I've been wanting to do this for awhile and finally did it on Saturday. I wanted to wait until I did some "real world driving" to see the impact before I posted up the thread and I have to say, so far, I'm impressed. I wish I had something other than the OEM gauge for exact numbers, but it's visibly different.
Normal, in town driving, the OEM gauge would run a little over half and now it's under half (just before the "gear")...where I was shocked was on the highway (60-70 MPH and it's about 80 degrees out) this morning into work. Before, it would always run halfway, but on my 30 minute trek down the highway it barely broke 1/4 of the way the whole time.
Anyway, on to what I did.
I purchased the Hayden Rapid Cool Transmission Cooler from my local Autozone and 10' of hose. I got the one that was made for vehicles that tow over 10k lbs, don't remember the exact model number but I believe it was this one:
Compressor Works/Transmission Oil Cooler (911678) | AutoZone.com
For the install because it is a little large, I had to be a little creative.
1. Removed the grill, horn, and front fan to give me a little room to move.
2. I was able to slide it in and mount it to the back side of the bar that the lower part of the grill clips into using wire ties, so essentially, it would sit between the fan and the AC
3. Removed the assembly on the passenger side of the radiator that runs from the lower portion of the radiator up into the OEM cooler
4. The metal tube that runs up the passenger side of the radiator, I wanted to reuse on the drivers side since it's no longer needed and I don't want the rubber transmission line getting crushed, so I slid it up along the drivers side of the radiator in between the radiator and the plastic casing. Make sure you cover the ends because you don't want dirt getting in the tube.
5. I cut a new length of tube to run from the transmission outlet to the bottom part of the metal tube I just slid up the side of the radiator and fastened it together.
6. The Hayden cooler has larger inlets than the OEM tube so I used the larger tube that came with the kit to run from the top of the metal tube on the drivers side into the transmission cooler.
7. I then ran the larger tube from the outlet on the Hayden into the OEM Transmission cooler.
8. From there, everything else remains the same.
9. Tightened everything down and reinstalled the fan and the horns
10. Capped the inlet and outlet on the bottom of the radiator and started the truck to check for leaks
11. Reinstalled the grill and went for a cruise :thumbsup:
Here are a couple pics that I took:
This is where the cooler is installed
This is the inlet on the drivers side, you can see the top of the metal tube that I reused from the passengers side of the radiator
This is the tube from the outlet on the Hayden into the OEM Transmission cooler
Here is the underside of the truck. I didn't think to snap the pictures until after I soaked the bottom with Simple Green and hosed it off :lol:
Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures all the way through the process, but if any of the steps are unclear, feel free to hit me up.
Normal, in town driving, the OEM gauge would run a little over half and now it's under half (just before the "gear")...where I was shocked was on the highway (60-70 MPH and it's about 80 degrees out) this morning into work. Before, it would always run halfway, but on my 30 minute trek down the highway it barely broke 1/4 of the way the whole time.
Anyway, on to what I did.
I purchased the Hayden Rapid Cool Transmission Cooler from my local Autozone and 10' of hose. I got the one that was made for vehicles that tow over 10k lbs, don't remember the exact model number but I believe it was this one:
Compressor Works/Transmission Oil Cooler (911678) | AutoZone.com
For the install because it is a little large, I had to be a little creative.
1. Removed the grill, horn, and front fan to give me a little room to move.
2. I was able to slide it in and mount it to the back side of the bar that the lower part of the grill clips into using wire ties, so essentially, it would sit between the fan and the AC
3. Removed the assembly on the passenger side of the radiator that runs from the lower portion of the radiator up into the OEM cooler
4. The metal tube that runs up the passenger side of the radiator, I wanted to reuse on the drivers side since it's no longer needed and I don't want the rubber transmission line getting crushed, so I slid it up along the drivers side of the radiator in between the radiator and the plastic casing. Make sure you cover the ends because you don't want dirt getting in the tube.
5. I cut a new length of tube to run from the transmission outlet to the bottom part of the metal tube I just slid up the side of the radiator and fastened it together.
6. The Hayden cooler has larger inlets than the OEM tube so I used the larger tube that came with the kit to run from the top of the metal tube on the drivers side into the transmission cooler.
7. I then ran the larger tube from the outlet on the Hayden into the OEM Transmission cooler.
8. From there, everything else remains the same.
9. Tightened everything down and reinstalled the fan and the horns
10. Capped the inlet and outlet on the bottom of the radiator and started the truck to check for leaks
11. Reinstalled the grill and went for a cruise :thumbsup:
Here are a couple pics that I took:
This is where the cooler is installed
This is the inlet on the drivers side, you can see the top of the metal tube that I reused from the passengers side of the radiator
This is the tube from the outlet on the Hayden into the OEM Transmission cooler
Here is the underside of the truck. I didn't think to snap the pictures until after I soaked the bottom with Simple Green and hosed it off :lol:
Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures all the way through the process, but if any of the steps are unclear, feel free to hit me up.