Adding a transmission cooler

[pxt]

Adding a transmission cooler..does it add towing capacity?

[bikendan]

pxt wrote:

BurbMan wrote:

pxt wrote:
Adding a transmission cooler..does it add towing capacity?

It might...tell us what you are towing, what you are towing it with, and where you are or intend to tow.

Without details, the answer is, it might.

tv is chevy tahoe 13 tow capacity 5200. Looking to buy a jayco hybrid. Dry weight around 4k. Towing area Nj, Ny, & Pa.

Sounds like you bought a Tahoe without the factory tow package.
you would have to duplicate the entire package, not just a trans cooler, including changing the rear end gearing, to get a higher towing capacity.

[BurbMan]

You should be OK with that combo. Dry weigh at 4k means a loaded weight about 5k. a 5k trailer with 13% tongue weight means that 5000*13%= 650 lbs of tongue weight that the Tahoe must carry. Most vehicles in this class run out of carrying capacity (GVWR) before they run out of towing capacity.

The Tahoe has a trans cooler as part of the radiator. If you have the HD Towing package, GM adds a secondary cooler in front of the radiator. Adding a secondary aftermarket or OEM cooler is pretty easy if you need to.

What I would do is get a Scan Gauge and watch your trans temp when towing. If the temp reaches 220, then you need to change the fluid anyway, and that's a good time to get the secondary cooler installed. Outside air temp also affects trans temps, as does stop-n-go traffic.

So if you see temps at 210 on a 70 deg day, you will easily be over 220 on a 90 deg day. But as agesilaus said, a trans cooler won't increase your tow capacity, but it will keep your trans from frying. The Tahoe that year has the 6L80 transmission which is a strong unit if it doesn't overheat.

[pxt]

BurbMan wrote:

pxt wrote:
Adding a transmission cooler..does it add towing capacity?

It might...tell us what you are towing, what you are towing it with, and where you are or intend to tow.

Without details, the answer is, it might.

tv is chevy tahoe 13 tow capacity 5200. Looking to buy a jayco hybrid. Dry weight around 4k. Towing area Nj, Ny, & Pa.

[jerem0621]

Naio wrote:

jerem0621 wrote:

My minivan has a MASSIVE transmission cooler...

That's what she said.

Mine doesn't have one. O_o

I am thinking about adding, or at least a sensor, but having trouble finding info suitable for the non-car-non-guy by just googling the model. It seems there IS a sensor for trans temp, I guess it must go into some control module. And maybe I tap into that, or add a new sensor...

I guess I will just ask a mechanic, but that seems like a cop out :).

What kind of minivan and year?

[BurbMan]

pxt wrote:
Adding a transmission cooler..does it add towing capacity?

It might...tell us what you are towing, what you are towing it with, and where you are or intend to tow.

Without details, the answer is, it might.

[Naio]

Double post.

[Naio]

jerem0621 wrote:

My minivan has a MASSIVE transmission cooler...

That's what she said.

Mine doesn't have one. O_o

I am thinking about adding, or at least a sensor, but having trouble finding info suitable for the non-car-non-guy by just googling the model. It seems there IS a sensor for trans temp, I guess it must go into some control module. And maybe I tap into that, or add a new sensor...

I guess I will just ask a mechanic, but that seems like a cop out :).

[shepstone]

On my old f150 i installed a fan on the cooler with a gage & switch in the cab to turn it on .

[jerem0621]

Nothing you do will ever change the capacity of the vehicle from the factory. Those ratings are fixed. No brochure or piece of paper will change if you add a transmission cooler.

However, modifying the vehicle does increase the vehicles capability. Factory capacity and vehicle capability Are two different things 😉

How about filling us in on some more details?

My minivan has a MASSIVE transmission cooler... like 4 x the size of the cooler on my F150 rated to tow 8,000 lbs. So you may not need a transmission cooler.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[Golden_HVAC]

Hi,

If the transmission was overheating on a long grade, or while driving through the desert, then the cooler will help both cool the transmission, and as a side effect also prevent so much heat from the transmission going into the radiator tank heat exchanger.

I put a digital transmission gauge on my 1985 GM 3500 based 27' motohome. ON a 95F day, the transmission would run 235F on level ground, on highway 15 from LA to Las Vegas. This also caused the fan clutch to kick in several times a hour, to help cool the radiator.

After installing a really large trans cooler, and removing the factory one, the fluid temps still where in the 200's running level, and 235 when going up a mountain, still to hot! So I put the factory cooler back on, despite it's small size, being 3/8" tubing 4 pass and about 12" wide and 8" tall.

The cooler that I installed was 19" wide and 11" tall, 8 pass of 1/2" copper line. I installed this so that the fluid left the transmission, then into the larger cooler then into the radiator lower tank heat exchanger, then into the factory cooler, and back to the transmission.

Fred.

[Terryallan]

All things being equal. Say 2 F150s, both with the same engine, and both with the same trany, and rear gear. However one has the tow package, Basically a trany cooler, and power steering cooler. Giving it a 8000lb tow cap. the other does not. has a 2000lb tow cap

IF you add the trany cooler and PS cooler to the one with out it. Yes you have just increased the tow capacity to match the other one. Now both have a 8000lb tow capacity.

Now on some other vehicles it does not. Many tow packages have different components. some vehicles without the tow package come with a donut for a spare. And you can't tow on a donut. so the same vehicle with a tow package, comes with a full size spare.

So to answere your question. Yes, and no. Depends on the vehicle.

[Mark_Kovalsky]

pxt wrote:
Adding a transmission cooler..does it add towing capacity?

Only if transmission temperature is the limiting factor for tow capacity. If the limiting factor is frame strength, then no, it won't increase your tow capacity.

How would you determine what the limiting factor is for your vehicle? The only way I know to do this is to be part of the development team that develops the vehicle for production. NOBODY publishes this information.

[ScottG]

First I would install a temp gauge.
Maybe you don't have any issue.

[Trackrig]

While the above are correct, I might stretch my imagination far enough to see a transmission cooler increasing your tow capacity. The OP's profile isn't complete so we don't know what he's towing or towing with.....

Let's say he was pulling a TT that's within in his weight limits up a bunch of long grades out west, it's a hot day and his transmission oil is getting hotter than it should. If an added transmission cooler keeps his transmission within operating temps, you (by stretching it) might say it's increased the towing capacity of his transmission?

Bill