slosurfer

I have just driven all the way to Minnesota loaded with camping gear, dog, wife, kid, and small military trailer. Through all the grades, heat, and ac, no tranny problems or overheating of any kind. I turned off the ac on grades of course just to be safe. I wasn't breaking any speed records but I don't care. I do believe that the cooler helps with overall cooling, because some of those grades are long,and never once did the temp start to rise. Evil, I am glad I was able to help and I hope you get it figured out.
~Chris

evilplay

Dude,has was the camping trip?Good I hope.Well anyways the installation went well,took for alittle test drive and no overheating...˟˟˟˟˟˟en right on.The
next test will be the true challange,loaded down and back up the four lane.That will have to wait a couple of weeks going to L.A. tommorrow until
Sunday.I hate the traffic there.Well thats whats up with my toyo maybe I'll be
taking that overheating prob off my list.Mike

Epic Ed

Well, my Tru-Flow arrived last week and I got to install it this weekend. As SloSurfer indicates, it is possible to mount in front of the radiator. I found the mounting brackets they provided to be the right combination of flexible and sturdy. On 2nd gen 4Runners, the brackets need to be bent so the cooler sticks out about 2" from flush against the frame so that it will clear the AC hoses and condensor. The key is to not bend them too far out that you can't get the grill back on. Thanks to the pictures SloSurfer posted above a lot my guess work was already done and I got it right with little re-bending needed. I took a couple of photos of the tranny fluid lines and it shows where they come in on the radiator and where they exit. I'll post those up later. I found that I routed my hoses a little different -- but whatever works. Here's a few shots of the work in progress.

I used the screw on the hood latch to mount the upper left corner:



After bending the brackets properly, I then lined up the lower holes and just drilled right into the frame:



Here's a photo from the top that shows how I bent the bracket to clear the AC condensor:



More later...

Ed

slosurfer

Well, I just got back from my camping trip. Cali to Minnesota to Silverton, Colorado, and back to Cali. 9 states, many grades towing a trailer, wheeling at 12,000 ft., and over 100 degrees today. No problems with anything, other than wishing for more power. Never once did the temp start to rise, so I am completely happy with this cooler. I think it is safe to say that it didn't affect my radiator by being in front of it.

Evil, it sounds like you might have solved your problem. that's awesome!

Epic, I like your install. Your bottom brackets looks like a cleaner job than mine. I think I will redo them when I get a new bumper. I would like to see how you routed your hoses. I was running out of time when I did mine and I would like to see how you did yours.

~Chris

Epic Ed

Good to hear. Here are a couple of more photos, but not the finished product after I zip-tied everything up. I'll take a couple more and post them. One thing to note -- I did have to go out and buy additional transmission cooler hose to get it done this way. *If anyone does this, please keep in mind the "transmission cooler hose" is NOT regular old fuel line hose.* The ding-bats at Autozone tried to sell me this stuff and fortunately I knew from reading other posts about this mod that fuel line hose is not adequate. I ended up purchasing the stuff from NAPA.

I routed the lower one around to the left of the radiator:



And here you can see where it comes in around the back of the radiator and directly to the return fitting:




I don't have a photo of the upper hose after I zip-tied everything up, but it is routed much like shown here in a shot I took while I was trying to decide the best way to route them. It goes down the same side, around the back of the AC pipes, behind the cooler, around the right side of the radiator, and connects to the "exit" fitting from the radiator:



Here's where it connects -- to the fitting on the right (passenger) side of the radiator:



I was able to put my grill back on without any trimming! So I'm thinking I must have my brackets bent a little more shallow than yours. I haven't put the bumper back on (TJM) completely (still waiting to finish another project), but I did mount it by hand to see if it had clearance -- it's a close fit. I'll have to see how it goes once I'm able to bolt the bumper back on. It looks like it will work without any additional changes, but if I take a hit to the front of the bumper and it collapses more than an inch it will definitely crease the cooler. I tried very hard to consider what a front end collision would do to the integrity of the hoses when I was routing them. I think I did as good a job as possible to keep them away from sharp corners, or from getting pinched between other parts. Bottom line is -- it's not the most robust location for the cooler, but I can bypass it very quickly by simply moving the hoses if the cooler ever gets damaged.

Ed

AkitaDog

iTrader: (1)

Thats a great spot. I mounted mine where the AC fan was.

