Tranny cooler installation

[Egan]

Replacement transmission cooler:

If you?ve done any research on the forums you know the stock transmission cooling setup is less than ideal. The transmission fluid flows through the inside of the radiator and an external transmission cooler. Over time, the tubing in the radiator fails and transmission fluid mixes with coolant, and once it finds its way back to the tranny, kiss it goodbye. My plan was like many others: bypass the radiator completely and install a bigger, more efficient external cooler.

I bought my cooler from here. I got the one without the bypass since I live in Kalifornia and don?t have to deal with extreme cold: http://www.oregonperformancetransmis...Code=LNG-47391

There is really only one place the cooler can go and it is going to be a tight squeeze.

[Egan]

Step 1: remove the old cooler. I unbolted it and the cut the lines with a tubing cutter. The line that runs to the driver?s side was cut far out on that end to reduce the amount of hose I would need for the new cooler:



To make my life easier, I removed the airbox tube between the throttle body and filter. I also removed the passenger side fender liner.

[Egan]

Step 2: Break apart the line that runs inside the radiator. I had to use my sawzall because I couldn’t get the tubing cutter to spin due to space restrictions. The circles are for the black tube at the top and the silver tube at the bottom.



Here’s where I cut the lower one. Just turn it up to keep the fluid from running out:



The other end of the cut will run to the cooler. The black tranny line you see runs straight to the driver’s side of the stock cooler and was cut in Step 1:



No pictures of the cut at the top, but it should be straight forward. I connected the two radiator cuts together with some of the hose that came with the new cooler. This step is not really necessary, but others had done it and it provides a clean installation.

[Egan]

Step 3: Prep the new cooler by installing the NPTxbarb fittings:



Next, route the tubing to the new cooler location. The tube on the passenger side came from the lower cut shown in Step 2 and the tube on the driver?s side is connected to the end of the tubing that was cut in Step 1:

[Egan]

Step 4: Pop the cooler in place and secure it to the body. I had it pushed all the way over until it hit the mount for the power steering cooler. I used a sheet metal screw on the driver?s side because the cooler bracket fit flush, but I had to use one of the included straps on the passenger side:

[Egan]

Step 5: Close the hood and realize it won?t close! The cooler had to slide over towards the driver?s side by ? an inch or so. So I had to ?trim? the ps cooler bracket (thank you Mr. Dremel) to make it work. Fortunately, I didn?t have to redrill the hole on the driver?s side ? the bracket has 3 holes so I just used the one on the left instead of the one in the middle. For the passenger side, I added another hole and tweaked the bracket (it is what was hitting the hood):





Lastly, run the engine (after putting the airbox back together) and check for leaks.

[Hellz]

so here is the thing...

the viscosity of the fluid is going to warm up to whatever it is going to warm up at splashing around in the tranny and cycling through it.

Is that 60 degrees? 70, 80 or 90 degrees? not sure.

your cooler is going to cool at most to the ambient air temp outside.
there is no way it can go lower than that unless you have something else that is actively cooling.. I.E refrigerant type..

so the magical numbers are..
what is the oprating range the tranny needs ?
and ambient temps outside.


at most, the pump is the only thing that should really be affected by cooler fluid as it has to work a little bit harder.. but honestly, it will have minimum inpact

[SummitUp]

Originally Posted by Egan

If you?ve done any research on the forums you know the stock transmission cooling setup is less than ideal. The transmission fluid flows through the inside of the radiator and an external transmission cooler.

Egan, what year is your H2? My '05 didn't ship from the factory with an external tranny cooler.

Also when I installed my cooler I removed the tranny lines from the radiator (you just remove a retaining clip and they come right out) instead of cutting them. I then plugged the holes in the radiator with brass plugs instead of joining the upper and lower cut connections with a hose. Even neater still.

[Egan]

Originally Posted by SummitUp

Egan, what year is your H2? My '05 didn't ship from the factory with an external tranny cooler.

