Unreg- I always appreciate your insight. Thank you once again. I'm going to carefully consider what you've said and figure this out.

I got a call a few hours ago from the joint I ordered it from- not a single item I ordered is in stock.. But, hey, at least they called and told me!! It may be a few weeks before I can get the rig on there now.

Gearhead: I think you and he are both right. To abandon the heat exchange wouldn't be smart... For the heating properties... Furthermore: the efan rig I have on the rad is functioning a lot better than I ever anticipated it would. When the fans kick on they are usually only running for a few seconds at most. That tells me the coolant is kept at a really stable temperature (they kick on for a few seconds and are off for maybe twice as long before coming back on)...

If the OE tranny cooler is flowing as it should, I'm betting (and w/o knowing because I don't have a tranny temp sender in it yet) the tranny juice is stable too.... But...

I don't know this and will need to be informed- but isn't the tranny under some decent pressure?? Does that tranny juice stay in there long enough to cool to a similar temp as the coolant?

 

Purp- I hear ya dude... Difference being, and what I'm hoping for is the +5 quarts and the cooling system managing it- I don't pull near that much, and I rarely pull hills... But, if I could keep it around 200 in those conditions I'd be happy!

 

Good question. The tranny fluid is under pretty minimal pressure going to the coolers but I am sure it flows through the cooler rather quickly. This doesn't really matter if the fluid drops to the same temp as the coolant though as a lot of heat energy will still be removed (I can put equations on here but that would just get more confusing ), far more than a similar sized air to oil cooler. Then more energy will be removed by the new air to oil cooler.

I don't really follow where you want to put the cooler but I suggest in front of the radiator to get the air flowing through it a when you are moving. The electric fan is really for when you are trying to back up a trailer or something (slow speed stuff).

I have a B&M cast aluminum pan and the largest trans cooler summit sells with an autometer temp gauge in the pan. I rarely break 115 degrees when driving normal with entire trans cooler covered up.

I was agreeing with and adding to unregs posts if that wasn't clear.

 

Agreed- and that is why I went to a efan on the rads to begin with. The only times I've got hot on a healthy engine is backing and maneuvering slowly w/ a load.

I'm following your logic and appreciate your input. The OE shroud is looking better and better as a place to mount the exchange...... And I'd run the new exchange in series, and have the efan exchange before the OE exchange. That way, if it is over cooled it could be warmed, or if its still too warm it could be cooled.

I'm starting to really dig this notion!!

 

I'm not familiar with the '02s front radiator mount setup, but if it were my truck I would probably mount it on the front side of the radiator yoke (mount) where cool air can flow over the cooler fins at any speed above 30 mph. It's also farther away from any from any heat source in the engine compartment.
I'd also try mounting it on the side closest to the in radiator cooler to minimize tube/hose lengths and restrictions. On my truck that would be the passenger side.
I'm fairly sure that will work because I'm thinking I've seen this on a second gen truck, and third gens are a bit wider.
But at my age, I've probably lost much more of my mind.

 

well, I managed to find a place that has all of what I need in stock..

I dumped the idea of using the pre-fabbed efan rig, and I ordered a 17 1/2 x 10 1/4 cooler core.. I think I'll cut out a hole for it in the factory fan shroud, and mount it there.. It will benefit from the already existing efan for the main radiator, and I can still mount up an extra efan I have.. (my existing efan controller has three lines, and one is vacant)..

Here is a question:

I ordered the Derale 13090 remote filter kit.. I plan on mounting it to the firewall, and upside down (filter up) so there is no funky bind on the lines.. Anyone see a problem with that?

Also, glory be to Allah, I found a Derale internal filter extender which will drop my filter cartridge lower in that deeper pan.. I'd been looking for one of those for a while and was about to give up on it.. I like the idea of pulling from the cooler lower reserve much more than skimming the hotter fluid off the top- plus, I'd think the truck would have to dang near be standing on it's tailgate to run dry.. I mean, c'mon, the fluid will be mixed up so that the pan temperatures will be near constant, and it's unlikely I'll ever find a grade to put the front up or down that drastically, but every little bit helps, right?

uh, by the way... which of the OEM lines are going to, and which is coming from the tranny?

oh- one more question: though the pan has a temperature probe bung in it, I was wondering if this was the absolute best place for it? If I could rig in one of those threaded hard line couplers with a sensor/sender, and put it on the line going TO the cooler core, would that not be better to know the actual temperature of the tranny?

thanks fellas..

 

You're going to hate changing the filter. Just use longer cooling lines and route them so they won't kink.

There's so much fluid motion in the pan that you're not going to see any appreciable thermal stratification in the pan. But the extension is a good thing because:

That's the big win. You just never know when you might end up having to power through some extreme angle... get ditched up because some puke in a big rig cut you off and you're going to be darn glad to know that extension is in there.

If you've got a factory aux cooler, the one that goes directly from the transmission to the main radiator is the high pressure/hot side. Got a check valve or know where it came from? That's the high pressure/hot side. It's true on most vehicles (and certainly the 2nd gen Ram) that the lower of vertically oriented in/out ports is the high pressure/hot side.

If you've got an IR thermometer, just run the truck to normal operating temperature and figure out which hotter and which cooler.

I don't have a 3rd gen handy to go look at or I could give you a more certain answer.

Yes indeed, it would be more betterer. While 30F rise is a pretty good guesstimation for a factory setup, the more cooling capacity/efficiency you add the greater the rise will be. On the other hand, if you place the sensor in the pan, run your truck on a hot day to normal operating temperature, and take an IR thermometer to the hot side cooling line you'll know how the pan temperature corresponds to the high side and can go with that just as readily.

The trick with tapping into the cooling line is to find a place where the sender isn't going to be heated by the engine block or exhaust system to give you an artificially high reading. But if you can do it and it'll make you feel better, go with it.

 

this is what I was talking about.. I'm figurin' it could be insultated..

and about the remote filter location: DUH!!!! I wasn't even thinking about changing it.. holy crap I hope that would have occurred to me before I put it there.. Thanks dude- because it's likely it would not have..

Cool- I'm thinking I'm on the right path here.. I'll take pics and all that good stuff as I do it.. Hopefully this weekend.

 

It's easy enough to overlook those kinds of details when you're planning out a system.

I stuck mine on the passenger fenderwell where I can unscrew it over a transmission funnel whose neck is stuck into the opening on my oil drain pan. It's a bit tricky to get to from above with the FIPK heat shield in the way, but with a step to stand on I can change it out from above and not end up wearing used ATF. It's also well protected from tree branches that might twist up under the front when I go off road.

A silly question just occurred to me: On that hot day when you're towing your heaviest load up a long grade in traffic that's stop-and-go because of a wreck, do you really want the new aux cooler to have hot, pre-heated air from the radiator passing over it? I could just be thinking up unreasonable worst case scenarios because I have a habit of finding myself in them -- I'm pretty darn sure that I'm the (unpaid, unwilling) Murphy's Law Crash Test Dummy.

I'm looking forward to those photos!

 

Damn it!!!!

Got ANOTHER call from LPI racing.... Seems the pan is back ordered there too. Will be three weeks...

Oh well... Plenty of time to plan, and save up for the ATF4, bought 8qts- need more... That stuff ain't cheap yo!!!