ZUK

iTrader: (1)

Chris---now all you need is a tranny temp gauge....you are 'blind' without it. I'm getting one probably tomorrow if Lopers is open. I'll install it and run around for awhile and get some baseline data. Then I'll do a cooler install similar to yours and see what I notice. The Tranny temp light just doesn't do it for me.

slosurfer

Yes, I know I need to get one, that is the next thing. I was just happy with the fact that there seemed to be no rise in the engine temp, because someone had mentioned that there may be too much stuff in front of the radiator now. Is there any certain thing I need to look for when I get a tranny temp gauge? thanks,
Chris

mt_goat

I found that the Isspro gauges match our factory gauges very well as long as you get the little green bulb covers. They have a nice full sweep, electric, trans temp gauge with black face, white numbers, and red pointer just like our factory gauges. http://www.egauges.com/vdo_mult3.asp...=EVA-R&Units=E

Here's mine installed: http://community.webshots.com/photo/...42310107ciNNgv

slosurfer

Thanks, what all do I need besides the gauge? Also what is the other gauge for in your install, coolant temp?

mt_goat

The trans temp gauge comes with a sender, you just need some way to mount it. I'm putting it into the ATF cooler line as soon as the hard line turns to a soft line (before the coolers obviously). I found some fittings at the hardware store to fit the sender and have hose barbs at each end to fit inline.

Another option is to drill a hole into the transmission pan and mount it there.

My other gauges are an exhaust gas temp (in the pic) and air/fuel ratio gauge (I'm swapping in a supercharged 3.4)

mt_goat

Oh yeah you also need some way to mount the gauge itself. Gauge pod or something.

slosurfer

So those ones do come with the sender. Thanks, I have to add this to the growing list. I like the idea of where you put the sender.

ZUK

iTrader: (1)

slosurfer- I chose the 3rd cooler down in this link....
http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/me...yden-transaver



and I splurged and for about 118 have a very precise and accurate tranny temp gauge. (I found a sweet deal on Ebay for 103 plus shipping)
see this
http://www.northernautoparts.com/Pro...tModelId=13954

slosurfer

How did you mount your gauge?

slosurfer

[QUOTE=mt_goat I found some fittings at the hardware store to fit the sender and have hose barbs at each end to fit inline.

Another option is to drill a hole into the transmission pan and mount it there.
QUOTE]

Dale,
So, is it a t-fitting? The instructions on the gauge I just got said that a t-fitting wouldn't work because is needs circulation. Although I would imagine if the sender was in far enough, there would be circulation around it. You wouldn't happen to have any pics of the fittings you got? Thanks, I am going to try to get this installed before the Mammoth trip.

Chris

mt_goat

[QUOTE=slosurfer]Yes, it's a simple "T" with hose barb fittings on each end from the hardware plumbing section: http://community.webshots.com/photo/...42310107apSrRo .

I placed the sensor so it was into the flow a little but not restricting: http://community.webshots.com/photo/...42310107uEkKJJ

My Isspro gauge came with a bunch of adapters to fit just about any size so I got one a little bigger for less restriction. You can adjust the depth of the sensor by how much teflon tape you wrap on it.

Note: some senders require you to add an electrical ground or they won't work!

slosurfer

Dale,
Thanks that was what I had in mind, but I just wanted to make sure I was on the right page. I had read that about grounding the sensor when I was searching on here, but mine doesn't say anything about it. It has the ground coming off the gauge itself. Thanks again,
Chris

snap-on

I did the same thing... T fitting in the rubber line comming FROM the tranny (before it hits the cooler) NOTE: youll need to ground your fitting for the sender to work right, i soldered a wire to the brass fitting i used. I plumbed my cooler after the radator for addtional temp drop.

I used Autometer Ultra-lite gauges. VERY nice gauges.

(you know how much i HATE craptastic pics, so it pains me to post these)

turboale

Has anyone checked to see if there is a test port on the trans itself? This would make installing the trans temp sender much easier. I don't know how standard test ports are on auto transmissions but I figured it was worth a mention. I never put a trans temp gauge on my 4R so I could be way off, but I was just making sure you guys aren't doing more work than needed.

Another good looking gauge is Stewart Warner "Maximum Performance" line. I had them in my previous car and just got another set for my truck.