After Market Transmission Cooler install ?

Is there a detailed write up on adding a after market transmission cooler on here some where? I'm probably making this harder than I need to. I just don't want to mess my truck up.

1. So which line is your return line coming out of the Radiator ? ( I think its the bottom one)
2. Does the line coming out of the radiator go into the bottom of the cooler or does it matter ?

Thanks,

 

If your truck came with a stock trans cooler the hoses should just swap directly over to the new one. I replaced mine when I did the A.C. condenser, it wasn't terribly difficult, but I haven't seen any writeups.

 

there is a good write up on here. I'll post a link when I find it.

 

My truck has the factory tow package so it comes with the trans cooler. The trans fluid line coming out of the lower part of the radiator goes to the cooler.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-trans-a-cooler-with-a-fan-install.352071/

The plumbing is the same. Just minus the fan if you're not going to run one.

 

Mine didn't have a factory cooler so I was trying to make sure which hose off the raidiator I need to use. I mounted mine in the same spot as the write up so the hose length is comparable. Mine isn't as pretty as the write up but I'll put pictures up when I'm done.

 

Nice. I hope your supply is at the bottom and top port for the return.

 

Yes top goes back to tranny. It seems to be working well.

 

Why?

 

So air doesn't get trapped in the cooler.

 

Of course your truck did come with a trans cooler as a part of the radiator, just not an auxiliary cooler that the tow package provides.

Do you have a gauge you're monitoring the temps with? Wondering what your previous temps ran vs the temps you now run.

Nice looking installation!

 

ah. makes sense.
My AT temps are higher than they were last summer but I've got bigger/heavier tires now and assumed that was the reason.
My oem cooler has both hoses connect at the bottom. Is it still possible that I might have air trapped in it? I disconnected the cooler lines a month or so ago while doing ATF flush and just assumed it would push any air out and burp through while the check plug was open for the level check.

 

Yeah, mine is like that too. Supposedly the older ones had a fitting at the top, but they changed it to this type. I have no idea why. I pulled my radiator and I'm also worried about air in there.

 

I have a scan guage I was getting temps just driving around at 180. So far today my max was 130. These temps are not towing anything.

 

Thanks for the write-up!
I just did a similar install with a Derale 13503 transmission cooler, except mounted it using the product instructions (using the plastic ties). It came with "everything needed", except I needed extra hose and I used a more standard 3/8" instead of the 11/32" hose it came with. I put the cooler it right behind the 2 horns with both supply ports facing up (I read somewhere this slightly increases the cooler efficiency). I tapped into the bottom transmission hose coming out of the radiator. We just towed our teardrop up to the lake and back, and no problems or leaks. So far so good!

I was concerned about having low transmission fluid due to the added volume. As I don't have a gauge to read the transmission fluid temp to get an accurate refill reading (you need to check the level between 103-114 degrees I believe), I decided instead to simply calculate the amount of added volume in the new cooler system, and add that amount of ATF through the fill plug. Not exact, but I think this makes sense...

The link above states that the volume of the Derale 13503 is 5.5oz, so that's known. Next I wanted to find the volume of the added hose.
I ran about 5-1/2 feet of extra 3/8" transmission hose. 5-1/2 feet equals 66" equals 1676.4mm.
The volume of a cylinder (hose) is roughly pi x radius squared x length. I measured the internal diameter of the hose = 9mm.
V = 3.14 x (4.5 X 4.5) x 1676.4 = 106593.9 cubic millimeters.
Convert cubic millimeters to ounces by multiplying by .000034
106593.9 x .000034 = 3.6oz of hose volume.
Finally, 5.5oz of cooler volume + 3.6oz of hose volume = 9.1oz total, so I added this amount in ATF.

 

Thanks Dragon, Im doing my install this weekend and this was the information i was looking for!