I am looking at adding a tranmission pan. You know one that holds more fluid and made of aluminum. What I would like to know are ther any issuse with adding one on a 4r70? Also has anyone added one and noted the trans temp befor and after?

My thinking is a aluminum pan will transfer heat faster than steel. In trying to weld aluminum it losses heat real fast. Where as steel seems to retain some heat. I maybe heading in circles with my though process. If you have some experience with this it would help.

Thanks

 

Nope...you're headed down the right track!! The additional fluid most likely will not have a huge impact on overall operating temps, but it will most likely take a bit longer to heat up that much more fluid. And yes, it would keep the fluid in the pan a bit cooler. Not only due to the aluminum, but mostly due to surface area...the deeper pan itself and then the raised fins. The additional fluid would also certainly add to the 'quality of life' of the fluid as well.

The only two pans I know of for the 70 are made by B&M or Mag-Hytec, with the latter being F-A-R superior. The B&M adds 3 qts additional capacity and the M-H adds 8!! Plus, M-H's reputation is undisputed!! It's more money, but well spent IMO!!

 

I have exactly the opposite opinion. If you want cooler ATF, put a better cooler on it. That will work MUCH better at cooling the fluid than a pan will.

 

Coming from a race car building background....I would say this........both previous posts are correct....

The Mag-Hytec pan is FAR superior and will help.......put an upgraded Trans Cooler will make a BIG difference also........

You can add a trans cooler into the stock system if you want, or fluidyne make a trans cooler with e-fans...........

 

X2 get the cooler, they are the way to go.

 

My bad I should have read your mods, looks like you already have a cooler,...Are you running a tranny temp gauge? I imagine you are working it a little bit if you are pullin that trailer in your pic. Get a temp guage, Tranny fluid works best while it is hot, not too hot, but hot. It needs to be thinner to flow smoothly through all the little orifices. I would be concerned with the operating temp without the load during normal driving with the Mag pan and the extra 8 quarts. bigger cooler with a fan might be the way to go. Get some temps before you make youe decision.

 

Hey Jughead.........It looks to me like he has an Edge tuner. Should'nt the Trans temp gauge on the Edge be accurate enough to not need an additional gauge?

 

OK, well, if you go back and read his post he never said anything about "what's the best way to reduce my tranny temps??" He was asking specifically about pans. Thus, I informed him of the benefits of pans! If he had asked "what's the best way to reduce my tranny temps?" then I would have proceeded in a completely different manner and also advised him to search for a cooler....all this beside the fact he already has a cooler listed in his mods!!

From my experience with swapping out coolers, you NBS truck guys have it pretty good. That tranny cooler in your truck is a pretty darn good size and it's in a great location for efficiency. The cooler I swapped to in my truck is not much bigger than yours stock (same length and a tiny bit wider) and you wouldn't believe the difference that sucker made. Unless you're really really abusing the tranny I personally don't feel the NBS trucks require an aftermarket cooler. Just my opinion though....Which begs the question...why do you have an aftermarket cooler already?? Did you install it and leave the stock one in place?? Or did your particular truck not come with the big stock cooler in front of the radiator there??

A temp gauge was a good recommmendation though! Always great to know what it's doing, especially before you just start throwing parts at it...unless you're like me and just enjoy spending money on your baby

Yea...that does seem like quite the trailer to be pulling with a 4.6!! But looks like you've got it modded properly for the job!!

 

Set your Edge tuner to have the Trans fluid temp in the display and keep an eye on temperatures....So, when you do ugrade you have something to compare to.....

 

I'm running this cooler with an aluminum pan and my tranny temps went down significaly! About 50 degrees or more!
http://www.dieselsite.com/index.asp?...ROD&ProdID=480

Phil

 

Thanks for the all the info. I did add the Trans cooler to the exsiting one one the truck. It dorped the temp about 30 + degrees on normal driving. It runs about 156 deg during normal day to day driving. When I pull the trailer It was running around 180 to 190 deg. This all based on the readings from the Edge. As far as pulling this trailer is dose pretty good. The limitation is going north where you run into some extended grades. I plan on up grading the truck in a few years to something bigger.

I was just wondering with a 30+ degree drop would it pay to go with a bigger pan. I just don't know where the temp reading is taken at.

 

190 is still well below a critical fluid temp. A full synthetic fluid will have a higher critical temp than standard Mercon V.