I'm doing a diesel conversion in my '92 F-350 and am wondering about the trans cooler. For some strange reason the truck doesn't have one other than what is in the radiator. I've actually mounted and hard lined 2 medium coolers that I've had laying around the shop, and now that its almost done I'm starting to wonder if the extra cooler would put extra flow restriction on the trans. The engine is a 7.3 IDI (n/a) and the trans, I believe, is a E40D. I will be pulling heavy loads from time to time including my rock crawler through the mountains. Should I let it be as it is, or should I drop down to a single cooler. In reality, I'm just being a cheap *** and trying to avoid buying yet another cooler when I've already got several laying around. Input?

 

as long as there are no kinks in the tubing of the coolers there will be no restriction. you can never have enough coolers on an auto trans

 

I've been told of pressure dropif hooked in series. Hook the two aux colers in parallel, and you should have no issues

 

you understand that you'll need the diesel specific radiator and E40D trans right?
just making sure.
i understand your trying to do this on a tighter budget,but you may find a turbo will be in order at high altitudes wile towing.so id be planning that in my budget as well.
if you don't turbo,and tow heavy in the mountains,she'll probably be slow pulling the grades and in which case,id plan on a trans cooler combined with an e-fan setup in order to keep the trans happy.
does the truck have 4.10 gearing? if it has 3.55's,id be planning on a gear/axle swap too.
sure is much more enjoyable if you plan everything out,and set her up correctly the first time.the difference could be regretting the idi diesel swap,to loving it.

 

Well, this is how it started... I scored a '93 F-250 long bed, regular cab with the IDI and a fresh trans for $450. The bad thing is that it was beat to hell and back. The hood was the only body panel that wasn't somehow dented. Interior smelled like a wet dog lived in it and dash looked like a rat had a field day. The engine ran, but leaked oil profusely from the oil cooler and the water pump was in the same condition. At first I had plans to scrub and sanitize and replace a few body panels as I could. The mechanical part wasn't a problem to me as I did some searching here and found out what I needed to. I really just needed a tow pig and my '87 suburban was KILLING me in gas, plus I always wanted a diesel anyway. It so happens that I was with a buddy one day and we had to stop by one of his buddies house for some random truck part. That is where I spied my victim. It's a '92 F-350 crew cab dually with a rotten wood flatbed. It seemed to have been sitting for several years due to the pretty green and black shade of tree goo. It housed a 460 gas burner under the hood. Body and interior is in great shape with exception of a bent right front door. I asked him about it and he said the only reason he got it was for the 460 and fuel injection that he wanted to put in one of his many other smaller ford trucks, but hadn't gotten around to it. He told me that if I wanted it I could have the thing if I would pull the engine out and return it to him. The trans was beyond fried in it from pulling a small dozer once. So here it sits in my yard now. I swapped everything out, including the radiator support, which is much larger. (drops down about a foot below the gas one) The conversion is going well, and isn't as near as hard as I thought it would be. As far as the gearing, I'm not sure. I do recognize the beefy Sterling rear end and I'm hoping for 4:10 gears. I'll change the gear dope anyway and count the teeth to find out. My next step is to swap out the tanks and plumb it for the IDI. I'm sure I'd love the turbo upgrade, but I've also thought about the 24v CTD as well. I guess I'll see how she pulls to start with and go from there. I'm the type of person who thinks there is room for improvement with almost anything, but I need to cover the basics at first, which is why I'm doing these trans coolers. I've got one in each of my vehicles. Just doesn't make sense not to have one. I also need to plumb in a trans temp gauge and a EGT since I turned up the pump a little. I'll try to post up a pic, but am thinking that there has to be at least 25 posts first. Is that correct?

 

I have the E4OD and I have 2 trans coolers up front... one is the aluminum fin type and one is different, I'm not sure what kind the second one is but I was told that the 2nd one i have is a more efficient cooler.

I also spend a lot of time pulling heavy loads over a mountain and just climbed a 10 mile long 6% grade in 100+ temps with no problems... hottest it got was just about 200 but once at the top dropped down to normal op temp of about 150. Also I keep my foot to the floor most of the time when pulling, keeping here at about 3K RPM's.

 

150 is the minimum temp you want.
if your seeing this in 100 degree weather when towing (besides on the hills) you may want to take care,during the cooler temps or when not towing.
you can probably rig something up to block off one of your coolers when you want (either during cold weather or when empty,etc.) this way you wont ever get below 150 at the trans test port.ideal temp being 175 @ the test port/pan for best fuel economy and fluid life.
with a locking TC,these girls run much cooler than the old c6's.

 

My F350 super duty 4R100 trans was getting warm, the stock transmission temp gauge moved up but stayed just below the overheating range and i was averaging 210 towing and up grades 220+. I towed 13-14k apprx 250 miles. i plan on adding an additional 4000 pounds and don't want to push it. is there a benefit to transmission coolers, how big, who has the best, electric vs air cooled? please help.