John woods not being "enamored" with it gives me no info as to why not. And with over 200k on my transmission, I'm doing something right.

I've seen plenty of evidence based on temperature readings for it, i want to see some evidence against it. While JW and BTS are well know for building strong transmissions, they are in the business of building transmissions. I'm in the business of NOT having to buy one of theirs!

 

My tranny and cooler work, and work well. No guessing here. I'll stick to a proven combo. Texas, at least put in a pyro and trans temp. so you know when to pull over. Cheap insurance.

 

Generally speaking, you want to keep transmission fluid below about 185 degF... I do not know where the lower operating temperature limit is for sure, but I I believe ti is about 160 degF.

As for who has what kind of reputation or credibility on this tranny cooler size issue, lets just step back and get a 30,000 foot perspective for a minute. I'll make this brief and start with a few intriguiing questions.

1. When Chevy increased the size of their brake rotors on the Suburban by 20% in 2000, why did they do that?

2. When Ford came out with the 6.0L engine and 5R100 tranny in 2003, why did they increase the size of the tranny cooler as much as they did?

Answer to BOTH questions... the manufacturer finally stepped up to the plate to resolve design deficiencies which had been problematic in the previous years' models. Just as Chevy realized they had been living too long with undersized brakes for a vehicle as heavy as the Suburban, Ford realized that they had been undercooling the trannies in the 7.3L diesels for years. If I'm not mistaken, neither Chevy or Ford have returned to the smaller versions of either piece of equipment, so there has to be validity in the design change for real-world reasons because we KNOW that no car manufacturer will continue to use an over-sized design if it is not truly necessary.

Keep in mind that these decisions were made for STOCK truck setups. When you start talking about RACING or HOT ROD setups, those kinds of activities by their very nature tend to result in "early" death for both engines and transmissions. The people who play in that world have a simple need for speed as a primary motivating factor when choosing their mods, and they live with the results of much-shorter-than-designed equipment life.

SOoooo.... for those of use who run our vehicles as DD's, we tend to have a slightly different perspective and need for protecting our equipment because we need to be able to use it every day... not just on weekends for non-essential fun or sport.

 

I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong. I had 300k miles on my original 4r100 before it went out and I'm probably the 3rd or 4th owner. It has a gooseneck hitch and has pulled trailers across the country.

300k miles on a stock daily work truck with stock everything is not that bad in my book, why I chose the 7.3 in the first place.

 

I do know that Brian at BTS like the 6.0l cooler, Mark the Ford Tran engineer says it is a good thing.

and there is no way for the cooler to warm the trans per Marks 5 page write up.

 

Good post, brings up my next point: Howsabout a 600hp to the wheels 7.3 daily driver on a stock 7.3 cooler? That's way more power than most on here could ever imagine they could get from their trucks.

How is this possible?

 

you can get 600hp but the stock trans will die in no time, you would have to get a built trans.

 

Not mine, his. It's not fiction, it's reality. I'd be willing to bet he has a performance tranny in there but stock trans cooling.

 

600HP? Know idea man, you just left my world.

 

I'm going to claim Apples and Oranges here, and I'll tell you why...

If you get 300K miles on your OEM trans, it is not unreasonable to see a 600 Hp rear wheel truck get the same, as long as the temperatures he sees don't get outside the range of what you ran on your own truck. It's all about the amount of temperature (and even mechanical) stress seen in the tranny.

I'll make a couple assumptions based on what I would do if I had a 600 hp rear wheel truck and ran it as a DD, but let me ask a question first.

Is his tranny BUILT, or STOCK? If BUILT, then he already has components which can withstand both increased temperature and increased torque demands created by the 600 hp. If he's racing (and who would NOT with a truck like that), then he's also more than likely changing his fluid more frequently to help ensure that it doesn't puke on the track. Both the higher quality/higher strength parts and more frequent fluid changes automatically put him in a completely different position, and his stock tranny cooler is not going to make much difference over a 6.0 because he is already (probably) taking corrective actions.

 

In the magazine article posted on his wall it's stated that that truck has 600hp to the rear wheels. I'm assuming he's done even more work to it since he told me that it now has over 700hp.

This is why I asked about the 6.0 cooling mod, if I'm going to produce a measely 350-400hp which is not design specific to the accomplishments of a 2001 7.3 stock truck and tranny with just tuner and turbo and injectors, to which I received a reply of, "For what? If there's a problem fix it."

Turns out he does not have any cooling mods on that truck, daily driver.

 

You've just openly, swiftly and decidedly solved the debate. It's not the mod, it's the transmission itself. With more horsepower you need a performance transmission, not a band aid.

I now have that as well.

 

Of course all of his trannies are built, by himself as are the motors.

 

Then whoever installed it did something wrong.

Properly installed it will ALWAYS lower the transmission temperature.

I am right in my field. I was a Ford automatic transmission cooling engineer from 2004-2007. This cooler will cool WAY better than the stock 7.3L cooler, unless someone makes a huge error installing it.

I also don't have a dog in this fight. If people want to keep the stock cooler it doesn't affect me one way or the other. I just like to have the record straight for people that care about things like this. These aftermarket trans builders do make an excellent product from everything I've heard. That doesn't mean they know anything more than anyone else about cooling. Transmission cooling was my full time job for my last three years at Ford. I'm not guessing.

If it is a daily driver, doesn't tow heavy, and only races in short distances, like 1/4 mile at a time, I would expect the stock cooler will do just fine. It is when the trans is worked hard for an extended time that it needs more cooling. Such as climbing a 12 mile long 8% grade loaded to maximum gross combined weight rating with an outside temperature of at least 95°F. That's a cooling test that I ran many, many times heading east on AZ 68 out of Bullhead City, AZ.

 

Here's his real truck, spanks his 600hp Driving Miss Daisy truck all day long. The guy really knows what he's doing, it's just awesome talking to him. I wish my tranny would break down just so I could go and bug him all day long but that's not the case, I have to wait until I have the funds for the other upgrades. Farkin' bulletproof tranny he built me...

Snow White
SW vs white SS 9 22 06hmp - YouTube