Hey all not sure if im in the right place or not but have a question. I have a 98 xj pd model its a dd with light trail, beach runs and towing a pop up. I want to upgrade my trans cooler but not sure of what brand and one to get. My local pep boys has hayden and flex light I think thats how u say it. And see some people are using b&m. Any takes on this. Also I have a left over electric fan from my old yj. Was wondering if I should use it to.

 

Do you already have an auxiliary trans cooler? Throwing on a bigger one would definitely be a good idea. I'd just say find the biggest one you can. I run B&M and love it but I'm sure any brands would work just fine.

If you don't already have an auxiliary trans cooler, that's your first step

 

+1 this is the best step. You wont need that extra efan, infact I'm not even sure where you'd put it lol. But throw that trans cooler infront of your rad and see how she does. Maybe get yourself a trans temp gauge before you do that so you can see the difference.

 

Cool does it matrer what brand?

 

No it doesn't.

There are two styles of trans coolers: The 'Tube and Fin' which looks like this http://www.jegs.com/i/Derale/259/133...ductId=1335933

The other is a 'plate style' cooler which looks like this: http://www.jegs.com/i/Derale/259/13502/10002/-1


The plate style is a more efficient design and will provide better cooling compared to a tube and fin of the same size.

Personally I'm a big fan of getting a plate style cooler out of a 1991-1994 ford explorer at the junkyard. It fits in the XJ extremely well and you only have to bend one tab on the cooler, no fabrication is necessary. Plus most places will charge you under $5-10 for the cooler! I've got them on both of my XJ's and I paid $9 for both of them. See the photo below (note: not my XJ but I did exactly the same thing except I put the cooler directly in front of the mechanical fan).

 

Is that better than getting say a flex a lite from pep boys? And does it matter where u mont on the radiator. Someone told me its better to tie into the radiator

 

Yes the explorer cooler is better than a parts house tube and fin cooler like a flex a lite. Plus it's a crap load cheaper.

A major benefit to it is that you aren't mounting the cooler to the AC condenser with those plastic zip tie like deals that the flex a lite will come with, instead you are hard mounting it to the body so it will not move around at all and cause leaks.

You will want to mount the trans cooler in front of the mechanical fan so that it always has air flow going past it to cool the fluid.

There's a lot of debate on whether to run a cooler inline with the radiator's trans fluid heat exchanger or not. Basically it depends on where you live in the country. If you live north of say TN or live in higher elevation then you really should run the fluid through the radiator then the cooler then back to the trans. If you live in the south where it doesn't get very cold then you can bypass the radiator's heat exchanger all together.

 

Cool ill hit my local jy today. Do u have a wright up and parts list of what I would need if its not to much trouble

 

This one... B&M plate + fin. It's an open design that is more effective than tube type.
Check the forum for writeups.

 

Parts:
Cooler from a 91-94 Ford Explorer.
Oil resistant rubber hose (I think it's 3/8")
2 Self tapping screws and washers
Zip ties
6 hose clamps
Black Spray Paint (if you want to make it look pretty)

Once you have the cooler, clean it out with some mineral spirits, kerosene etc if you want to remove all of the old crap out of it. Then I took mine and wire brushed it and sprayed it with flat black spray paint to make it look pretty.

Installation:

Remove the headlight surrounds, headlights, grill and front clip.

Place the cooler in front of the mechanical fan with the single bracket side up and the two bracket side on the bottom. Line up the single top bracket with one of the upper radiator support bolts that will put the cooler in front of the mechanical fan. Loosen the bolt, and bend the upper bracket to slide under it. Tighten bolt back down. Use two self tapping screws with washers to attach the two lower brackets to the lower support (should line up pretty much perfectly).

Cut the trans return line from the radiator with a tubing cutter and route the output from the radiator to the top fitting on the cooler you just installed (install hose clamp). Run a hose from the bottom cooler fitting (install hose clamp) to the line that goes back to the transmission.

Basically you are running the fluid from the radiator to the cooler then back to the trans using the stock lines and plumbing the cooler in the middle.

Secure all hose to hard line connections with two hose clamps each.

Run the vehicle for a minute to fill the cooler with fluid then fill trans with Dex/Merc III to full as you have added additional volume to the system and also lost some fluid when you cut the lines.

You will end up with something that looks exactly like the picture I posted above as that's a 91-94 explorer cooler in that picture and it's installed using the steps I listed above.

Note: while you have the trans fluid draining, now would be a good time to do a "drain and fill, if your fluid isn't nice and pink/red"

Oh yeah, reinstall all the body parts you took off haha (forgot that step at first).

 

Cool ty. I called and found out my jeep had a factory tow package. So I have a thin 3 tear trans cooler at least I think. So do I still do the mod?

 

Awesome little write up snake! I knew people used the ford trans coolers but I have never seen a pic of one installed and fit so cleanly. I was ready to buy a Hayden cooler this week and have always been weary of the plastic ties. it looks like I'm hitting up the jy.
Thanks guys

 

Like Snake said, just make sure to clean the hell out of it if you're going to use one from the JY.

 

The factory cooler is ok for small loads, if you are planning on hard wheeling, big tires or towing larger loads I'd upgrade it to a bigger plate style cooler.

 

Thanks

I've used the exploder cooler on 3 XJ's now and it's a cheap way to get great cooling capacity and what looks like it's a factory part to anyone that isn't a Jeep person.