Pressure Drop etc. - Trans Filter/Cooler Combo

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I'm hoping some of the Guru's here like Gary Allan will take notice of this thread.

I have bought a 5000lb trailer that I am going to tow with my Chev Avalanche. I am planning on installing an aux transmission fluid cooler after the in-radiator cooler, as well as an aux. spin-on transmission fluid filter.

By my rough estimation I am going to add at least 8' of additional plumbing into the trans cooling circuit. My circuit would look like this based on flow of fluid: trans---> radiator----> aux cooler---> filter mount---> trans. I would put the filter before the radiator, but that would involve interrupting the factory lines twice, which I do not want to do. I had four questions arising out of this:

1. Does this trans cooler circuit look like the correct way to do it?

2. The trans cooler options have either a 3/8" hose barb or a 5/16" inverted flare outlet. I prefer the inverted flare option due to the integrity of the connection. However, I am concerned about restricting flow. On the other hand, for a hose-barb to go inside a 3/8" hose, you have to narrow the hose ID where the hose barb goes inside. The inverted flare connection may not have the same restriction, and as such, are we talking about the same thing from a restriction/pressure drop perspective?

3. Is at least 8' of hose going to cause a significant pressure drop that I should worry about? I do not want to damage the transmission while trying to protect it.

4. What amount of pressure will the trans cooler lines need to be able to withstand?

Thanks in advance for anyone's thoughts here.

Jim
 
1. Looks good. There is no perfect way. And, since you don't want to slice/dice in 2 places, your plumbing is perfect
2. Either, take a look at the stock lines. The ID is nothing to brag about. Use whatever you believe will be more reliable. I always prefer bigger.
3. There is nothing wrong with 8' of hose length. The flow/pressure drop isn't worth worrying about, even though hose runs should be kept as short as possible. GM uses hard lines. Have you considered an OEM ATF cooler from the salvage yard?
4. Max hose running pressure is 250psi. You'll never see that at the cooler but you do want the hose to last a long time.

What size cooler do you plan on using?
Have you also considered deep sump ATF pan?
 
Ideally you should filter hot oil before you cool it. I'd put the filter between the radiator and your add on cooler.
 
Your plan looks good to me. If it were practical, I would put the filter before the coolers. My thought would be to reduce any accumulations in the coolers ..but your setup will work fine, imo

undummy covered just about everything. No worries about pressure drops/elevations in a cooler line. It's a low pressure line with high pressure potential. You'll never reach a range of "trouble".

The hose you buy should carry a minimum of SAE J1532 or SAE J1019 specs. Both are adequate for your needs, with J1019 being superior in both temp and operating pressure ratings.
 
You likely have your mind made up but IMO this is overkill for your intended towing capacity. OEM equipment will more than handle that load without the need for the added expense. If anything, change to synthetic ATF Dexron VI.

I have an 2004 GMC Ext cab Z71 that is likely equiped like your 04 and I my truck had the HD trailering equipment which is more that adequate for trailer towing.
 
Quote:


You likely have your mind made up but IMO this is overkill for your intended towing capacity. OEM equipment will more than handle that load without the need for the added expense. If anything, change to synthetic ATF Dexron VI.

I have an 2004 GMC Ext cab Z71 that is likely equiped like your 04 and I my truck had the HD trailering equipment which is more that adequate for trailer towing.




The Silverado/Sierra's got an auxiliary transmission cooler with their HD trailering package. For some reason, after 2002, avalanches with the HD trailering package do not get the auxiliary trans cooler, just the one in the radiator. This was a cost-cutting measure by GM. A number of corners were cut on these avalanches after 2002 according to posts on avalanche boards.

To answer undummy's question, installing the factory trans cooler is a real bear according to many that have done it, and they don't recommend it based on the difficulty and cost.

I thought I would likely be OK, but I had wanted to install an aux. spin-on oil filter anyhow, and so adding a trans-cooler while doing so seemed a natural.

Plus, it's supposed to be spring here and it keeps snowing, so I need a fun little project in the garage.

Thanks to everyone for their advice!
 
It's usual to put the filter on the transmission outlet. Many filter mounts have temperature sensors and if you only have a single sensor, you want to know the fluid temperature as it comes out of the transmission.

Look at the diagram at the bottom of this page:

Perma-Cool

transmission outlet -> filter -> in radiator cooler -> external cooler -> transmission inlet

I don't see any harm in moving the filter to the transmission inlet, but if you ever intend to add a temperature sensor to the filter mount, you'll want to put the filter directly on the transmission outlet.
 
The truck already has a transmission temp sensor.

I have to upgrade my instrument cluster to a 3/4 ton or Yukon Denali cluster to get the trans gauge. That's about a $200 upgrade. Without the gauge in the cluster, if you hit a certain temperature, the computer in the instrument cluster will tell you to stop and idle the truck. It's the equivalent of an idiot light for trans temperature.

If my gauge cluster ever fails, I'll spring for the upgraded cluster with the trans temp gauge. In the mean time, if the plumbing works out, I'm going to run a filter after the in-rad cooler and an aux cooler after that. I'll probably rig up a cover for the aux cooler for the winter, or maybe I'll just bypass it in the winter.

I got the Low Pressure drop stacked plate cooler (made by long manufacturing) today, just like the OEM.
 
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