Transmission cooler line questions

[Edmeyers]

I still don't under stand why u guys that have gone through the trouble of building lines but haven't ditched the radiator cooler is there a reason that the Allison needs to run that hot

In my experience heat is what kills auto transmissions if you r running ATF through the coolant then the temp will be close to the coolant temp

Plus during a failure of the heat exchanger in the radiator you will mix coolant and ATF without seeing a leak and surely burn up the trans

Just my 2 cents

 

[Mike L.]

I still don't under stand why u guys that have gone through the trouble of building lines but haven't ditched the radiator cooler is there a reason that the Allison needs to run that hot

In my experience heat is what kills auto transmissions if you r running ATF through the coolant then the temp will be close to the coolant temp

Plus during a failure of the heat exchanger in the radiator you will mix coolant and ATF without seeing a leak and surely burn up the trans

Just my 2 cents

You will run hotter without the heat exchanger. Below 35 mph you have no air flow to the front cooler. Ford tried this in'99 on their diesels and failed. In 2000 they went back with the heat exchanger.

 

[TrentNell]

I still don't under stand why u guys that have gone through the trouble of building lines but haven't ditched the radiator cooler is there a reason that the Allison needs to run that hot

In my experience heat is what kills auto transmissions if you r running ATF through the coolant then the temp will be close to the coolant temp

Plus during a failure of the heat exchanger in the radiator you will mix coolant and ATF without seeing a leak and surely burn up the trans

Just my 2 cents

In cold weather it would take forever to get the trans up to operating temp . I deleted the cooler lines on my race truck , and run a huge ( the size of a radiator ) cooler and electric fans in the bed using an auxiliary circulation pump , it works great for racing but i would never do it on a street truck .

 

[Edmeyers]

I use a pancake cooled that is no larger than 12"x12" using 5/16" line
To cool my tranny

I've ran electric fans and switched back to a clutch fan the fan choice made no difference

I have daily driven in heavy traffic and city driving I have towed at up to 31k gross

Truck is some where around 500+ hp

I have chnged the fluid about 8 times I've ran amsoil, Mopar, and finally AutoZone special in a 5gal bucket I add redlube to the silver bottle to my results are the same

My tranny has almost 100k on it now
It holds perfect with no slippage I'm in oklahoma add our temps vary greatly last summer we almost broke the record for the hottest ever in the US we saw many days where temps were 110+

We also have some pretty cold winters although we don't get down in the negatives to often it has been known to happen

N e way I have never seen my tranny temp rise above 190 and that was sitting in traffic most of the time my 140-320 gauge never moves off the 140 peg

I have never pulled excessive shavings from the oil and it is always red never brown

I also have a friend that has ran a tranny shop for the past 30yrs and he has pulled heat exchAngers as a matter of practice for quite some time now.

I am not Trying to argue one way or another I just want to share my experience in hopes that someone including me might walk away with a better understanding

This is a great thread

 

[JoshH]

I think I'll listen to what Mike L. has to say about transmission stuff. No disrespect meant to your friend, but I don't consider him any kind of authority on Allison transmissions.

 

[Timmay208]

indeed Mike L is a allison guru

 

[Chevy1925]

indeed Mike L is a allison guru

I dunno, ive heard abouy some bad hair days and daquiris at work. Im begining to think those sheep are puttin some wear and tear on him

 

[Mike L.]

I use a pancake cooled that is no larger than 12"x12" using 5/16" line
To cool my tranny

I've ran electric fans and switched back to a clutch fan the fan choice made no difference

I have daily driven in heavy traffic and city driving I have towed at up to 31k gross

Truck is some where around 500+ hp

I have chnged the fluid about 8 times I've ran amsoil, Mopar, and finally AutoZone special in a 5gal bucket I add redlube to the silver bottle to my results are the same

My tranny has almost 100k on it now
It holds perfect with no slippage I'm in oklahoma add our temps vary greatly last summer we almost broke the record for the hottest ever in the US we saw many days where temps were 110+

We also have some pretty cold winters although we don't get down in the negatives to often it has been known to happen

N e way I have never seen my tranny temp rise above 190 and that was sitting in traffic most of the time my 140-320 gauge never moves off the 140 peg

I have never pulled excessive shavings from the oil and it is always red never brown

I also have a friend that has ran a tranny shop for the past 30yrs and he has pulled heat exchAngers as a matter of practice for quite some time now.

