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Better cooling for the Comanche?


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Yeah, those are what I don't care for. If I were to go with an aftermarket cooler I'd have to fab some mounting brackets to the frame area.

 

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I used the Zip ties, but would prefer the bracket. I have a tube fin one. It was something I picked up at a garage sale. It was for a Ford Ranger. I do have the DPG 2 row or is it 3-row. It is a brass radiator. I have heard of a few who run two trans coolers. If I did a lot of towing, I would consider this.

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I am constantly amazed by how much good information is collectively here.

 

I don't do much regular towing. But, since I got rid of the Isuzu Rodeo, towing duties have fallen to the Comanche. Must say the Rodeo never had a towing issue in more than 15 years.

 

Think I am going to see if I can mount an under hood temperature probe to see what my "normal" temps are before the hood spacers arrive and get installed. Think I have an oven temperature probe that may work out reasonably well.

 

Question is, where to mount the probe to get realistic under hood ambiant temps??

 

Any thoughts?

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  • 6 months later...

After reading / re-reading this thread and others ad nauseaum, I'm going to eliminate the transmission radiator cooler and use the existing little Mopar factory cooler (shown below) that I added years ago as the only tranny cooler for my AW4. Since I don't tow anymore (I use the JK if I have to), and have that big 3-core aluminum radiator from FFD, I'm thinking I'll be just fine. Plus I plan to use the PML tranny pan later if and when it becomes available. It doesn't get real cold here either, so I see no need for "pre-heating" the tranny fluid. I think it may help to lower both tranny and engine temps. Has anyone gone this way in this configuration? Everyone I've seen who has eliminated the radiator cooler is using a larger aux cooler than my factory unit.  Thoughts?

 

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Don.

I have no transmission temperature data,  just water temperature data.  Also have a fair amount of towing experience with the factory Big Ton/Metric Ton package.  "Think" my AW4 is original to the truck and still runs well at 300K+ miles.  So I "think" the factor got the transmission cooling right to tow up to 5000 lbs.  That said, I would agree with just using the Mopar trans cooler.  No point to heating up the trans fluid with hot radiator coolant, except possibly to boil off any moisture in the trans fluid.

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23 hours ago, HOrnbrod said:

Thoughts?

 

 

Why not buy a larger aux cooler?  The B&M I have wasn't horrifically expensive, and you can mount them by means other than the zip ties.  I zip tied mine (and my P/S cooler) for now because I plan to go to a better radiator and probably change the fan arrangement.

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Just to add information.  My latest edition is a 06' KJ ( mom needed a new vehicle and I wasn't about to let her sell what I've maintained to someone else ... I digress ) and the rage with the 42RLE for the KJs and TJs is this unit. 

 

It's pricey ( to me ) but covers lots of bases.....Mount, Fan, hoses etc. 

 

Again... just what I've found lately.

Derale 20561 Jeep Wrangler Direct Fit Automatic Transmission Cooler

 

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Good info and I agree with the design concepts being discussed here.  I don't think you can overcool an auto trans, and relieving some of the cooling burden from the radiator sounds like a good plan.

 

Tru-Cool makes some good oil coolers.  I am adding an engine oil cooler to my CJ7 and did a bunch of research.  Tru-Cool oil coolers are stamped "Long" on the mounting brackets, and the same cooler is sold under several brand names.  Tru-Cool seems to be the least expensive.

 

I eventually made my purchase on Amazon.  This link is an engine oil cooler, but they make trans coolers also and in different sizes.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TPUL2K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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^^ Thanks for this post schardein. I checked Tru-Cool's site and found the perfect cooler size for my application. It's their p/n LPD49201, pic below. Dimensions are 4" x 23", and it's rated at 22K BTU.  It'll fit nicely just above the existing factory cooler in series and hang from brackets off the radiator brace w/o using those tie-wrap thingies.

 

lpd4920-top.jpg

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I thought the B&M coolers sort of by-passed the cooling fins when the fluid was cold. I did buy one for my Bricklin, but never installed. If you think your MJ or XJ gets HOT. Uh, NO! There is on XJ owner who uses a B&M before and after the radiator. I sort of want to do that at some point. I did not notice any temp difference in my XJ when I added a trans cooler. I'd have to check if it was before or after. I run about 210F on the gauge. I do not have a trans gauge.

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4 hours ago, HOrnbrod said:

^^ Thanks for this post schrdein. I checked Tru-Cool's site and found the perfect cooler size for my application. It's their p/n LPD49201, pic below. Dimensions are 4" x 23", and it's rated at 22K BTU.  It'll fit nicely just above the existing factory cooler in series and hang from brackets off the radiator brace w/o using those tie-wrap thingies.

 

lpd4920-top.jpg

You are welcome.  Interested to see how this works out.  I have bolted in a factory trans cooler on the MJ, but it is not plumbed yet.  I might look at just using this one, or running it in series as you mention.  I refuse to use the through-the-core zip ties also.  I mounted an electric fan that way on my CJ-7 way back in the day, and it didn't last one off road trip before rubbing a hole in one of the radiator tubes.

 

If you like throwing away money, B&M sells some of the same coolers as Tru-Cool at a much higher price.:shaking:

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On 2/15/2018 at 5:10 PM, 75sv1 said:

I thought the B&M coolers sort of by-passed the cooling fins when the fluid was cold. I did buy one for my Bricklin, but never installed. If you think your MJ or XJ gets HOT. Uh, NO! There is on XJ owner who uses a B&M before and after the radiator. I sort of want to do that at some point. I did not notice any temp difference in my XJ when I added a trans cooler. I'd have to check if it was before or after. I run about 210F on the gauge. I do not have a trans gauge.

 

The cold weather bypass is optional. It's that blue thingie in the above pic. I don't think I will need it in Bama.

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If you don't need your ac you can do what I did and move the radiator forward then install 2  modified GM factory fans(they were vertical I cut them down so they would be horizontal). It adds around 2" between the fans and radiator allowing you to actually reach things in front of the engine. I ran the transplanted 4.0 up and down the road for maybe 10 miles before a cheap used v8 conversion was offered and I jumped on it.

 

 

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Got the Tru-cool LPD49201 aux cooler mounted today - it fits in there on top of the factory tranny cooler nicely. If anyone uses this cooler or similar, install 1/4 x 20 nutserts on the cooler mounting tabs. There's no way to get a nut on the mounting bolts that go through the hanger brackets w/o nutserts unless you rip out the radiator, radiator L-bracket, and condenser. With the nutserts you just line everything up and screw the bolts in. It ended up sitting ~1/2" in front of the condenser and there's plenty of grille room. Now to decide whether to plumb it in w. or w/o the radiator cooler........

 

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It's bolted to the fiberglass front clip with a reinforcement bar and stand-off behind it. Very solid. That's a clip nut you show which could also work but nutsert are stronger.

 

A nutsert (or rivet nut) looks like the below. To use a 1/4 x 20 threaded nutsert, you drill out the 1/4" existing bracket hole to 3/8", then use a tool to compress the 1/4x20 nutsert into the hole. I have a set of different sizes up to 1/2"  and metric sizes too and use them quite a bit.

 

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