Thought I'd share a trans cooling story; maybe useful for someone.
My Bronco has a stock 302, C4, 4.11 gears, 32" tall tires. For years I had a copper 4 core radiator with internal trans cooler and a large tube and fin cooler mounted about an inch in front of the radiator core. I don't know the dimensions, but it covered at least half the radiator. I have a transmission temp gauge with sending unit in the pan.
I pull a thousand pound trailer equipped for camping. I hauled this setup out to Utah and went camping in the Manti-La Sal mountains one spring. Some 80-90 degree temps; had to do a lot of stopping on long uphills to let the transmission cool off. I usually stopped when the gauge passed 190.
Five years later I was back in the same area, roughly the same temps & altitudes. Same vehicle, trailer, etc. Before I left, rather than take my leaking 4 core radiator to the shop for the third time, I bought a copper OEM spec 3 core made in Mexico radiator (with internal trans cooler) from Summit. Upgraded my external trans cooler to a Derale stacked plate model 13403 in the same mounting location. This one's 2" thick X 13" wide X 7-5/16" tall.
Huge difference in cooling. Consistently ran about 15 degrees cooler than before. I don't remember ever seeing a transmission temp reading higher than 180.
My Bronco has a stock 302, C4, 4.11 gears, 32" tall tires. For years I had a copper 4 core radiator with internal trans cooler and a large tube and fin cooler mounted about an inch in front of the radiator core. I don't know the dimensions, but it covered at least half the radiator. I have a transmission temp gauge with sending unit in the pan.
I pull a thousand pound trailer equipped for camping. I hauled this setup out to Utah and went camping in the Manti-La Sal mountains one spring. Some 80-90 degree temps; had to do a lot of stopping on long uphills to let the transmission cool off. I usually stopped when the gauge passed 190.
Five years later I was back in the same area, roughly the same temps & altitudes. Same vehicle, trailer, etc. Before I left, rather than take my leaking 4 core radiator to the shop for the third time, I bought a copper OEM spec 3 core made in Mexico radiator (with internal trans cooler) from Summit. Upgraded my external trans cooler to a Derale stacked plate model 13403 in the same mounting location. This one's 2" thick X 13" wide X 7-5/16" tall.
Huge difference in cooling. Consistently ran about 15 degrees cooler than before. I don't remember ever seeing a transmission temp reading higher than 180.
