Has anyone supplemented or replaced the factory tranny cooler? If so, why and with which model?

I have an '05 screw 4x4 5.4L 3.73. I tow an 8,000 camper and was wondering if my tranny would be better served with a larger cooler. From what I can tell, the factory cooler is pretty big and should do just fine, but I figured it was worth checking with youse guys!

 

I'm in about the same boat as you. From some great help on here (bluegrass), I think the consensus is adding an "additional" cooler is too much of a pressure drop for these electronic trannies. My plan right now is to replace the stock cooler with a stacked plate cooler from Derale. It's 13X7.5X2. Quite a bit bigger than stock, plus the stacked plate design is supposed to be the most efficient. My sock one is a plate/fin type cooler. I'm also going to add two 7" derale puller fans on mine, and a B&M pan that adds three quarts. Trying to squeeze as much love out of her until the bitter end

 

I drive a Lightning and I can tell you for a fact that adding a larger more efficient cooler is a great idea. I replace my stock cooler with the Ford Super-Duty Transmission Cooler and it dropped the temps by atleast 30 degrees on a hot day. I also installed a auxiliary remote filter kit at the same time. The filter is a real convenience since it's such a PITA to drop the pan and replace the filter in there. Plus, the pan filter isn't much of a filter and only stops large particles while the remote filter is basically an oil filter and catches a lot smaller particles and keeps the transmission running a lot cleaner. This way when it comes time to get the transmission service all you have to do is get the fluid swapped out and change the auxiliary filter without ever having to drop the pan. With the pumps on these transmissions nowdays I would doubt that the cooler or the filter are much of a restriction at all. I pulled my return line once to test how well the fluid flowed through the cooler and the filter and it was flowing out like I turned on a hose. You can read a lot more about the cooler and the filter here...

http://www.timskelton.com/lightning/...ranny_mods.htm

 

I have been looking at a Perma-Cool 13318 to mount right behind the bumper opening.

This is a dual circuit for tranny and engine with a fan mounted electric assist.

Just been trying to read up to see if this is the good option for a dual cooler.

 

Do you do a lot of towing? If not, there's really no reason to get a cooler with a fan.

 

Good point. Has anyone here placed a cooler there? Is it a bad spot or should I just mount a dual circuit to the front of the radiator?

 

If there's nothing behind that opening then I don't see why not. I couldn't do it because I have a heat exchanger behind the bumper opening, but you'll probably be fine. The radiator would also be a good spot.

 

Once again...this is from my research and not personal experience, so just passing along. It was a pretty common statement with all the places I checked that those "tube and fin" coolers, like pretty much everything Perma-Cool sales, creates a huge pressure drop. I've learned this isn't usually a big deal except that it can mess with the computer controlled functions on newer transmissions. The way to go is with the stacked plate coolers like the ones from Derale, Earls, Fluidyne, etc...but yea, you are talking a lot more money. Pick your battles I guess.

dennis...why do you want a dual circuit cooler?? Engine oil?? If so...there is absolutely no need for an engine oil cooler. I've been running a real, true, mechanical oil temp gauge on my truck since it was new. IMO, these things run too cool. No where even remotely close to too hot. Even when towing a trailer through the mountains the absolute hottest I have ever seen my oil temp was around 220*. That's nothing. I wouldn't worry about oil temp unless you're getting at least 240*+. Not gonna happen on your truck. An ideal oil temp is around 212*. Most oil companies even rate their oil viscosities and perform all their test at this temp. That's where it's designed to run at. My oil temp pretty much 90% of the time runs right around 100* over outside air temp. If it's 60* outside, I wont see anything over 160* on the gauge.

 

An engine oil cooler is not needed on an F150 level of engine use.
Place your new cooler to the passenger side front of the A/C condenser at about a 2" spacing in front.
Fab two 1/8" thick strap mounts with 5/16" bolts off the upper and lower radiator mount, heavey enough to hold the fan assemblly without a lot of movement. One to oppisite corners of the cooler.
Place a fan on cooler to cover it edge to edge and external adjustable thermostat (about $20) with bulb mounted to the trans inlet line at the radiator. This senses the fluid temp. coming out of the transmission as well as the engine bay, if left uninsulated.
What this gets you is the following; a fan to help out at low road speeds should the fluid get hot enough to bring the fan on at your setting, it will also help when A/C is on along with higher fluid temp., it will help cool the engine bay down faster if still running when the engine is stopped or the bay temp rises after stopping. This may run the fan for about 5 to 7 minutes after stopping if the outside temp is in the 90s +.
Power the fan right from the + battery post thru an inline fuse to the thermostat and back to the fan. No relay needed if the current draw is within the thermostat capacity of about 6 amps or so.
This gives you auto operation and a fuse to pull if the thermstat should ever fail. If anything goes 'a-rye', you will hear it run too long or when it's not supposed to or not run at all.
Dial in the thermostat run temp over time until it runs when you want it to.
185/190 works well for me towing a full gross load and when unloaded.
I have not touched my fan system since installed last spring.
Never hear it run unless the outside temp gets well into the 90s such that the bay temps get high or running in stop and go at the same high temps and the trans temp get higher from unlocked running in lower gears a greater amount of time. The turn on point pretty well agrees with the trans output line temp gage with some amount of normal temp hysterisis that all thermostats have.
An 8" fan is about $60. The theromstat is less than $20 from Advance Auto.