Transmission cooler for 2021 Tahoe

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futbalclub

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I've got a 2021 Tahoe (5.3L) that is my daily driver, and I also tow a camper with it from time to time. The camper is roughly 5100 pounds dry. I'll be towing the camper cross-country (NC to CA and back) this summer, and I'm wondering if I should consider a transmission oil cooler. I don't have the max trailering package, so does my Tahoe even have a transmission cooler? If so, should I upgrade it? If it doesn't, does anyone have experience with adding one? I've seen a number of recommendations for the TruCool Max cooler, as well as the Mishimoto unit. But I've also seen folks say that they're too big and block engine airflow. So I'm confused. I want to try to protect my transmission when I'm towing, so I'm looking for advice from anyone who knows about these things. Thanks in advance.
 

Sam Harris

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I don’t have experience with the newer trucks, but as a general rule, heat is the #1 killer of transmissions..
 

Geotrash

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I've got a 2021 Tahoe (5.3L) that is my daily driver, and I also tow a camper with it from time to time. The camper is roughly 5100 pounds dry. I'll be towing the camper cross-country (NC to CA and back) this summer, and I'm wondering if I should consider a transmission oil cooler. I don't have the max trailering package, so does my Tahoe even have a transmission cooler? If so, should I upgrade it? If it doesn't, does anyone have experience with adding one? I've seen a number of recommendations for the TruCool Max cooler, as well as the Mishimoto unit. But I've also seen folks say that they're too big and block engine airflow. So I'm confused. I want to try to protect my transmission when I'm towing, so I'm looking for advice from anyone who knows about these things. Thanks in advance.
After all of my learning in equipping a 2012 Yukon XL Denali for heavy towing duty, my conclusion is that the factory setup is adequate on the GM SUVs for towing to the rated capacity in any setting you'll find in the continental US. My initial anxiety that led me down the path of customizing mine was triggered by all of the wrong information out there about what's actually okay in terms of fluid temps (trans, oil, coolant).

So if your fully loaded camper falls within the rated capacity for your truck specifically, you will be fine. The coolant temp gauge will ride higher than you're used to (215-225ºF+). The transmission fluid temp will hit 235º+ going over a mountain pass in the summer (but will easily stay below the limit of 265º, guaranteed). All of this is perfectly okay. Just change your transmission fluid every 20-25K and you will be fine.
 

SavageDad

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I don’t have experience with the newer trucks, but as a general rule, heat is the #1 killer of transmissions..
I worked in wholesale transmission and transmission part/accessory sales for almost ten years and that's one lesson I walked away with. I had several of my customers that wouldn't warranty a build without a cooler on heavy duty towing applications. 5,100lbs in no way qualifies as heavy duty towing, but if you're hauling it up through the mountains of Colorado regularly or something similar I would definitely recommend a cooler.
 

Suburban2024

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I've got a 2021 Tahoe (5.3L) that is my daily driver, and I also tow a camper with it from time to time. The camper is roughly 5100 pounds dry. I'll be towing the camper cross-country (NC to CA and back) this summer, and I'm wondering if I should consider a transmission oil cooler. I don't have the max trailering package, so does my Tahoe even have a transmission cooler? If so, should I upgrade it? If it doesn't, does anyone have experience with adding one? I've seen a number of recommendations for the TruCool Max cooler, as well as the Mishimoto unit. But I've also seen folks say that they're too big and block engine airflow. So I'm confused. I want to try to protect my transmission when I'm towing, so I'm looking for advice from anyone who knows about these things. Thanks in advance.

It looks your vehicle has the auxiliary air to oil tranny cooler. why just don't look for it yourself? It should be placed in front the engine coolant cooler.
 
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futbalclub

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Yes, after I asked the question here I started doing more research and confirmed that mine does have the transmission cooler. I got the part number from Chevy and asked them if there's an available factory upgrade. I was curious because, like I mentioned in my question, you can pay extra for a "Max Tow Package" for Tahoe's, and one of the items listed in that package is a transmission cooler. But I don't know what it gives you additional because mine already has a transmission cooler, and the only upgrades available are after-market.

