thinking of adding a deeper aluminum aftermarket pan onto a couple of mine..... already have added aux coolers..... figured Id put this here, cuz its the forum I'm in the most// but not really a vehicle specific question here. looking at this for a couple reasons.... more fluid capacity by itself, will help keep things cooler..... same amt of heat diluted into more fluid, can't hurt.... also, the ones I am looking at have drain plugs so I don't have to take a bath in old ATF when I do a fluid and filter job..... which I do more often than "most people"...… preventive maintenance, right? and most have a 2nd bung for adding a sending unit for a trans fluid temp gauge, of which I have a couple here collecting dust..... would be an easy way of doing so.....

anyway, depending on which company you listen to, most have extenders to dunk the filter deeper in the bigger pan... a couple ads I saw for different companies, claim that keeping the filter in the stock location will be fine, as the turbulence of the fluid being circulated, and the constant flow from the cooler will be enough to provide the same benefit without relocating the filter deeper into the pan.... one advantage I see with "not" doing so (or maybe only drop it 1/2 the distance) would be that any junk that fell out and you would normally find in the pan, would fall out and cling to the bottom of the pan and be less likely to be sucked up into the filter...
I've never done any rock crawling , haha...….. with the stock dipstick and tube, the filter would be as "covered in fluid," as it is in the stock pan now..... I do tow sometimes in the summer, what do you guys think?

I have a line on one as we speak, a supposedly good used B&M one. but the guy doesn't have the filter extension piece (and from B&M, anyway) add that to the price of this pan, and I can almost buy a new one of their aluminum pans that already comes with it included.....

 

Trouble with the deep pans is, they also reduce ground clearance. Depending on the vehicle, and how you use it, may or may not be an issue.

If the main goal is to increase fluid capacity, why not just add an external filter?

 

ground clearance wont be an issue on this thing, for the inch or 2 deeper the new pan would be..... I put heavier rear leafs on it and cranked up the torsion bars to match, I probably would have the same distance from pan to ground with the aluminum one as the stock one at stock height.... and I don't drive anywhere where there's tree stumps in my way, or over parking blocks, so I wont have to worry about ground clearance.
actually I have a trans temp gauge I want to add/ and don't want to cut into the cooler lines to do so, as often as I see leaky cooler lines, (on all brands of vehicles) Id rather not add joints in the cooler lines (more possible leak points) and I like the idea of a drain plug a whole lot besides, so I thought I'd hunt for a deal on an aluminum one and swap it out on the next fluid/filter change.....