I have seen several references to auxilliary cooling added to the Getrag.

Is there a store-bought way to do this; or better yet, is there a home-grown way to accomplish this??

I would think some type of circulating pump would need be incorporated; as I can't see the movement of the gears being sufficient to circulate the fluid through the cooler.

 

Being the cheap person I am I just glued the heat sinks from a couple of large computer fans to each side cover of the trans to improve heat transfer. It seems to help some the fluid dosn't thin out as fast so it now take 30-45 min in how weather before the trans starts making noise. Before it was 15-25 minutes.. When in wet weather it hardly makes noise at all.

 

I have seen a simple cooler you can buy. It's just an aluminum reservoir with cooling fins that bolts on in place of the PTO cover. It allows the trans to hold more fluid, and the fins help heat transfer. No pump needed. I think I saw it advertised in a 4wd magazine, can't remember the name.

 

I believe your talking about the fast coolers that bolt in place of the pto cover you can put two of them on the tranny if u want. theres sites that have them for sale but i forget which ones, im pretty sure www.sourceautomotive.biz had them but their site is under construction right now

 

http://www.fastcoolers.com/index.html

 

You really need a pump to circulate the fluid for good cooling. Mopar2ya's system is set up like that, he's using a 12 volt oil rated pump and an old A/C condenser for a low-buck system. For a more complete and compact setup, try Speedway Motors or one of the other suppliers that deals mainly with oval track racing parts. There are 12 volt rear end cooler systems that would work well on a Getrag.

IMO, none of this is necessary unless you do heavy towing in 5th gear.

 

Here is a shot of a Fast Cooler on my '93...[IMG][/IMG]

 

I used a shurflow pump with chemical diaphram, I think it about 2-3 gpm I did use a AC condenser, but it wasnt able to pull the fluid very quickely through 40 ft of tubing, so I got a 2 pass trans cooler from Auto Zone and a electric fan from junk yard. I tapped into the PTO cover up high and low to pull fluid and pump it in high on the gearset. I have a ground type thermocoupler that turns the relay on at 170-180 and off at 150. My cooler is mounter between the frame rail and the under side of the door sill, and the fan sits on top.

Be sure to put the pump on the outlet side of the cooler so you are getting the cooler oil though the pump, it will last longer that way.

 

I would think with a set-up like you describe that it would even be possible to tow the truck without pulling the driveshaft so long as the pump was continuously running, thus keeping the top end lubed.

Would it be feasible to plumb the draw side of the cooler into the bottom drain plug hole using a tee fitting with the drain plug at the bottom of tee and the cooler draw line in the side of the tee??

I have seen the housing of these transmissions smoking after a couple hundred miles pulling a 28' cattle trailer.

Do you have a temp gauge??

 

I suppose you could, I just wanted to keep the line up out of the way from debris. I do have a gauge which the sender is also in the PTO cover. I even ran a small LED from the thermocouple/relay to tell me when the pump is on.