Also when I installed my cooler I removed the tranny lines from the radiator (you just remove a retaining clip and they come right out) instead of cutting them. I then plugged the holes in the radiator with brass plugs instead of joining the upper and lower cut connections with a hose. Even neater still.

2005

[timmy1909]

I got my Flex-O-lite 4120 Trans cooler installed today... Very easy to do but I must stress how important it is to Flare the lines that are going to the trans cooler. it is very easy to do and the Flare tool is only $10 at your local autozone. Also when you run your lines make sure that any line (rubber or metal) that touches anything metal... make sure that you cover it with something. I just cut open some 3/8 rubber line and put it over the line that comes in contact and chaffe against anything.

Trans temps after an hour of driving in city and highway are below what they were since I got the H2. This cooler is rated for 20,000 lbs GVRW the H2 weighs in at 8000 lbs give or take so that means with this cooler you could tow an additional 12k I do not plan on doing that so I think I am set. I will however get the bypass because here in Wisconsin we get some cold temps.

Here are the completed pics of the FAL 4120 that I got for $53 shipped from summit and comes with everything needed for the install. Minus the tube cutter and Flaring tool.

[LoJac963]

looks good, nice work. I was waiting to see someone use the zips that go through the radator/condenser to secure the ext cooler.

[chris4851]

I will be installing a tranny cooler soon. I had a couple questions before I placed the order. I live in Massachusetts, would you recommend the bypass? What exactly is the benifit of the bypass? Even if you live in a vey cold climate is there a downside not having the bypass?

I was looking into purchasing the Flex-a-lite 4120, how has this cooler been working out?

[iwillnc]

Anyone tried stock yet?

[iwillnc]

120 just seems way too cold for the transmission

[Hellz]

thats whats it says when im driving.
thats if it even warms up to that.. most of the time it is just barely above the 100 mark

[jsbihn]

Hellz, are you saying
yes the picture you showed in the previous page is the stock tranny cooler
and
yes you did the bypass while using the stock tranny cooler and all is well

I want to make sure I am positive on this before I start cutting lines

[Hellz]

rip that crap out!

just follow the 2 lines from that OEM cooler back to the radiator, and cut them.
pull the OEM cooler out and install the new one.
cap the lines going into the radiator as it will save cleanup time later down the line for you.

it is fairly easy and simple

[iwillnc]

Alright so my cooler is being installed, I'm going to try to finish tomorrow.

I'm installing mine slightly different, for one I kept looking at these pictures thinking WTF with how the driver side was connected, I was thinking Egan had used the original hole for the old cooler, finally I read he used a sheet metal screw, Doh.


Anyways, my cooler makes slight contact with my condensor if installed like in the pictures, the bottom of the cooler is too close .
What I did is bend the bottom supports, out at about 170 degrees, so instead of being behind the lower support, they can move further out over it allowing some room between the condensor.

Now I have to find some rubber isolators for the lower connection.

[iwillnc]

Alright, so how I installed mine, I straitened out the lower attach points, I then put a rubber grommet I cut between the bracket and the lower attach point, where I attached both bottom brackets, using a tek screw.

On the top I only attached the driver side, using just a tek screw.
I bent the passenger top toward the vehicle but haven't decided if I'm going to attach.

I honestly don't see how everyone is installing this cooler without it rubbing the condenser, by using just the top brackets.

I notice no difference in a/c
Driving medium hard through country roads for 12 miles I managed to get it up to 148 degrees (F) outside temp 89

[jsbihn]

iwillnc
pictures if you can
I was actually just outside measuring my space to see if I can use another cooler that might fit better (where I can bolt top and bottom).
It might not have the cooling capacity, but then again if I am not always towing or off roading I would think it wouldnt be that bad.

Also, did we ever establish that just bypassing the oem first cooler, and using the second oem cooler on the front would work for as a temp solution?
Or did normal driving cause temps to really go up with that single cooler up front being used?