How To: Adding OEM V8 Tranny Cooler to V6

Ok, so I thought this might be worth a write up. I wanted to add an OEM tranny cooler from a V8 runner to my V6. I foolishly thought it would be mostly plug and play. Turns out all the mount points are NOT there to bolt it right up. But, it still wasn't that bad. So here goes.

The only mount point on the cooler that bolted directly up to the vehicle was the one on the far left of the cooler, the one with the rubber bushing. It bolts directly to the center bar of the radiator support:

The other two mounting points required adding brackets. I took an old Harbor Freight socket rail and slid off all the socket holders and used the long piece to make my brackets. They simply have to be straight stock. No angles needed. You can use whatever you may have lying around. For the bottom I cut a piece of the rail about 4 1/2 inches long but the holes ended up being only a couple inches apart. Hard to tell from the pics but there's excess bracket to the rh side of the bolt where I mounted it to the car.

For the rh end of the cooler I used another piece of the rail. I can't remember how long it is but it's something you'll have to measure anyway to get just the right fit. To use the mounting bolts on this end you'll have to remove the bracket that is on there to support the a/c line going to the condenser. Mine wasn't attached anyway so I didn't mind deleting it. Then just measure your bracket and drill holes for the bolts.
Note: to mount both of these brackets I had to remove the speedy nuts from the cooler and flip them over. Then put the bolts in from the back side rather than the front. This forces the cooler out away from the condenser to avoid any chance of rubbing. Here's the rh bracket installed. Note the upper bolt is installed from the backside.

As for the hoses. With my runner being 16 years old with 300K on it I decided to go ahead and replace the cooling hoses while I'm doing this job. So I replaced all hoses from where they attach to the metal lines down low on the driver's side of the radiator. Here's how I ran them. The original hose to the upper fitting on the radiator I simply replaced. No changes to the routing. From the lower fitting on the radiator I went to the lower fitting on the tranny cooler. And from the upper fitting on the tranny cooler I went to the other remaining steel line going back to the transmission, (the one that originally went to the lower rad fitting). Sorry I didn't get pics of this. One last thing I did, possibly overkill was where the two hoses pass through the radiator support I was concerned that they might at some point rub on the metal and get damaged. I had my leftover radiator hoses I had replaced recently so I cut a piece of one about 2-3 inches long to serve as a grommet to protect the tranny hoses. It fit nice and snug in the opening in the rad support. Like this:

Here's the (almost) final product. One important note. If you buy aftermarket 3/8 hoses be sure to get all new clamps. The aftermarket hoses have a smaller outside diameter than the factory ones and the clamps won't squeeze them tight enough. I had bought worm gear clamps but I came up one short. So on the easiest one to get to I used two of the original clamps to suffice overnight till I could buy another clamp. It has since been replaced.

I know that you can get aftermarket coolers with a lot bigger area and maybe they will do more cooling than the factory one, but my thoughts are I want OEM whenever I can get it. As I said in another post I'm trying to make this thing as reliable as possible and I feel better with an OEM cooler than I would with an aftermarket one, even though I went with a used one. I picked this one up on eBay for $50 after a little shopping around. I couldn't go for a new one. The sell for anywhere from $350 - $450 depending on the dealer.
I hope I did an adequate job of explaining everything. If anyone has any questions feel free to reach out. I'll be glad to explain further.

 

Very good write up & thanks for taking the time to post it, I'm sure others can benefit from it.

I like the idea of using the old hose for a grommet, I do that on any car that has a rubber line passing through a metal opening.

Also most aftermarket coolers of this size or even double the size are a lot less than $350-450, B&M & hayden have a lot of sizes & most are about $75-$150, & thats for the better stacked plate style vs the cheaper less efficient tube styles.

 

Hey Yota, Thanks for the response. I debated over going with the OEM vs Aftermarket coolers. If it had come down to getting a new OEM there wouldn't have been any question. Or if I had not thought that the OEM would plug and play I'd have probably gone with the AFM. But after doing it, I'm very satisfied with what I've got. I've no doubt many of the aftermarket ones would have provided more cooling but then again, how much do I need? I will probably do some towing but not a lot. And on the V8's this cooler along with the better hitch help to raise the tow capacity from 5k to 7k lbs. If I was asked which way to go I'd have to say it depends on 2 things, how much additional cooling do you need, and how much stock do you put in OEM parts vs aftermarket. You really can't go wrong either way.
Oh, on the grommet. I was lucky to have that old hose laying around and it fit the hole perfectly. Gives a little added confidence in the overall install.

Now if my starter and evaporator will just hold up I'll be all set. If not, I'm going fishing.