Tranny cooler question

I sure wouldn't assume to speak for Mark since he's the expert here, but I would guess that one reason he is recommending the 6.0 is that if you don't have the in radiator oil to oil cooler only the air to oil one then the 6.0 has sufficient capacity to hopefully do the job of both or at least better than other aftermarket air to oil coolers out there. If you have an existing oil to oil cooler then the lesser coolers like the Tru-Cool 40K etc. would be O.K., but w/o that oil to oil they are not the best choice for a single cooling system addition. IMO you also have to be a little careful about stacking these oil to air coolers in line or even in parallel since there is a fine balance between flow rates, back pressures and inherent cooling capacity. Even the experts got it wrong at first with the initial cooling system design for the 7.3L/4R100 combo in the first iteration of the Ford SD trucks.

Larry

BTW - I went with the Tru-Cool Max 40k.

My temps were never a problem stock until I stuck an array of floodlights in front of the grill. I've since switched to an LED bar, and now the Tru-Cool cools so well I keep the grill covered most of the year!

Skip their "thermostat" though. I never got mine to work right. It caused it to run real hot, so I pulled it out.

GeoBoy wrote:

GeoBoy wrote:
Andy, that is the same cooler I put on my Silverado and it really helps. Since your truck doesn't have a cooler built into the radiator, I would run it in conjunction with the original trans cooler. I would also drop the pan change the tranny filter and then refill with synthetic fluid.
Good luck.

Andy, you can also purchase the Tru-Kool 40K at Oregon Performance Transmission, nice people to deal with.

Thanks GeoBoy!!

GeoBoy wrote:

GeoBoy wrote:
Andy, that is the same cooler I put on my Silverado and it really helps. Since your truck doesn't have a cooler built into the radiator, I would run it in conjunction with the original trans cooler. I would also drop the pan change the tranny filter and then refill with synthetic fluid.
Good luck.

Andy, you can also purchase the Tru-Kool 40K at Oregon Performance Transmission, nice people to deal with.

Been there done that, what you don't seem to realize is that the stock cooler is not enough with the tru-cool , running in conjunction , granted if he had the cooler built into the radiator he could get away with it, but he does not, lot of guys tried your way I was one of them ,just does not get the job done . He needs to pull the stock cooler, drop in a 31 row 6.0 cooler, and be done with it. Unless you have towed heavy with a 99 Superduty 7.3 with the 4R100 automatic transmission then you have no idea the advice you are giving him, please read up on it ,and get informed. He is going to waste his money on an add on cooler with the 99

GeoBoy wrote:
Andy, that is the same cooler I put on my Silverado and it really helps. Since your truck doesn't have a cooler built into the radiator, I would run it in conjunction with the original trans cooler. I would also drop the pan change the tranny filter and then refill with synthetic fluid.
Good luck.

Andy, you can also purchase the Tru-Kool 40K at Oregon Performance Transmission, nice people to deal with.

MrVan wrote:

Andymon wrote:

Charlie D. wrote:
When was the radiator/cooling system checked for road debris, bugs and other stuff?

Checked before we left and all was clean. I'm going to install an auxiliary cooler just to be safe.

Cooler

I purchased one from your sticky site. Do not buy from them. The unit I received had all the fins bent over because it had not been protected properly in the shipping container. I called them immediately, the only way they would send me a new one was if I returned the damaged unit first. I said they could charge me for both and then give me a credit when I returned the first damaged unit. They would not cooperate. I spent several hours straightening out the fins and had to install it because I was leaving on a 1600 mile trip the next day. It did help cooling the transmission more but when I got through the trip I tried to get them to send me a new one promising I would return the damaged one. Thy absolutely wouldn't cooperate. They do not understand how to take responsibility for a problem they have caused. I hope they have improved their shipping and packing procedures by now. They are not friendly people to work with.

They may not have packed it correctly - but for you to use it on a very long trip and expect them to take it back afterwards (no matter what the circumstances) is not realistic IMHO.

It's not their fault you waited until the last minute to install it.

Andymon wrote:

Charlie D. wrote:
When was the radiator/cooling system checked for road debris, bugs and other stuff?

Checked before we left and all was clean. I'm going to install an auxiliary cooler just to be safe.

Cooler

I purchased one from your sticky site. Do not buy from them. The unit I received had all the fins bent over because it had not been protected properly in the shipping container. I called them immediately, the only way they would send me a new one was if I returned the damaged unit first. I said they could charge me for both and then give me a credit when I returned the first damaged unit. They would not cooperate. I spent several hours straightening out the fins and had to install it because I was leaving on a 1600 mile trip the next day. It did help cooling the transmission more but when I got through the trip I tried to get them to send me a new one promising I would return the damaged one. Thy absolutely wouldn't cooperate. They do not understand how to take responsibility for a problem they have caused. I hope they have improved their shipping and packing procedures by now. They are not friendly people to work with.

Mark Kovalsky wrote:

Andymon wrote:

Mark Kovalsky wrote:
That cooler won't make much difference. It's not much bigger than what you already have.

According to powerstroke.org and a couple other Ford diesel sites, this add on along with the original cooler make a big difference. What do you suggest?

I recommend replacing the cooler you have with a cooler from a 6.0L truck. If you REALLY want to do it right, replace the radiator with one that has a trans cooler, too.

As Mark said, 6.0 cooler, I did to my early 99 7.3. I Did the small cooler you are going to do, wasted money, did help some, but not enough. 6.0 took care of the slow speeds, going thru towns as well as the long grades.The 6.0 cooler is the only way to go. I installed the 6.0 several years ago, and it still has the stock tranny in it. Nearly 16 years

Andymon wrote:

Mark Kovalsky wrote:
That cooler won't make much difference. It's not much bigger than what you already have.

According to powerstroke.org and a couple other Ford diesel sites, this add on along with the original cooler make a big difference. What do you suggest?

I recommend replacing the cooler you have with a cooler from a 6.0L truck. If you REALLY want to do it right, replace the radiator with one that has a trans cooler, too.

regarding adding tranny cooler. i did that on 99 ford 7.3 and it helped. one thing when you mention heating up on grades, make sure the fan cluch is working. replaced that in utah with the same problem you talk about. not too spendy and pretty easy job and took care of over heating problems.