I was wondering since these automatics get heated up by the cummins if it would help to put a big aftermarket trans cooler inline with the factory one to help keep the trans cool.Or is the factory one enough.

 

My tranny guru says that our trucks have the best tranny cooling system of the big three.
Not only does the fluid get cooled by the air cooler up front it's also cooled by the engine coolant. An extra cooler may help if you're towing heavy without the TC locked but otherwise the stock setup is pretty dang good.

 

Do you have a tranny fluid heat problem first of all, what does your transmission fluid temp run now ???.....are you towing heavy loads ???

I guess my biggest question is why do you think an extra cooler is needed

 

Im not towing over about 5000 lbs right now,i Just got the truck.I dont know if I need the cooler or not I just wanted to know If it is needed on the dodge ram or If it had a super heavy duty cooler to match the motor,which it sounds like it does.
I know most gas vehicles need one if anything much is towed and wondered if it was needed on this one.I have always had to put one on most of my older trucks and one kept my 700r4 in an astrovan,alive when i pulled way too much with it when i had no choice .I ended up breaking something inside that light duty transmission but the clutches were still ok no heat damage from broken down burnt up fluid.

The most i will ever pull with my dodge will be a 34ft airstream with empty weight of about 7-8000 lbs so it looks like with good fluid ill be ok with the stock cooler.thanx for the help guys.

 

Dufrain, you've no signature showing, so we can't tell where you live and thus what conditions your truck might have to take on.

If I lived in the Canadian provinces (tempting, incidentally), where 90*+ days are fewer, I might not bother with a big under-the-bed cooler-with-fan.

But I always seem to have to drag the fiver up a 12 mile, 7% grade when it's 90+ outside. I could drop to second range and 40mph, but I don't like that.

Added the Mopar Superduty cooler (note: First-Gen) and have no problems topping the grade at highway speeds.

You'll just have to install the trans temp gage and watch it to see what your trans is seeing. Don't forget the chart above that shows trans wear with higher temps; I try to keep mine under 180 at all times.

Best Wishes, DBF

 

Ill be in the heat,im moving to south florida in a month or two but ill be up and down and all around the country so ill need it to stay cool.It sounds like most guys here arent using an add on cooler and i doubt i pull as heavy as most here,maybe 10000 max trailer weight once in a while.

 

I was forced to put an aux. cooler on mine because of plowing. If I would really push it on short driveways I could get the fluid up to 250, but that's if I tried. Adding the cooler dropped it down about 15-20 degrees, but it is up in front and doesn't get a lot of airflow when plowing. When I do my tranny I am going to mount it up underneath the bed with an electric fan, that should help a lot. That and the tighter torque converter should lower it, too.

I think that if you're easy on your truck (at least getting going), and idle in neutral when you are backed up in traffic with the 5ver on, you should be all right. When I get 14K behind me with my slipping TC, starting out uphill I can spike my tranny temp so it almost looks like my pyro it moves so fast! But pulling the most I have seen is 180-190 getting going, when the TC locks in she comes down to 140.

 

As far as tranny coolers go, you can't really be over-cooled. The trick is to plumb in the aux tranny cooler immediately before the radiator's tranny cooling circuit.

By doing it this way, you won't have excessively low ATF temps because the radiator's heat will keep the ATF at a temp hot enough to burn off moisture and such (165°+ when not in lockup). So you won't have the trans run too cool when empty. You CAN have a trans run too cool.

The flip side (when towing) is that you now have a larger cooling reserve for the trans. By dumping some heat before it hits the radiator, you decrease the likelihood of the engine overheating. It's well-documented that many over the overheated CTDs occur when automatic trannies get the ATF so hot that the radiator can't dump the extra heat (AND the engine coolant's heat).

So it's ALWAYS a good idea IMHO to add an aftermarket tranny cooler, and plumb it in just BEFORE the radiator.

Finally, I STRONGLY recommend the B&M supercoolers-- they're a MUCH more efficient design than the typical turb-and-fin cheapies.

Justin

 

Does your truck have the towing package? If not sure, go to Dealer/Parts Dept w/ VIN # and get a "Build Sheet" - will tell you all options.
Pulling 10,000 lbs once in a while, if mostly on highway should not need added cooling; a gauge is the only way to know. Dodge Trannys cool very well as long as they are getting some ram air!

A Mag Hy-Tec Deep Dish pan may be all you need. Adds 4 qts to system and cools fluid in the pan more efficiently, due to cooling fins. http://www.mag-hytec.com/

Rowland

 

i dont know on the towing package,it does have the 8800 gwr rating.

I was looking at the b and M coolers in summit,that was the one i was considering.Ill look about a deeper pan to.thanx guys

 

Hey Hohn where do you put your cooler,not much room in the normal spot.

 

Believe Justin has a manual; see his signature.
ETH = High Output Engine
DEE = 6 Speed Manual Tranny
If interested in other abbreviations see http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/specs/glossary.htm

Rowland

 

I second the MAG HY-TEC Deep Dish solution. It lowered my towing temperatures substantially and made it easier for me to perform my own transmission servicing.

 

I have same truck as you do and added the Mag Hy Tec double deep pan. Between that and the ATS torq converter it made a substantial positive difference.

 

My question is..do the numbers posted above as far as" heat and service life" pretain to a synthetic fluid also?.. AND if you hit 300 deg ONCE or twice on a hard pull.. do you NOW need to change the fluid?..