The beginning of the end

[jfines@cox.net]

Well, sunday I was bringing my 5th wheel (37' 14,000lb) back from the mountains and there was only one major mountain in my way. About a 7 mile stretch. Normally I have no problem with this, I would hit 35 mph and set the cruise. And never had any issues.

Well Sunday, halfway up and I started to loose speed. Shifted to first and it was all I could do to maintain 25 mph. Then the tranny temp went up to 250* . Well got to the top of the mountain and pulled over to cool off.

I sat there for 30 minutes and only lost 15* . Well at 124,000 miles I figured if I was gunna blow it, I might as well get as close to home as I could. Started down the other side of the mountain and as soon as I started moving temps dropped to 190-200*

Well after that I never had any issues except the temps were warmer that I liked. Of course outside temp was greater than 115* that day.

Took the truck to a tranny shop today, and besides a brownish fluid that smelled slightly burned, I fared well. The tech, said that there was no residue or metal parts in the pan, and that every thing looked good.

So I got away with a $135 service , but he said if I want, he can "Build the S*** out of it" for only $3,500, installed with every option including a 3 disk converter.

So I got lucky this trip, But who knows. To prolong the inevitable, I ordered a larger tranny cooler from Tuners, Suspensions, Exhaust and other performance parts. DiscountPowerParts.com and it goes on this week end .

[stump0331]

i dont pull mtns but i really like how my tranny cooler from dpp keeps my temps down

[alfajay]

How hard is it to install one of those tranny coolers, does it replace existing or add to the orig. I'm seeing 190 empty 220-230 with 8k load, is that high, seems high to me?

Sorry for the high-jack

[Logan]

It adds to the original. You can get them to replace it, but I would just do two.

[Evil Eye]

Originally Posted by jfines@cox.net

Well, sunday I was bringing my 5th wheel (37' 14,000lb) back from the mountains and there was only one major mountain in my way. About a 7 mile stretch. Normally I have no problem with this, I would hit 35 mph and set the cruise. And never had any issues.

Well Sunday, halfway up and I started to loose speed. Shifted to first and it was all I could do to maintain 25 mph. Then the tranny temp went up to 250* . Well got to the top of the mountain and pulled over to cool off.

Jody, where were you coming from? Flag? It sounds like that long pull just outside of Camp Verde. 6% for 7 miles and it's a biyatch with a loaded trailer. Sorry to hear about it, bud. Best of luck to ya.

[Blue01F250]

Anyone thought of doing the 6.0 tranny cooler?? Is it any cheaper or is it bigger/smaller than the aftermarket cooler that you guys are running?

[Marty]

Pulling over at the top of the hill was what you did wrong. As you said, the temps dropped dramatically when you decended the hill.

Honestly 250* is not THAT high since the ambient air temp was 120* pulling a big trailer up a huge grade. An auxillary tranny cooler should help, but you need to figure out why your truck had problems this time when it hasn't in the past.

I'm no tranny expert but 35mph on a 6% grade seems slow and I bet when you dropped into 1st gear your Torque Converter unlocked and that sent your temps skyward!

[Jay B]

I read in a magazine about using the 6.0 trans cooler on the 7.3. Mounts are the same, need to change the fittings and it is double the size of the stock cooler on a 7.3.
They said it was a way easy change over.

[dustindiesel]

a cooler with a fan and good for up to 20k gvw is only 150 bucks...well worth it to keep the temps down.i got one from derale on my mudtruck

[jfines@cox.net]

Originally Posted by carlson158

Jody, where were you coming from? Flag? It sounds like that long pull just outside of Camp Verde. 6% for 7 miles and it's a biyatch with a loaded trailer. Sorry to hear about it, bud. Best of luck to ya.

I was coming out of Payson. So it was Mt. Ord. I forgot how long the stretch really was. I know when the tranny hit 250* and I was doing 25mph it felt like forever.