Ready to pull trigger on Derale trans cooler - need advice

[Trey Hardy]

I purchased a tru-cool a while back but then returned it. I had the same concern others on here have had regarding how much of the radiator it covers up and possible degradation of engine cooling. Have you noticed any issues with that with your installs?

No sir and I tend to drive my vehicles pretty hard especially on go home day

 

[DaveO9]

Thanks for that. It’s worth noting that my experiments have been to handle towing at the limits in hot weather in the mountains, which probably 95% of owners of these trucks will never do. Even at that, I would have no qualms about keeping the factory external transmission cooler, in hindsight.

The main misconception I see from folks is to worry about transmission temperatures that are well within the normal range, per GM powertrain engineers. 200-235 driving up a mountain pass is normal and easily within the limits of Dexron VI fluid. Most of the time your fluid will be below 200 anyway for daily driving. Some folks offset this with more frequent fluid changes. I personally use 25K miles as my change interval on my towing rig.

Thanks. Yeah I’m starting to understand about the higher temps allowed with Dex VI. I’ve pretty much decided to go with an OEM retrofit cooler now. Looking at options for the cooler itself and the new line I’ll need between it and rad. Not sure if I’ll do the full line replacement or do some retrofitting to existing lines between trans and rad.

 

[Geotrash]

Thanks. Yeah I’m starting to understand about the higher temps allowed with Dex VI. I’ve pretty much decided to go with an OEM retrofit cooler now. Looking at options for the cooler itself and the new line I’ll need between it and rad. Not sure if I’ll do the full line replacement or do some retrofitting to existing lines between trans and rad.

A wise choice, I think. The good thing about the factory lines is that there aren't any places where you'll need to use clamps, which reduces the chances of a line popping off a fitting later.

 

[mikez71]

Thanks. Yeah I’m starting to understand about the higher temps allowed with Dex VI. I’ve pretty much decided to go with an OEM retrofit cooler now. Looking at options for the cooler itself and the new line I’ll need between it and rad. Not sure if I’ll do the full line replacement or do some retrofitting to existing lines between trans and rad.

I went with replacement lines so I wouldn't have to mess with hose clamps. Also figured the original hoses have some mileage on them.
Straightforward job, probably need to put the truck on stands to get space to snake the lines through there, but otherwise super easy and fairly cheap..

Lines costed a little over $100..

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

I went with a TYC brand cooler from Rockauto for ~$60. Was made in Taiwan (the country!) and it looked well made and was well packed.

 

[89Suburban]

Thanks. Yeah I’m starting to understand about the higher temps allowed with Dex VI. I’ve pretty much decided to go with an OEM retrofit cooler now. Looking at options for the cooler itself and the new line I’ll need between it and rad. Not sure if I’ll do the full line replacement or do some retrofitting to existing lines between trans and rad.

Is there a part number for the cooler? Is it direct bolt in? Any fasteners need purchased as well?

 

[DaveO9]

I went with replacement lines so I wouldn't have to mess with hose clamps. Also figured the original hoses have some mileage on them.
Straightforward job, probably need to put the truck on stands to get space to snake the lines through there, but otherwise super easy and fairly cheap..

Lines costed a little over $100..

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

I went with a TYC brand cooler from Rockauto for ~$60. Was made in Taiwan (the country!) and it looked well made and was well packed.

Thanks. Yeah, I saw some other posts that made it sound like installing the lines was a real bear. Glad to hear another perspective that said it wasn't so bad. Do you have 4wd? If so did you remove the front driveshaft?

Is there a part number for the cooler? Is it direct bolt in? Any fasteners need purchased as well?

Here's the part number for the GM Genuine cooler: 20880895. And I think there's a bracket or clip for the lines by the cooler: 15049288.

 

[DaveO9]

All my parts on order for a factory style trans cooler, including cooler, line set from trans to rad/cooler, line from rad to cooler, and clip to hold the lines below the cooler. everything is genuine GM except the cooler itself. I went with a Dorman unit for that - couldn't justify the almost double $ for the GM one. Fingers crossed for decent quality, it got good reviews on Amazon. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Geotrash]

All my parts on order for a factory style trans cooler, including cooler, line set from trans to rad/cooler, line from rad to cooler, and clip to hold the lines below the cooler. everything is genuine GM except the cooler itself. I went with a Dorman unit for that - couldn't justify the almost double $ for the GM one. Fingers crossed for decent quality, it got good reviews on Amazon. Thanks for everyone's input.

Good deal. I have generally had good results with Dorman parts.

 

[89Suburban]

All my parts on order for a factory style trans cooler, including cooler, line set from trans to rad/cooler, line from rad to cooler, and clip to hold the lines below the cooler. everything is genuine GM except the cooler itself. I went with a Dorman unit for that - couldn't justify the almost double $ for the GM one. Fingers crossed for decent quality, it got good reviews on Amazon. Thanks for everyone's input.

What dorman cooler did you get? Can you please post pics of everything when installing with some tips and info that would help guide the rest of us wishing to to this?

 

[DaveO9]

What dorman cooler did you get? Can you please post pics of everything when installing with some tips and info that would help guide the rest of us wishing to to this?

Amazon.com

Dorman 918-213. I bought mine on RA, cheaper there, even with shipping.

And for sure, I will post pics of install to this thread. Might be a couple weeks out.