neeland

Have been reading write ups an threads on this for three days an I still need a few things. I am putting my tranny cooler on next week. I'm gonna be on a little bit of a time crunch cuz I am taking a 400 mile road trip next weekend. Also this is my only vehicle at the moment so I can't run back an forth to the parts store after I start. I have decided to run the cooler after the radiator an I am gonna put it in front of the ac condenser offsetting it slightly to the center to keep from blocking the flow to the mechanical fan to much. I have for all this from my research but I need to get a install parts list. Like the what kinda fittings I need when I split the return line out of the radiator. This seems pretty simple an straight forward but I am trying to cover all my bases cuz like I said this will be a one shot deal. Also need ideas for mounting. The kit comes with some ziptie type deals but I'm kinda sketchy on them.

mud-dog27

when i put a transmission cooler in my jeep i went with the biggest B&M unit the parts store had and it came with all the fittings and some. just spent the money on a decent kit and you should get everything you need, IIRC mine was just short of $100CDN.

then its just a matter of blocking the factory lines in the stock rad if you have a factory trans cooler and running the flow in the top and the return out of the bottom. mine i ran infront of everything on the driver side then wired my A/C fan to a switch so i could turn it on when things started getting warm, i also had an Autometer trans temp mechanical gauge tied into things so i could keep an eye on temps.

EDIT: come to think of it there was no use of fittings, it was simply a matter of routing the hose to the steel cooler lines from the transmission and tightening up the hose clamps.

xjmarc

I just used rubber tubing and hose clamps and 4-5 years later it's still good. I also used the zip tie type hangers and they seem to be fine.

neeland

Ok maybe I was more confused the. I thought. I was gonna splice into the rubber section of the return hose. Y'all are saying go thru the metal line? I still want it to run thru the radiator an then go thru the external cooler on the return side. My thinking was if I splice into the rubber house i can save the metal lines coming out of the radiator since the rubber would be easier to work with. I'll take some pics tomorrow when it's light but thanks for the ideas. I might be further off base then I thought.

mud-dog27

you could go that route but in my opinion your just making more work for yourself.

my steel lines i cut around the passenger side of the block before they bent across the front and just ran my rubber lines from the B&M cooler to em and called it a day, same results as XJMARK, 5 years later and no issue with it.

neeland

Ok so I know there is confusion on the board bout this too so I climbed under there an tracked it down an my return line is the lower one coming off the passenger side of the radiator. So if I go a few inches back off the coupling at the radiator an cut the metal line. Plumb the end from the radiator to the top of the cooler an the lower end of the cooler back to the metal line running back to the tranny I should be good right? Lol I promise I'm not a retard I just don't wanna screw this up right before my trip with no extra time lol. As far as mounting location would it do me any good to mount it anywhere other than in front of the condenser?

mud-dog27

yea that sounds about right, and up front is about the best place for it as the AW4 produces a lot of heat and needs as much air flowing on it as possible, if you were to mount it behind the rad[engine side] it wouldnt cool as it would be heated by the hot air coming off the rad.

xjmarc

I cut the metal line right at the radiator and mine goes through the radiator and cooler as well. Mounted it off to the side on the condensor and no problems. Some older models came with this from the factory, my 91 had it but it was a medium size cooler around 4x10.

neeland

Best thing to cut the metal line with? I think I still have a couple cut off wheels for my grinder. I was thinking some snips would be fine but I don't wanna crimp the ends of the lines

gvns8

I can tell you that on my 2001 the upper line is the return line. You might want to remove the line and run the engine to see which way it flows if you think yours flow the opposite.

neeland

Best thing to cut the metal line with? I think I still have a couple cut off wheels for my grinder. I was thinking some snips would be fine but I don't wanna crimp the ends of the lines

neeland

Yea there was a bunch of confusion in the threads I read but it said the line furthest back on the transmission was always the return line an I tracked it down. I will double check to make sure tho.

mud-dog27

get a tubing cutter they are a couple bucks and wont fill the line with shavings like a cut-off wheel and it wont crimp the line like snips

ct67_72

tubing cutter. The rear line on the trans should be return
somewhere aruond 97 I think they actually chenged the coolers orientation in the radiator, and the cooelr lines are different. they switched the lines top to bottom.

neeland

Yea it seems like every thread has a different answer to which one it is so I tracked it down. I will grab the tube cutter at autozone. I am assuming they will have one. Hopefully I will get this done next Monday. I haven't been working on my jeep much in the last year but now that it's my only vehicle it's finally getting some tlc an new axles an tires in February