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It is possible to overheat any tranny, so a gauge would be worthwhile for peace of mind. If the gauge shows the tranny temp going too high say in the 200's I would get a cooler or get a bigger one than might already be there.
The E4OD prior to 1995 had some problems, so that is why you hear about trouble. Once you rebuild the E4OD with the uprated parts, I am told that they become much more reliable.
I had mine rebuilt at about 50K and have towed an 8,000# trailer for about 20,000 miles so far with no problem.