I'm glad I posted. Thanks for filling me in on the ATF. Now Chuck, I love your thinking on this. That's probably why our wives get so fearful whenever we talk. What are your thoughts on that transmission cooler? Is there room for it between the radiator and grill with the fan attached to it? Specs only call for 1/8" separation between it and the radiator. I'm also thinking the air has to go somewhere after passing through the cooler. That would give a little boost to our stock fan as well. Are you thinking of bypassing the stock transmission cooler like they recommend? If this would work, I could pass up replacing the stock fan with something moving more air. Proper cooling wouldn't drive me to thinking about putting in some kind of alternative fluid that can handle the volcanic temperatures our trannys produce.

 

damn I gotta get a cooler asap and do a complete flush, I had the death ding this weekend while I was towing out a dodge 2500 that killed his clutch, I think about 10mi I was keeping it slow 5-10mph in 4low.

Seer I though I had the aeroforce working for the trans temp but its not, It just locks in at whatever the temp of coolant is at the time and doesnt change. I guess I need to get the complete directions for it and read them lol

 

Tom, the girls have reason to be fearful! I measured very carefully before I ordered this and I see no problem with it fitting. It might sit a few degrees from vertical but that isn't a problem. If I think there may be a clearance issue I'll either shave a bit of the back of the grill so I can move it forward or space the fan back whatever is needed. I only see possibly needing 1/4 to 1/2". There is plenty of room to move the radiator.

That cooler is the biggest, baddest, highest BTU rating I could find for our use. It's teh biggest one B&M makes. The website doesn't mention it but they told me it was rated at 30,000 btu. I also like that the fan is not controled by the JK computer but has its own thermoswitch that turns it on at 175 degrees. That alone is a good thing.

As far as bypassing the stock radiator I'm of two minds. The first is that by not having the tranny go thru the radiator it would remove some load from the radiator and allow the radiator to do a better job of cooling the engine. With the Aeroforce I've seen the trans temp get up into the mid 220's with regularity but also the 230's, 240's and as high as 252. When that happened the engine started running hotter. So for that reason I'minclined to route it as the High Impact trans folks suggest. The other way to look at it is something that B&M mentioned about the trans not getting up to temp in the winter if you don't go thru the radiator. Maybe the thing to do is plumb it in such a way that you can run it thru the radiator in the winter and not in the summer; maybe by using a couple of screw type hydraulic quick connects (think air hose fitting that has a screw ring rather than sliding ring) - they're usually rated at 5000 or 10000 psi. Before I do the install I'm going to call High Impact and B&M one more time. But the fluid is so thin. even in the cold that it may not be an issue. I'll probably not go thru the radiator since heat is a bigger enemy than cold.

As to fluid - as soon as I get the trans cooler on I'm going to put new fluid in so I start with unbaked fluid. Since fluid damage is cummulative I think we might be prudent to cut the trans temp fluid change interval down. I don't recall what it is offhand but at least half of the recommended mileage. Definetly no more than 24k and maybe even 12 or 18k. Since the factory fluid can be bought at WalMart for 4.00 a gt that is probably better than going for a more expensive fluid at longer intervals.

 

Even the directions are not clear on what to do to get the proper trans temp; and there are a bunch of choices. The one you want, and the only one that will read the JK trans temp is

TRNS TMP V6/R8

Choose that and be prepared to scare yourself. There is a damn good reason why Jeep didn't put a trans temp gauge in the JK!

The biggest influence on the trans is speed. It likes going down the freeway and around town at 50 or so. Get going slow, especially when not in 4Lo and temps climb dramatically. I think it is unsuffient cooling capacity. Have I ever said I hated bean counters?

 

Hey Tim,
Run the Aeroforce through platform 2 then scroll down to the second trans temp labeled something like v6 o8. It'll definitely say Trans Temp V6 something. That's the one you want.

I went out and measured and 3 1/2" is gonna be a tight fit in there. I'm gonna try that Moroso I have mounted in the front I've finally picked up the steel hoses for it. Now that I have the gauge to monitor it, I'll be able to see if that's enough. If not, then I'll go all out nuclear on it with your solution Chuck.

 

Mine always seems to puke after going 60-65 over the passes. Totally agree on insufficient cooling although I'm still thinking insufficient transmission as well.

 

thats guys for the info on the gauges....

Chuck the trans does not run thru the radiator at all, just to the ac/trans cooler in front of the radiator.I have the griffin rad on mine and I was running 218-222 mostly on the highway going about 65-70 and that was thru the mountains in VA. I need to clean it out thougth, its pretty caked with mud right now, I havent cleaned it since I put it in a year ago. The stock one I was cleaning out after every run, the griffin is much better at not holding the mud. I want to see if it makes much difference in temps once I wash it out.

I'd hate to see what my trans temp was towing that dodge :eek:

 

It is going to be tight; but I can deal with that.

Hey they don't call me Overkill for nothing. You should have seen the bumpers I used to build; coulda towed a train with them!

I don't think it's an either/or proposition; it's both. If we had a 5 or 6 speed tranny it could be in a more optimal gear and run better. And we are definetely on the small side in the radiator department.

If I don't run the trans thru the radiator and find out everything is fine I'll have a custom radiator built that will not waste space with any trans cooling capacity. I'll have an old school desert cooler built with enough rows. I had to do that to keep my old full size pickups cool when out in the desert.

 

pic of the griffin before I put it in

 

How many rows is that? What did it cost and what difference do you notice? Does the engine run cooler under load?