I had to cut into my metal transmission to get a pinch out. Then i went up to AUTOZONE ( first problem ) and just got a transmission line (rubber). I was driving into work today and it split right down the middle. WHy did this happen .....have no i idea can somebody explain ...heat or to high of pressure for it? What freaks me out is that the the return line has a splice w/ a rubber hose too and its fine.

Then i call my local FORD house to see if they have pre-fabricated line. NO they say to imprevise. FORD didn't make them for that year. I tried call a few part store and everybody says to bend it yourself. Does anybody know of a place to get one all ready bent?

 

Your tranny lines are like the power steering lines, one is pressure, and the other is return. The return will have no pressure in it. You need high pressure lines, and I don't think that the rubber ones you get from AutoZone or the like are high enough pressure.

As far as getting one already bent, if you can find a hose company, I really can't think exactly what they are called, where they do hydraulic lines and the such, they can make you one. It shouldn't be too expensive, but they will probably need your old one to make a pattern out of.

 

The GENIUSES at Autozone gave you the wrong hose. There is specific hose for tranny lines that handles the heat and high pressure. I say go to NAPA, cuz I know for a fact that they sell rubber tranny line by the foot. Oh, and make sure you clamp it on there GOOD!!!!

 

Some of the tranny line runs about $8-$10 a foot! So, if you paid $1 a foot you got the wrong stuff. The tranny line usually lists its bursting pressure too.

The best thing is to get a flaring kit from NAPA (KD tools), some brake line and flare your own lines. Even if you only run hoses, you want at least a single flare bead on the remaining line so the hose does not leak or slip off. Without the bead/flare it will just leak or slip off before even a month has past. You see this all the time when people use rubber hose to patch a power steering line they broke while replacing the ps. pump.

What I do is run a custom line up to the radiator, then a connector, and then a separate line up to the cooler. The reason being is one long line is a real hassle, especially on some vehicles when you have to twist it four+ different ways to get it to thread through the spaces Ford allows.

Its easy on a lift, impossible on the ground. The other is for stress relief and to allow a certain amount of movement, so I add a few S shapes the factory does not have, especially at the front, I "S" shape up slightly into the engine compartment to make sure the tranmission line is as close to the radiator support as possible and does not hang down where branches can rip at it while off-road.

 

Here's also a trick I just remembered. You can "un-kink" tubing with a pair of vise grips. Since you can set how close the jaws are to each other and avoid collapsing the tubing. Baby steps, a little at a time. I have done this a few times on clutch lines and never had a problem.

Rebocardo is right, you need to flair each end of metal tubing before you put the hose on it and place the hose outside of the flair. That'll help big time.

 

????? You sure about that? The purpose of having tranny lines is in order to run a cooler. Although the fluid in the lines is under a fair amount of pressure, it is not performing a function like a power steering system thus will have the same pressure on the input side as it does on the output side. The fluid simply takes the path through the lines, and through the cooler. Pricipals of hydraulics dictate that pressure will be the same at any given point in a continuous line. I'm not trying to flame anyone, on the contrary. I'm just trying to avoid any confusion.

Go to NAPA and get some of their hydraulic hose. This is probably the same hose a couple others have referred to as tranny hose. Double clamps along with the suggested flares should provide plenty of holding power.

 

The pressure is the same on both tranny lines. Think about it - all it does is leave the tranny, get cooled and return. Power steering on the other hand, goes out under pressure, does it's job and returns to the resivoir to be pumped again. The two systems are not even remotely similar.

So what I am saying is, run GOOD rubber tranny lines no matter what side you are on.

 

Hydraulics says that if there's flow, there's a pressure drop (because of friction & viscosity). But with only a cooler, there's not MUCH pressure drop, so the 2 lines operate at ABOUT the same pressure, and neither is very high.

 

From http://www.2004rperformancecenter.co....asp?faq_id=23

Category: Cooler Questions


Question: Transmission Cooler Line Pressure Just wondering, does anyone know about how much pressure the tranny cooler lines are holding?

Answer: I can tell you Exactly
We run a cooler line pressure gauge in the test car. I note Highest pressure seen on the test sheet we furnish. I can tell you it is directly related to line. Follow me here, It is normally not much as the fluid is flowing to an open source. The return feed is the lube circuit and enters the trans thru the od center support. It then splits and feeds forward thru the input shaft and backward down output shaft. from there it gravity feeds back to the pan. Now under hard excel, can you see way it has trouble with scavenge back to the pan as far as fluid level in pan? Thats where the deeper pans with more capacity come in. Now , in a trans that has higher line pressure , say 140 at idle, will have as high as 50 psi under acceleration. A stock brf say will have 70 psi line pressure at idle and will flow about 10 psi. When the converter locks it will run between 30-40 psi (higher line) and 10-20 psi in a stock BRF in the cooler line. If ever you see higher than 65 psi or so, in the cooler line, something is not right. I see this every day as every Trans we build is tested and has this reading on their test sheet. Those of you who have there sheets handy , post as to what yours were with relationship to line pressure. Should be interesting if some will step up.

 

You guys are right, I got a little confused. Not quite thinking. I got the picture of a power steering pump in my head and wasn't thinking of the cooler.

But, here is a concern then. If the output, for a lack of better terms, side of the tranny blew a hose, wouldn't you think that there might be restiction somewhere that is causing the higher than normal pressure? Just a thought.

 

Well guys i found the out what cuased my rubber hose to bust open. It was when i tighted the hose down to got pinch inside the hose from the metal line. I had to remove it and just file down the sharp edges so this won't happen. Hell thanks for all the info you guys inputed on this issuse. Sure me and some other peps on here benefited from all this.