I ordered a transmission cooler today. I'm going to fab up the mounting brakets but I really would rather not use the rubber tubing to plumb it in. Do you guys think it would be OK to use copper tubing and brass fittings or not?

I just want to rant a little. My truck came new with a class III hitch wired with a 4 flat. I've done some towing with it but nothing heavy duty. I know now that my 98 with 4.6 didn't come with the factory tow package. It had no transmission cooler and only the 1 inch radiator. It just miffs me that the dealer added the hitch on without beefing up the cooling system when I live in a hot hot environment in the desert southwest. Yeah sure just go ahead and burn up your transmission and/or engine. This is a mod (by the dealer) as far as I am concerned and you know how much warranty grief we take over our other mods, heh.

 

My cooler came today. I ordered the big one (part# XC3Z-7A095-CA) for the F250SD it's 7.5 x20. I dont know how bolt on it will be for my F150 though. It has premade brackets. I heard this cooler works really well here in AZ. While I was at it I got a couple motorcraft fuel filters shipped to me too FG-872 at $11.62 each from fordpartsonline.com.

Now I just have to figure out my lines and fittings and find a Saturday or day off to put it on.

 

That's a pretty trick looking cooler. My stock one mounts on the lower portion of the grill opening and attaches to the rad cross member.

I'd think that any location that had direct air flow will work. You might have to fab up some upper brackets to just give it some upper support. I'd think you can just tap into the sheetmetal rad crossmember above and come up with a pretty stock looking setup.

I'd paint it black too. Looks better, and I think it helps dissapate the heat better too......

I have found that even the smaller stock one does very well at keeping my trans cool. As long as I have air flow, my trans fluid stays just over 100*. When I tow my #4500 travel trailer, it'll ride pretty steady at 135*. It'll move up to 150* when I hit a hill, then go back down to 135*. Now, it's still Winter and I'm in the NW, so I'm only talking 40* here........

I maybe shopping for that bigger cooler in the Summer if I find my temps are higher.... Oh yeah, my trans temp is being picked up from the output line of the tranny. The one that goes into the top part of the rad. It's supposed to be the hottest point.

I have gotten the temp to 195* when I was backing the trailer up a slight incline and manuvering it into it's parking spot next to my house. It only took about five minutes to get the temp that high. I was not done yet, but let it sit and idle for another five minutes, when the temp dropped back down below 180* I finished up and was glad I had the temp gauge!

Thanks for posting that part #.

 

Hey Hapynzap..... Are the prices on fordpartonline any good?

 

For the cooler because it's a specialty item I only got 19% off list. For the Motorcraft fuel filters I got 39% off list. That's a heck of a lot better than going to my local dealer and getting bent over. Plus since I'm not paying local sales tax it just about washes the shipping charge which on this order was only $8 for the cooler and 4 fuel filters.

I've bought other OEM parts from them like the time I replaced my upper and lower radiator hoses and thermostat. The hoses were about the same price as the Goodyears from Autozone so I went with the Ford made in USA parts. I wanted to stick with a new stock thermostat too since I was doing everything else.

btw - this cooler is the one for the F250 super duty with V10 heh heh

The fittings on the cooler are double flare fittings. I'm gonna look for metal lines to hook it up with. No rubber hoses for me.

Yeah it's still winter but this is the time of year here in AZ that you get your cooling projects done NOT when it's 100* out.

 

Well I got my transmission cooler put in today. It was a tight fit and I had to disasemble the front end to get it in. I mounted it to the top of the radiator support with 4 self tapping sheet metal screws and the bottom support mounts are held in place between the headlight header panel and the radiator support. Got my lines plumbed in. Now I can tow cars across the desert in the middle of the summer if I want to, heh.

Here's a picture of it mounted.



Here's a a picture showing how the cooler just fits behind the hood latch center support.