Relocate the factory tranny cooler? (1 Viewer)

[John E Davies]

Has anyone relocated the factory cooler to a spot other than in front of the radiator? I have never understood the rational in dumping all the tranny heat into the coolant, besides ease of installation!!

I once had a (very) hopped up 7.4 liter Suburban that got too hot when towing 8500 pounds, and I successfully relocated a big aftermarket cooler to a spot beside the radiator, and used a temp-switch controlled electric fan to provide airflow at low speeds. It worked like a charm - the tranny stayed cool and the reduced heat load on the radiator kept the engine happy.

Has anyone tried this on an 80?

Thanks.

John

 

[elmariachi]

Has anyone relocated the factory cooler to a spot other than in front of the radiator? I have never understood the rational in dumping all the tranny heat into the coolant, besides ease of installation!!John

I don't think the design idea was to dump tranny heat into the coolant, but rather to get the cooler out front where it can get air. Moving the cooler is not going to make coolant temps any less, but could risk making tranny temps higher if you get it in the wrong spot. The only advantage I would see is it might free up more airflow for the AC condenser.

EDIT>>> I just read your prior post about your overheating issue. If you suspect that tranny temps are affecting coolant temps, it might be best to measure the temps and confirm temp gauge accuracy before moving stuff around.

 

[3pits]

I agree I recently read somehting which sounded backwards to me, it said the rad does not cool the tranny, but warms it up for smoother shifting earlier, I have installed a cooler and temp sensor on my 62 and am around 145-155,,,,

 

[Rusty Phillips]

re: tranny coolers in general

does the ATF go thru the cooler in the radiator and then thru the external one in front of the radiator then to the tranny?

or is it the other way around?

be interesting to see some temps before /after the two coolers


edit

 

[3pits]

i just installed one on my 62 did the rad "cooler" then to the external/extra cooler,,, did a search here and that was the concensus

 

[John E Davies]

I agree I recently read somehting which sounded backwards to me, it said the rad does not cool the tranny, but warms it up for smoother shifting earlier,,

Well, that is indeed one MINOR function, but unless you drive a lot of short city trips, there really is not any serious issue with "too cool" fluid. A vehicle that is used mostly on the highway or off-road doesn't need to have any warming from the radiator to get the fluid to a good working temp. You just need to be sure that the condensation in the tranny has a chance to burn off.

I used a large self-regulating "stacked plate" cooler that bypassed flow at colder temps. I never had any issues with my Suburban over 5 years of very heavy towing - I did cover 1/2 the cooler in winter, however. I installed a tranny temp gage and the fluid never got over 210 degrees regardless of grade and outside air temp.... and this was with a GVW of over 16,500 pounds.

I was just curious if this would work on a Series 80 Cruiser, and if so - how to do it.

John

 

[landtank]

too cold a fluid can create shifting problems with these newer style trannies that use O-Ring gaskets internally. The O-Rings commonly won't seal completely when cold and need to be warmed up. In the 95~97 trannies Toyota has changed the matterial used on a few of these to help out in slow shifting problems.