I am not Trying to argue one way or another I just want to share my experience in hopes that someone including me might walk away with a better understanding

This is a great thread

All the information you just posted goes against everything I have learned and tested. I have done a lot of testing and work closely with Setrab coolers.
My specialty for 30 years was Mercedes transmissions along with BMW, Jaguar, and Rolls Royce with some Ferraris thrown in. My shop was a GM transmission warranty station for 15 years. I hung around with the GM engineers. We did a lot of work for Ford dealers when they had problems.
I got involved with diesels back in 1990 and realy persued them in 1999. I learned from the best diesel specialists and in '01 was in on the ground floor with the Allison. Back then we had Transgo, ATS, Suncoast, big Dipper and myself doing R@D on the Alli. I think I know what I talk about.

 

[Burn Down]

Anybody know what the threads are where the cooler lines go into the trans? I know that the 01-02s are smaller than the 03+. They aren't JIC or pipe threads, I want to run hyd. lines all the way from the trans to the coolers using JIC fittings, just how you did Burn Down.

Which ones do you want the 01-02 or 03-up? I have both in the garage, just have to dig them up and check the thread for you.

 

[Burn Down]

Hoses cannot disapate heat. On a race truck they are fine.

I have not had any issues with heat yet, could be your larger cooler and our lower ambient temps in Alaska... I will keep tabs on it when I get down south though.

 

[coldLBZ]

Hey Albert, did you put any kind of sealer on the fittings where they thread into the cooler or trans? Thanks.

 

[Burn Down]

Hey Albert, did you put any kind of sealer on the fittings where they thread into the cooler or trans? Thanks.

Dan,
The fittings are o-ring boss going into the trans. & cooler, no need for sealer. The setrab/mike l. cooler uses a metric o-ring boss M22 which is quite spendy from my local fitting store. I found them on ebay for a 1/3rd of the cost later... I have not had the fittings out of a LBZ radiator yet, if they have a silver looking washer around them shoot me a PM and I will post up what to machine on a std. boss to jic fitting to allow the silver compression washer to still work.
Albert

Oh, and make sure you hold the cooler at the fittings with 2 wrenches one on the cooler & one on the fitting. I tacoed the stock LLY cooler by just putting a wrench on the fitting and holding the cooler in hand, Oops!

 

[kjp800]

Which ones do you want the 01-02 or 03-up? I have both in the garage, just have to dig them up and check the thread for you.

I need the 01-02 for my truck. Thanks for the help.

 

[lotsofmiles]

Hoses cannot disapate heat. On a race truck they are fine.

Bump.

My seeping line from last spring stopped as outside air temps went up. But at my last oil change one line was dripping.

I just changed them with the 'updated' stock lines but reading this it'll probably happen again. Maybe in another 300,000 miles


I saw a similiar post from Henry on DF, about heat not disapating when running the all rubber hoses and towing all day.

I'm set for right now, but is there a replacement that isnt all rubber hoses that will handle the heat from all day towing?


Edit - AllSeason ones were mentioned in this thread - Will this be ok for all day towing? http://allseasondieselperformance.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77&products_id=177

 

[coldLBZ]

Bump

 

[duramatt05]

just read through all this and never saw wut size fittings are needed for the cooler lines into the transmission and radiator and cooler. i want to take out the stock lines and make hydraulic lines. i would just do the all season fix. but my lines have rubbed through in the hard part of the line. and also if anyone knows the length of the lines would be awesome!

 

[Big Block 88]

I went through 3 sets on my LBZ in the 75k miles I owned it. It seemed to me that when i did the trans go jr to it the lines life span shortend on me, I could be crazy though.