Armed with that knowledge, I bought an OBD2 adapter that I can plugin to the truck and hook up to my phone because I wanted to be able to see what my transmission coolant temperature was when I tow. My Tahoe doesn't have a transmission temperature guage on the dash (or at least not a standalone guage - more on that in a second). We towed the trailer last weekend down to SC, and I wanted to know what sort of load I was generating on the tranny. I plugged in the OBD2 sensor and it worked great, except that I tried 2 different apps and *neither* of them listed the transmission temp. They both listed seemingly everything else, but not the 1 thing I'd actually bought it to do. I was bummed until I started scrolling through the information page on my dash (between the tach and speedo) and discovered that there was a transmission temperature screen that you can add to the list of information and display! So I didn't need the OBD2 sensor after all, although I kept it because it really does have a ton of other useful data (and I have to think tranny temperature is in there somewhere, I just couldn't find it in either app I tried).

Anyway, like I said, I towed the family and trailer down to SC last weekend and watched the transmission temp the whole way. The hottest it ever got was high 160's, and that's with an outside temperature in the upper 80's. It normally hovered right around 160, which I was very happy with. The road between here and SC is pretty flat, so I understand that going over mountains out west it will undoubtedly get substantially hotter than that, but I was really happy to see that normal strain towing a loaded trailer (probably at least 5600 pounds loaded down, I haven't taken it to the scale yet) on the highway was minimal. That makes me think that upgrading the stock transmission cooler isn't necessary. It's not like I'm towing with it very frequently, and the overwhelming majority of my towing will be on mostly flat roads, so it seems to me upgrading to one of the much larger coolers would just be overkill.

I'm taking a much longer trip with the trailer soon, so I'll have even more insight after that, I suspect, but I haven't seen any evidence so far to suggest that I need to upgrade the transmission cooler.
 

topaq

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I have a 2019 Denali 6.2 L Max Tow that has an aux trans cooler in front of the radiator. See picture. The top few inches are the trans cooler and the bottom is the A/C condenser. I drive a lot in the mountains and tow a 6500lbs+ trailer. Even with the additional cooler I can tell you the drive out of Sacramento up to Donner Pass (in the summer) has been the toughest on my transmission temperatures of any trip I have taken in the mountains. Even worse than the climb out of Denver west on I 70. Once my warranty expires I'm looking for alternatives.
 

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Geotrash

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I have a 2019 Denali 6.2 L Max Tow that has an aux trans cooler in front of the radiator. See picture. The top few inches are the trans cooler and the bottom is the A/C condenser. I drive a lot in the mountains and tow a 6500lbs+ trailer. Even with the additional cooler I can tell you the drive out of Sacramento up to Donner Pass (in the summer) has been the toughest on my transmission temperatures of any trip I have taken in the mountains. Even worse than the climb out of Denver west on I 79. Once my warranty expires I'm looking for alternatives.
Just so we can compare apples to apples, what do you mean by 'tough'? What was your fluid temp by the time you got to the top of that pass? How heavy is/was the trailer you were towing?
 
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futbalclub

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After a trip to the Florida Keys and back towing our trailer (roughly 5600 lbs), I'm further convinced that an upgraded transmission cooler would be overkill for me. As was the case with the trip to SC, the trans fluid hovered constantly around 160 degrees or so. We're taking a trip out west this summer, so I expect there will be substantially heavier loads on the transmission in and around the Rockies, but I still don't think it's worth upgrading it since trips like that will be incredibly infrequent. I did the climb out of Denver last year too, albeit with a substantially lighter trailer, and I'm definitely not looking forward to pulling anything up those hills, but hopefully I won't run into any transmission issues since that load-level will be short-lived.
 

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