Tranny cooler location

[ckomai]

I have a prerunner with a skidplate/bumper in front. I just put in an all aluminum three row radiator, upgraded from 9 to 10 blade fan, and changed the fan clutch. Currently I have the stock tranny cooler, the a/c condenser behind that, then the radiator. My next move is to upgrade the tranny cooler to the best available (looking at B&M stacked). So my question is, should I get the biggest tranny cooler that will fit that comes with the electric fan, then mount it behind my skidplate? Or should I get a better cooler and mount it in the stock location?

 

[ghosttrain2]

I myself would remount it in the stock location. Do you have a temp. gauge plumbed into the trans? I would monitor the temperatures with the stock cooler before doing anything. Also don't know what transmission you are using. A4LD? C4 5r55E? it will make a difference. I believe the 5r55E also has a thermostat in the cooler line.

 

[ckomai]

temp guage is a good idea. got the a4ld which i hear is bad if not running cool. maybe do a guage and monitor stock one, then do the swap to see how much cooler im running? But it still doesn't tell me which one is a better setup. But at this point im leaning towards a better cooler in the stock location. If I do that it will guarantee lower temps.

 

[Maniak]

If you use a pair of stacked plate coolers you can fit more up front behind the grille. If your going to replace the grille then a single big cooler like a tru cool one might fit.

Here is what we did for our 1st gen X. Thats a pair of stacked plate coolers and a 10" pusher fan from a geo Prism/toyota Corolla (1991 iirc).

Transmission-cooler-misc 003 by maniak_az, on Flickr

On our tow rig I used a really big tru cool unit. Its 40,000 GVW rating/ 45,000 BTU rating and is 8 1/2 x 22 3/4 x 1 1/4 inch big.

cooler-installed 002 by maniak_az, on Flickr

I don't think you could fit that on in the front of the X but they do make smaller ones too. More selection @ bulkpart.

Also, as mentioned.. Get a temp gauge on there so you have a baseline. That way when you add the coolers you have something to compare it to.

~Mark

 

[ckomai]

I think my x has a better set up for 2 smaller coolers. Heard anything good about b&m stacked coolers?

 

[ckomai]

maniak did you get better performance from 2 smaller or one big cooler?

 

[Maniak]

B&M is a well known company for transmission, accessories and coolers. I haven't heard anything bad about their coolers but I think they are over priced. Tru cool coolers seem to be better priced and they offer bigger ones.

As for a big single or two smaller coolers. I can't really say what works better. In my case they were installed on different vehicles with different transmissions and different space requirements.

I can say that the big tru cool in the pic above is close to the same frontal area as the twin coolers in the explorer cooler pic above BUT the big one is also twice as thick which gives it roughly 50% more cooling capacity.

I'm using the big one as the only cooling device on the tow rig. There is enough room in front to put a 2nd cooler but that single big one has been keeping the c6 trans cool. The highest temp I've seen in the pan is 160-170 and that was heading up a long hill in 95f weather with a total load (truck/trailer etc) of just over 14k lbs. If I find I need more cooling capacity I'll add a 2nd cooler but if I do that I'll have to had a thermostatic device to only add the 2nd cooler when the first cooler can't do the job so I don't over cool the fluid.

~Mark