my 03 dodge 3500 auto tranny 165k has some modifications done to the tranny lines and cooler and im looking for insight on how legitimate of a repair this is or should i redo the work.

basically i thnk the quick disconnect to the tranny cooler leaked for previous owner, and instead of fixing the quick disconnects, the old owner mounted a new cooler and ran new lines back to the tranny, cutting the stock steel line in a few places to make it work, they used a very heavy duty line and insulated in a few spots to keep from wear.

this looks like a decent fix to me however it would have been easier to just have the quick disconnects fixed at a hydraulic hose shop.

what worries me more is a 2 ft portion of the same line replacing a hard line section that sits right above the front driveshaft. this also eliminated a sending port commonly used to read tranny temp. for some reason this section of line seems to be seeping tranny fluid throughout the entire length of the line, like its just soaked and corroding right through the line.

But why this section and not the others? does this section run at higher PSI and should be replaced with a hard line? is it safe to get a higher PSI line and replace with newer hose? or should i do it right and pull the fittings and have a fully hard line made? any help would be appreciated going to the hose shop in a few hours

 

You saying "and should be replaced with a hard line?" leads me to it's a rubber hose and it's probably seeping cause it's not trans fluid compatible.

 

yea that would make perfect sense to me if the exact same line wasnt running to the tranny cooler. but it is and its not seeping like this section

Im looking at a picture of tranny lines from a stock truck it almost looks like the section that im referring too is 3/4 hard line with a small section of flexible hose, can someone verify this for me? hard to tell from the pic

basically im wondering what is the max PSI my tranny could put out? and if i should go all hard line or am i ok with the hose?

 

I think you need some flex in the hose to compensate for engine vibrations and suspension movement, etc. so there needs to be some rubber somewhere. May be even in specific places to compensate for this. Do you still have the factory trans cooler?

 

yes factory trans cooler is still in place. good point on the flex hose to compensate for movement.