Lord Humongous Gigahorse Tow-coma Build

What you kno bout hillbillies and thar thinkin?

 

Hillbillies can fix a problem. There is however a "can't see it from my house" clause usually attached to it.
I'm thinking of having a aluminum 6" X 13" aluminum plate cut then bolting it to the core support behind the bumper and mount the cooler to that. It'd work but not so sexy lol. Luckily it be hidden so nobody could see it anyways.

 

love it.

 

Thanks to Amazon Prime and free next day delivery I put in the scangauge today.

Between the switch-pro, brake controller, radios and myriad of buttons that a TRD OR with tech comes with its starting to look like the spaceshuttle cockpit in my cab. So where to mount this this thing. I decided on top of the center dash trim to make it easy to keep and eye on and the road at the same time!

First I popped off the center dash trim piece and routed the cable with the help of some zip ties.
Once the cable was in place I notched out the trim piece with a dremel to accommodate the cable. I was going to drill a hole and use a rubber grommet but I failed to remember I'd need to make the hole big enough for the ethernet connection. I thought it look like a hotdog in a hallway like that....
Now pull the cable up and place in the notch while snapping the trim piece back in.

Plug in and mounted with provided velcro.

Program with transmission temperature parameter IDs I also have water temp and max engine loading as the other set gauges but there are a bunch more. So there's 2 trans temps available. I'm assuming the warmer is the at the torque converter? This would be sweet for monitoring whether or not the torque converter is locked. If somebody has the answer or potentially bothered to read the instruction book let me know!

Also scangauge really needs some software to program the PIDs on a desktop. Pain in the ass!

 

Tiny amount of progress on the bigger trans cooler today. I made some card board mock ups of a couple of coolers I'm looking at.

Following the general rule of thumb for trans coolers "use the biggest cooler that will fit" I'm looking at a couple of bigger Derale coolers.
First the Derale 13690 remote cooler.

I was having high hopes of stuffing this thing inside the plastic bumper cover but I just don't think there will be enough room between the core support and fog lights I could mount it back by the spare tire but 20 feet of transmission oil hose makes me nervous for potential failure and pressure drop.


Right now I'm thinking the Derale 13614 mounted in front of the radiator is my best bet. It's basically very similar to the stock cooler but has 17 rows of cooling plates compared to the 5 rows the OEM unit has.
I'd remove the stock unit (under the horns) and mount it where shown.

Since there is still a ton of room between the grill I'm thinking of running a 9" becool 850 cfm pusher fan on top. That's a ton of air for a small fan and might help with radiator cooling as well on hot AZ summer days.

If only I could make up my mind...

 

The new cooler sounds reasonable for ease of installation and price. You know you want a fan, so it's obvious that you will do both. You can justify settling for the smaller fan with a better cooler and be confident that both are working together to improve performance while towing.

I never noticed how small the stock cooler is until seeing your picture. What is crazy is how expensive the stock cooler is versus the aftermarket upgrade.

 

Yeah the stock setup is almost laughable when you look at it but it does manage to do an OK job. Probably since the tranny is also partially water cooled in the radiator. To be honest this upgrade is mostly for my own piece of mind. I'll be happy it's there the next time in 4x4 dragging the camper through the mud.
According to Amazon the cooler is outside my front door and I already picked up some Toyota WS ATF so just waiting on the 950 cfm fan to show up. I was hoping to have this done by next week but have had some close and loved family in the hospital so my priorities have shifted.

 

Good things happen when you have your priorities straight.

 

This is done. I'll do a write up soon. Too many 20+ hour days has made Jimmy a dull boy

 

I did some more work on the trans cooler set up. I flipped the fan around and turned it into a puller. Much more efficient this way.


Full write up located here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-transmission-cooler-upgrade.482280/

 

follow

 

Doing some experimenting and pined the trans cooler thermostat open with 3/32nd hitch pin.

Initial results are impressive and within normal operating temperatures per the service manual.
Before:

After:

I really wonder why Toyota engineers think this trans should run so much hotter? It's the same ATF that ran much cooler in previous models.
I've heard the seals are now better and can handle the higher temps (excess of 300°F for extended time) and that the increased viscosity of warmer fluid reduces friction and ups MPGs. Well see because I'm leaving the pin in for now and running cool . If I go somewhere really cold it's literally a matter of seconds to pull out or out in.

 

Also ditching the N-fabs and just ordered sliders from Avid Offroad.

Still waiting to hear about the 700lb coil springs I ordered.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/az-classifieds.169158/page-1298

If anybodys interested in can get you a deal on some N-fab tube steps.

 

was this with the fan on or just sitting without fan?
Edit, well I gess the fan behind the radiator is always spinning, so there is always a little draw going across the new trans radiator

The fluid should quickly start to break down and bubble near 300. Once the trans light comes on, your fluid might be screwed is what I have been reading.

 

That is no fan. I was really trying to get it hot so didn't bother turning it on.
I agree. Regardless of what the trans supposedly can handle I'd have that fluid pumped out in a hurry if I ever saw 300!!!

 

Wow, that is impressive. Did you try kicking on the fan to see how low it would go? It looks like you were sitting in your garage, right?
]

 

No I was actually on the highway and surface streets beating on it!! Just took the pic when I pulled back in.
Part of the reason I wanted to do some experimenting is because the trans uses Toyota world standard ATF which I thought fell into the same degradation table as other ATF fluids. I must be wrong because if the trans runs between 190 and 200 all the time there is no way I'm letting that fluid sit in my tranny for 100k!! Not saying I would do that anyway but Toyota engineers will tell you this is a sealed system and doesn't require service for 100k

 

I don't know. I have heard it dies and foams near 300F. I'm not sure.

Have you idled in Drive in your garage to see what the difference is with the thermostat open and fan off?

 

I swapped out my rear light and radio antenna brackets for some stainless steel firestik jamb mounts.

$23 FIRESTIK Firestik Door/Hatch Edge Swivel Mount w/K-4 Stud, SS-204

https://www.amazon.com/FireStik-SS-204-Adjustable-stainless-vertical/dp/B0002HRBSA
It's a shame because the C4 brackets looked great but unfortunately didn't clear the tailgate and rubbed some paint off.

These require some minor drilling but the fit is totally worth it!

I'm thinking of painting them but may just leave them stainless incase I end up mounting a dual band 2 meter 70cm sometime.