Trucool LPD4921 (I got the kit with the thermostat). Thinner, more open fins and large frontal area than most trans cooler options. With some work, it fits behind the hood latch support, as you can see. If a winch will fit in front of the vertical support, it will fit with the cooler like that.

My bumper is from Shrockworks. More open on the front than yours and my lower skid plate has some holes to feed the bottom of the radiator too. There's a winch in there now too, but I don't have any current pictures of that setup.

-Charlie

So I made the same trek up the mountain on Friday and recorded both the coolant and transmission temps. This time I used OD off for the long inclines and did not use the AC. The outside temp was also about 10 degrees cooler but the 4Runner was fully loaded with camping gear (compared to being empty on the last trip).

The coolant temps stayed between 188-190 almost the entire time with a few short spikes to 192 and 194. I assume those temps rule out the engine cooling being an issue?

The transmission temps did a lot better on this trip but still too high maxing out at 215 on the hour long inclined drive up the freeway and then a max of 232 on the hilly and winding paved roads after the freeway.

I also had trouble keeping the transmission temps down on the drive back down the freeway and turning OD on or off didn't seem to have a consistent effect. Any recommendation for which is better on an extended decline?

Lastly, the final leg of the return trip along city streets resulted in some transmission temp spikes back into the 230's. It seems I got the transmission pretty hot on the freeway and then it couldn't shed heat fast enough with the frequent gear shifts and lack of airflow from city driving.

I'm wondering if these temps make sense considering the reduced airflow and driving conditions?

Oh dang, that is a tight fit. I wonder if another winch might be smaller and fit a bit easier? Although, with how much of the radiator it blocks, maybe I should forgo mounting a winch in the bumper...

Nice! I'm glad to hear it can be made to fit behind the hood latch support. Mine is currently removed to fit the bumper but I'm thinking about having a notch cut in the bumper to allow space for it to be added back in (the hood latch feels pretty unstable without it). Unfortunately, the support would have to be removed again to fit a winch but maybe I should forgo a winch considering how much airflow it'll block...

Your engine temps are prefect, no worries there.

The trans temps, while high, are also not going to cause your trans to blow up immediately or anything. Dropping them 20*F would be good, but no need to go crazy. Get a cooler on there and try to find a way to leave room for a winch if you want. Drill holes in the bumper while you have it off to install the winch...

-Charlie

Oh man, that's a really tight fit! I see you used the zip-tie method to attach the transmission cooler. I was hoping to figure out some kind of bracket solution but it looks like there's just not enough room with the Coastal Offroad bumper (if I want to do a winch).

Was it the wires on your winch that caused the clearance issues?

Thanks again Charlie! I wanted some other adjustments made to the bumper so I'm having the wielder cut some holes while its there this week.

In the meantime, I'm looking to buy a transmission cooler and I liked the short/wide dimensions of your Tru-cool but it looks like that model is no longer in stock anywhere (maybe discontinued?). Its too bad since I was thinking I could probably get that cooler to fit on brackets and get the winch in there. I don't think I'll be able to get one of the taller cooler designs to fit unless I go with zip-ties which is not ideal IMO.

The smaller LPD4920 does seem to be available. The rest of the TruCool coolers are a lot more square (or much smaller).

-Charlie

Oh that might be an option. Do you have a link? I just did a google search and didn't see anything in stock :/

And the trans cooler lines and the winch itself and the AC condenser and the....

It's 10lbs of crap in a 5lbs bag. I actually had to move the trans cooler to the other side of the condenser/radiator when I got my winch because they were trying to occupy the same space.

10lbs of crap 5lb bag easy fix less crap, not cheap though.https://www.warn.com/90rc-winch-71550

One thing I can think of is can you drill new mounting holes for winch that moves winch closer to face of bumper.
Drilling four holes is easy whatever you gain is rearranging crap in the bag could make things easier

I got a smaller more square unit and it dropped my transmission temps in a MAJOR way. I don't think venting a bumper will have anywhere near the cooling effect.

I was curious what I have was so I looked up my invoice from Oregon Performance Transmission. What's crazy is that I paid half the price in 2021 (see invoice below). Must've been a sale AND pre-inflation.

Tru-Cool LPD 4454 Automatic Transmission Cooler 18,000 GVW LPD4454 Fluid Oil True-Cool OC : Oregon Performance Transmission

Edit "Out of Stock" Maybe it's been superseded.


Code: LNG-4454 Tru-Cool LPD 4454 Automatic Transmission Cooler 18,000 Product: GVW LPD4454 Fluid Oil True-Cool OC
Quantity: 1
Price: $69.67
Shipping: Expedited Shipping (1 - 3 days): $3.99
Sales Tax: $0.00
Total: $73.66

Haha, that's what I'm realizing as I try to plan out how to get it all in there. Thanks for the heads-up about the ATC needing to be on the drivers side. I'll keep that in mind if I go with one of the more square shaped coolers.

Oof! Thank you for the suggestion but that's a bit more than I'm wanting to spend. Still, good to know options like that exist (I didn't have much luck google searching for small profile winches)

I would have guessed the same thing about the bumper venting having minimal impact on temps but what started this whole thing was my cupholders getting noticeably hot after the bumper was installed. Driving with OD off dropped the trans temps considerably and the cupholders stayed cool so it seems there is some link to the new bumper and higher trans temps. I can only assume that link is reduced airflow to the lower section of the radiator which is where (I presume) the stock transmission cooling section is located.

As for the Tru-cool pricing/availability, I'm wondering if they are phasing out some of their products as the availability seems way down and pricing has shot up for many of them.

For the record, I’ve never had the zip method fail me. Even on a condenser with half rotted fins. It was the only way to reasonably mount the 4589 I put in the 97 Limited Puppy Hauler.

It is a bummer the 4921 isn’t available……


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, in the bottom tank:



But if the coolant is sufficiently cool for the engine, it should work on the trans cooler too...

Get a 3/4" or thinner cooler, mount things carefully and you'll have room.

Oh, and don't think about using a narrow 'race' winch - you'll need one with 4.5"x10" mounting foot dimensions.

-Charlie