and mounts.....looks like a good approach. You might want to put some scrap heater hose or something around the pipes where they cross the radiator support hole, there just lower of the headlights, on the driver side.

Did you also make a custom pipe there with the a/c condensor....where that pipe crossed the front...?
Good point on the heater hose and radiator support hole. The smaller cooler is only mounted with 3 points of contact. With the plate style cooler, they’re very rigid and it seems to be solid and as secure as the larger cooler mounted with 4 points of contact.
For some reason, the FJ62 condenser has that pipe in front by design.
 
looks like someone swapped it or changed it (your hard metal line on the front of teh a/c condensor, just wondered if that was by design as to cooolers, or just something to get it to work. The hard line on mine is different (ac condenser)....maybe a differnece between 62 and 60.

(jdog)....does your truck have the FJ62 OEM air filter housing ?
 
looks like someone swapped it or changed it (your hard metal line on the front of teh a/c condensor, just wondered if that was by design as to cooolers, or just something to get it to work. The hard line on mine is different (ac condenser)....maybe a differnece between 62 and 60.

(jdog)....does your truck have the FJ62 OEM air filter housing ?
It’s how the 62 was made. I replaced the condenser with a new one.

Yep, OEM air cleaner is about the only thing 62 left lol. Totally inspired by Stan’s amazing work.

From the booster, master, steering box and all suspension and axles are 80. Getting close to starting it for the first time.

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It’s how the 62 was made. I replaced the condenser with a new one.

Yep, OEM air cleaner is about the only thing 62 left lol. Totally inspired by Stan’s amazing work.

From the booster, master, steering box and all suspension and axles are 80. Getting close to starting it for the first time.

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I'll send you a pm if you can take a pic or two..... I'm looking to use a FJ62 air filter housing on my 60 with 5.7 vortec...
 
So just for grins, I took the temp of my 62's power steering fluid (new AMSOIL ATF) after a 15 mile drive on our first 90º day of the season, about half freeway and half stop & go with turning a bunch of corners to get into my neighborhood. Stock PS system, 33" tires and just normal daily driving. I was surprised that the fluid was only 122º Fahrenheit. I'll check it off and on more throughout the warmer months and see if it even gets above the normal engine temp. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if the only thing that really drives the temp up would be low speed wheeling involving lots of turning and even larger tires.

Given this, I might not bother doing any kind of non-stock cooling setup at all, especially if stock never even exceeds the engine's temperature.
 
So just for grins, I took the temp of my 62's power steering fluid (new AMSOIL ATF) after a 15 mile drive on our first 90º day of the season, about half freeway and half stop & go with turning a bunch of corners to get into my neighborhood. Stock PS system, 33" tires and just normal daily driving. I was surprised that the fluid was only 122º Fahrenheit. I'll check it off and on more throughout the warmer months and see if it even gets above the normal engine temp. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if the only thing that really drives the temp up would be low speed wheeling involving lots of turning and even larger tires.

Given this, I might not bother doing any kind of non-stock cooling setup at all, especially if stock never even exceeds the engine's temperature.


Excellent insight and thank you for measuring the temperature during normal driving conditions. This is great news. I still plan on doing the Magnefine filter but if no cooler is needed, that could be one less modification to plan for.
 
Excellent insight and thank you for measuring the temperature during normal driving conditions. This is great news. I still plan on doing the Magnefine filter but if no cooler is needed, that could be one less modification to plan for.
I'll definitely be adding a filter as well when I rebuild my pump (still trying to get a hold of an OEM kit). I plan on doing some light wheeling in central WA in mid June so I'm curious to see what that does for PS fluid heat.

Granted it's much different applications, but I understand a lot of circle track racing, even with coolers, can cause enough heat buildup to make their pumps completely fail. This has me curious just how sensitive PS systems are to work being applied and causing heat buildup (in general and ours specifically).

Edit: to coincide with my earlier measurement of PS fluid temperature; after a 4-hour, 230-mile drive with some stop-and-go at the beginning and end in 85º weather I measured again upon returning home and my fluid temp was only 138ºF. Based on that (with what I'm running anyway) I don't think a cooler would be needed, but I also don't think it's going to hurt anything either.
 
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