so what will happen if I bypass the trans cooler in the radiator and have my transmission cooled by an aftermarket transmission cooler?...will it keep cool enough in summer? will it be too cold in winter?...I just wish that the two were not connected. I want the engine temperature and trans temperature to be completely separate. so that if one is overheating it does not affect the other. I feel like if the two are separate I know more about what is going on.

 

As long as you have a large enough transmission cooler, it will be fine. I prefer the stacked plate design as they are more efficient based on the physical size. I have personally done this with a car when the transmission cooler in the radiator started leaking.

I have never heard of any ill effects from "over cooling" an automatic transmission. Unless you are where it is quite often 20 below zero I doubt you would have any trouble, especially with these old 3 speed autos without lockup torque converters.

 

I didn't separate mine, I run through the new aluminum radiator then the B&M 70266 plate style cooler. It was the biggest that I decided would fit behind the grille and the upper and lower constraints of the radiator support. I used two pieces of 1 inch wide 1/8" thick steel to go from the passenger side of the radiator support to the center hood latch support and mounted the cooler to those. The B&M instructions say not to mount the cooler with the ports down, I had already mounted my cooler and driven my truck when I saw that. The reasoning is to prevent an air bubble getting trapped in the cooler and basically making most of the cooler useless. I mounted it the way the old Ford one had been, but I plan to flip it and bend some nicer lines rather than the twice reused ones on the truck. The biggest problem I had mounting it was finding the 5/16 flare fittings to fit the lines. Everyone had 1/4 and 3/8 but not 5/16.

 

 

Trust me, your transmission will never overheat your radiator and your radiator will never overheat your transmission.
BUT your transmission cooler in front of or behind the radiator blocks the airflow enough to affect temperatures in both. In fact, I took my transmission cooler back off because it was causing the AC compressor to get too hot and blow off pressure when not moving down the road.
I suggest you maintain the radiator transmission cooling first, and if you want the secondary cooler on there so be it.

 

Don't do it.

 

my trans lines are all jacked up...they've been cut and patched with rubber hose...can't seem to find replacements

 

Trust me??? I don't think so.It's very common for RV's and tow rigs to overheat the transmission and transfer that heat to the radiator and overheat the engine. If you place a heavy load on the tranny both it and the engine temps might benefit from a large external cooler bypassing the radiator.

 

I would not advise it. Keep the stock, in radiator cooler, and add another one if you want more cooling.

 

You can make some out of hard replacement brake line. It's a PITA but doable with a bender. I had to fab new ones to clear my headers. Or if you wanna spend the dough AN fitted braided lines are an option

 

I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about a pickup truck, not a 12 ton huge *** vehicle. My bad..

 

Yea, 5/16 brake line. If you want an easier time bending lines I hear the NiCopp/Steel lines are much easier to form. Cost about twice as much though and you may have to special order it. Another tip, get some line separators. They are little aluminum brackets that clamp around multiple lines to keep them from rubbing and all neatly arranged.