Transmission cooler mounted behind grill (pics)
 

I just mounted a transmission cooler that I ordered from Import Performance Transmission. After searching on here and looking all around the front end of the runner for a place to put it, I finally got it mounted behind the grill. It took a long time for me to get it just right. I had to trim the backside of the grill to make it fit and let me tell you I got real good at taking that off. It was just cut and fit, cut and fit. The brackets that came with the cooler were much stronger than they looked, it took some muscle to bend them and shape them how I wanted them to. I am real happy with it so far, I will probably trim the grill a little more when I get the right attachment for the dremel, but it clears everything right now. Anyways, here are the pics:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_3393.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_3394.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_3395.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_3396.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_3397.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_3398.jpg

Let me know what you think or if I missed anything. The lower right mount is mounted to the bumper using a bolt that holds the valance on. I really couldn't get a pic of it.

Neat!

Are you worried that it may get too hot and melt the grill a little?

Where do the lines go to, those little pipes on the bottem of the radiator?

Lamm

I'm not sure how hot it will get, the closest the grill comes to it is 1/4 in. I want to get a little more clearance just in case I hit something and the grill moves. One of the lines runs into the inlet tube for the transmission and the other one goes to the bottom of the radiator. If I did it right it should go through the stock cooler first then the new cooler.

I have some cooler experience when I had my 99TJ and probably the same B&M cooler you have there. You probably picked one of the best coolers and the best location. If you do have the fluids going thru the radiator first then the ext cooler then you get a BIG thumbs up. :great: :great: :great: :great:

Which side goes in the radiator and which side comes out? The FSM doesn't say. I want to add a cooler to mine after the fluid comes out, but it's not clear which side I need to tap into to do that.

I'm putting in the same brand cooler. I like the way you have it on its side, gravity will help pull the ATF through the small passages.

Roadkill, on mine the drivers side of the radiator was "in" from the tranny and the passenger side was the return line to the tranny.

That is the way my lines were hooked also. mt goat, I'm not sure which one you are getting, but I think I would get the next smaller size if I had to do it again. I got the True-Cool LPD4454 which is 7 1/4 x 11 while the 4452 is 5 3/4 x 11. IPT said it could be mounted any which way and that was the only way it would fit in there. If I had the smaller one I probable could have got it between the ac hard lines and the condenser, instead of in front of everything. It seems to work good, I just got back from an all day trail cleanup and run, no problems!

Actually I got 2 of the 4454. Here's a pic of the test fitting:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...42310107Mexafx

Wow, that's some serious tranny cooling! When you did the 3.4 swap do you keep the same ac condenser or is there more room in the front somehow?

Same AC condenser. Those are mounted in between the condenser and the radiator, but the pic was taken with the engine and radiator out of the truck. The way I mounted them would be very hard to do with the engine in the truck.

The nice thing about these Tru-Cool LPD coolers is they automaticly bypass the smallest cooling passages when the ATF is cool. So they minimize pressure drop. They also come with some very nice steel mounting hardware.

That's smart thinking, I like that. I looked at that area between there, but like you said I couldn't figure out how to get to it without removing the radiator. The bypass is the reason I went with tru-cool also. I have never had my tranny light come on, but now that I run a lot more trails and now I have a small military trailer that I will tow when I go camping, I just wanted a little extra insurance. You have double the insurance.

Your's will do good there in front of everything. I'm amazed you fit it in there. I've looked at fitting one even smaller than that in front and gave up, and I don't even have that extra AC fan in the way like you do.

Three Day Update
 

Well, it's been three days since the cooler was installed and everything is working perfectly. One of those days was an all day 4Lo adventure with plenty of bumping around, and another day was a 3 hr. round trip to the lake which has some pretty nasty pothole areas. So far the brackets are keeping everything in place. The brackets are much stronger than they look.

