Hey guys, for those of you that have installed the transmission coolers, what size did you guys go with, and where did you get it from? There are so many different sizes, and i've searched and read that putting too large of one on will not let the tranny get hot enough to work efficiently.
I have a 2006 F150 with the 4.6, 3.55LS, and will be towing a 5,500 trailer.(3,800 unladen).
Thank you,
Nick

 

If you don't have a cooler at all, the fluid still goes through the radiator, which I think helps prevent the fluid staying too cold. You're in So Cal so most likely not a factor anyways. From my research, I've gathered that you should go with the largest that will physically fit where you want to mount it. As far as brand, Derale is a great balance of quality and price. ALWAYS go with a stacked plate cooler and avoid the tube & fin coolers like from Perm-a-Cool. Too much pressure drop in those. Also if you have a tow package now with a cooler and want larger, remove the stock one and don't add a new one 'in addition to'. This adds to the pressure drop through the system.

 

Yea it definitely stays warm here. Been 104+ lately. I'll look into the derale coolers. I wasn't aware of the pressure drop of tube and fin ones. Thank you,
Nick

 

After taking a look tonight. I noticed that my truck has a 33"x3" cooler in front of the radiator. The external cooler also goes to the radiator, as well as back to the tranny. From what i understand the radiators have a built in trans cooler, so is that an external cooler in front of the radiator that is connected i series with the one built into the radiator. Thanks,
Nick

 

33"?? Wow, that's long, but skinny. Just trace the lines from the tranny...should go from tranny to radiator to cooler back to tranny. You should also have a power steering cooler up there somewhere too, but it would be smaller so that ain't it. A "built in" tranny cooler??? Never heard that one before. Can't imagine how efficient that would be with no air flow.

Like I said before, my plan was to go with that largest Derale stacked plate cooler (52506) and replace the current stock cooler with it. But then I found a cooler off a 2000 F-250 (same body style as the 150) which is huge and mounts up to my 150 like a stock application. I actually think it has more surface area than the Derale also. Not an option for your '06. Either way, if it wan't for the stock type I would be going with the Derale and just deal with the mounting location. Bang for buck IMO, you wont beat the Derale.

 

Yea it's an odd size. There are some pictures of it in the thread i posted in the transmission section to gather more resposnes. The link is:
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...=1#post2781662

Thanks for the help.

 

The transmission builders claim the factory V10 coolers are the best, I priced one for my 02 @$135.00, and that is cheap compared to a setrab cooler.

 

hey todd, where did you price that cooler from? I like the idea of factory ford parts.

 

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...=1&catalogid=2

I hope that link works otherwise it's team ford parts online out of NV. You might want to try the powerstroke shop as well, you can get the parts usually under the collision section.

 

The linked worked fine. Have you ordered something from them before?

 

yep, they are a dealership in north las vegas if I remember correctly...no issues.