Long Travel BS Thread

I Drain and Refill the Trans every 2 years. With the exception of the 1st Drain and Refill, the Fluid has always come out Red and still having the new WS Fluid Smell. Never any sludgy friction material found on the bottom of the pan.

Fluid from last September when last changed..

 

129k and as far as I know, it’s original fluid…
I need to change this asap in the trans.

 

Yeah mine is still red, but smells burnt and 1-2-3-4 is toast
But yeah 200 seems insane for a daily temp

 

The earlier 2nd Gen's were undefiled from the factory by 2.5 - 3 quarts. I contribute that and the "Break in Period" to the condition of the Fluid at my 1st Drain and Refill at around 15k miles

 

Been curious about these myself. Seen people on YouTube doing reviews but… how honest are the reviews lol

 

Depends where you measure the temperature at. Torque converter is usually the last stop before hitting the cooler so temps will definitely be substantially different than the sump which is going to be your cooled fluid returning. Any time the TC isn’t in lockup it’s making heat. Take away air flow to the cooler and it’s now a problem.

200 is definitely a safe number to see though. Too low can cause issues of its own. 175-195 is the most ideal range.

 

Yeah circle D recommends a aux cooler for the billet TQ converters
Mines a 28-3000 stall so it cooks up temps in stop and go REAL quick

with that said; on the east coast it’s never an issue
Anything on west coast tho and it’s immediately at like 210
Which is bad in the 6L80
And I think that’s the same in the TH400 like what LS6Taco has

BUT these stupid silverados route the trans fluid through a separate stack at the top of the radiator so if I wanna add, I have to add in series which I’m currently working on making a list of all the needed adapters and fittings since the oeitiker fittings are the issue

 

2 big ass derale race series coolers with 10AN lines and an improved racing 160* thermostat

edit: maybe they’re 8AN, I can’t remember now. I have 10AN oil cooler lines but can’t remember what I did for trans. 8AN sounds more right though.

lol I started with that fist mishi cooler for my trans before I QUICKLY realized it was not up to the task, especially since I don’t have the liquid to liquid cooler in the radiator.

200 is no big deal at all. 220 is my upper limit. Dex fluid starts to degrade at 230, and the curve after that isn’t linear. My trans lives at 170* because of how big my coolers are.

GM trans are nice because of how simple they are, but God I miss a Toyota trans. Those things are so beautifully reliable. GM trans and tcase systems are retarded.

Ouch

I’ve been running my coolers based off of line temp. Figured that’s probably a decent place to be reading it. Trans stays pinned at 170 in normal operation, street driving, etc. if I’m hammering the truck in first and second, obviously no lock up in either of those gears, I’m able to get the fluid up to 180-185ish, but it won’t ever warm up higher than that, even when I’m hammering it in the summer time here.

I’ve got the same converter in my truck, but it’s a 4L80E from Maximum Offroad Transmissions / Bowtie Overdrives, per the recommendation of @906taco that I ignored way back in the day. Learned the hard way that 4L75E(or really anything in the 4L60 family) CANNOT hold up to the stress of an Offroad truck.

but yeah, I’ve got the 2800-3200 stall billet circle D, and it does churn fluid, but it never ever gets above 185 for me with the dual race coolers.

 

Mine leaks, and also after 1 big hit, my steering groans now.

I definitely regret doing the JD slide rack, but I don’t know what else I’d install in its place. At the time, there weren’t really any other solutions besides a tundra rack. Swingset sounds dope tho.

But also, I’ve kinda chocked it up to being “normal”. It’s still chugging along, and it’ll keep chugging along until it fails spectacularly, like just about everything else on my truck

 

So as I understand it
My trans is solely routed through the radiator…
I had a secondary cooler from Derale to install but my transmission shop didn’t feel like the labor was worth the benefits at the time because when he drove it around it never got above 180

it regularly gets hot now….

I have a stage 3 rebuild kit otw which will put me at a full stage 4 internally

BUT, now I have to get the rebuild done, recut the TQ converter, and I am NOT putting it back together without an Aux cooler
But I’d prefer to run the cooler that comes OEM from the 3500HD so I can keep it accessible to replacement anywhere at any time vs ordering some custom fit kit….

I am also trying to make the whole system AN lines and I want to use those connectors I posted a few post back..

the catch is the quick connects from GM are not compatible without an adapter
Which maybe the ICT billet parts will fix that
But I’m waiting to hear back if I’m still short an adapter or not

 

Honestly an OEM cooler isn’t going to work nearly as well as something aftermarket.

im running two of these:
https://derale.com/product-footer/fluid-coolers/remote-mount-cooers/hi-flow-racing/65861-detail

Total of 250,000BTU’s of cooling capacity. 2 is probably a bit overkill, but I’m never ever going to be complaining about trans temp again.

Gotta see what kind of line adapters you can get. My trans came with 8AN fittings pre installed in the trans so it was super easy. I think some of the off the shelf ones that are banjo style are 6an, but nothing bigger than that.

 

So…. This system is retarded
Follow me here for a sec

trans—-> radiator—->AC condenser—->trans

so theoretically I need 6x of these
https://www.ictbillet.com/products/6an-3-8-transmission-cooler-quick-disconnect-fitting


And this…
https://www.ictbillet.com/products/6l80-transmission-oil-cooler-adapter-50-degree

And from what I can tell
Installing the AN adapter on the trans means I loose my thermostat so I have to add one somewhere else?

I’ve been searching a combo of google and Chatgpt to hunt for any comment or post on people assembling anything similar but the most I seem to find is trucks that DO NOT have a tow package have a different RPO package that changes that whole system for cooling,
Adding a cooler to mine is complicated?
But adding the cooler to one without is easy?
And yeah I hear you on the aftermarket
But OEM 3500 parts mean I can get it anywhere any time and if it’s enough cooling for a 3500 tow rig
Then my smaller 1500 should be reasonable?
Or am I missing something obvious? (I’m an idiot so it’s possible)


This is the derale option I had ordered previously
https://gwatneyperformance.com/derale-stacked-plate-fluid-cooler/

Compared against OEM 3500
84173162





this is some crappy pictures of the horrible stock route