Yeah those are great brackets they send with those. The Hayden coolers just include plastic ties.

i got the same one from jeggs as a B&M cooler. I tried and tried to get it mounted in that location but finally broke down and decided i couldnt make it fit and mounted it a bit lower behind the front vallance. ill snap i pic later

It was definately a pain to get it to fit there. I started it one evening then gave up. In the middle of the night was when the idea came to trim the backside of the grill to make it fit. There is no other way to make it work there without dropping it lower behind the valance. I didn't want to do that because I am eventually going to get something like an all pro bumper, so then it would be fully exposed. I had to mount it many times to get it just right, basically once for every bracket, sometimes twice.

Dude -- I've never wanted to kiss a man before, but you just might be the first. I've had my TJM bumper off for a couple of weeks now and I've been looking to try to find a good place to mount a tranny cooler -- BING! You've got the answer!! I can't go lower because my TJM bumper and BudBuilt skid plate cover all of the area beneath the grill. I've thought about just ditching the stock grill and mounting it in the location you put it, but it's nice to know it can be put back on with some trimming.

My only concern about mounting it in that spot is restricting air flow to the radiator. I've battled over heating issues with my beeotch for several years and she's a bit sensitive to summer temps out here in the desert. Any thoughts/opinions about that possibility?

BTW -- how much was the cooler you bought? Pro/cons vs. the Hayden cooler?

Nice work!

Ed

I'll take the compliment, but you can keep the kiss. There have been enough brokeback jokes floating around here. I was worried about the restriction, but that is where all the experts say to put it. Another thing to think about, is that the cooler will also reduce the amount of heat that is transferred into the radiator through the original tranny cooler (I got this from my instructions). The price was 63.00 and 79.00 with shipping from the east coast. The website is http://www.ipttrans.com. These coolers have a bypass, so that when the atf is cold it doesn't try to force it through, also the brackets and hardware that come with it. I heard the Hayden only comes with the zip ties, this comes with both. Also it came with enough hose to hook up one end. The model I have is LPD 4454. One piece of advice that I didn't do but just thought of. When fitting the grill, remove the clips all together till the end, I kept using them to do the fittings. Took a long time and I'm lucky I didn't break any. Good luck with your project.
~Chris

Dude I'm taking this to far i think,pulled radiator today,opend cap and seen the holes
that coolant runs thru some of them were plugged.I took a screw driver and scraped
the corrosion off the holes.I guess i'm going to buy a new raidiator Monday with a new 180 thermastat and new hoses.Do u have any suggestions on what type of rad.,do u think it's a good idea to put the 180 thermastat in.I don't think either one of them has ever been changed.I bought this runner from a doctor who had like five cars.It's the cleanest runner I've came across when I was looking to buy.The odometer read 99,000 on it and he put a new engine in at 96000...Head gaset..so it's been sitting for awhile in his barn.If anyone reading this post has any ideas as to why my 91 runner a/t
is overheating let me know.On the oil cooler install it went sweet,thanks to slosurfer and his pics saved alot of time and headache which i've had enough of the last couple of weeks.When I cut out my grill I used a makita hand held grinding wheel,and i took the clips out like slosurfer recommended,worked out nicely.Well back to headache and get ready for tommorrow,if this doesn't work I'll have a 91 runner for sale with a smashed winshield :)

Well Evil, when it comes to new radiators of course the OEM are the best, but VERY expensive. The aftermarket radiators are cheap and some come with a lifetime warranty, so that's the way I went. Doesn't seem to be much in the middle price range. Mine is from http://www.radiator.com/ but others like http://www.radiatorbarn.com/ , probably doesn't make much difference, both use cheap radiators made in China or Mexico or where ever. A lifetime warranty will be the best if you plan on keeping your truck. I've purchased radiators for 3 different vehicles. I've gotten a few replacemants already, the one for my BMW started leaking after a few months. Now I've gotten to where if I have a radiator out anyway for some reason I'll consider sending it back to get a new one.