what is the best transmission cooler..

I looking to buy a transmission cooler and would like some of your feedback. Which one do you think is the best.

B & M is my choice works great for my other vehicals also.

Hayden is the off-branded B&M for cheaper. A stacked plate design is more rugged than the tube with fins and it is only slightly less efficient.

Ok... This is the fitting kit that you need:
AutoZone - Hayden fitting kit - 240390
Advanced Auto - Imperial/Hayden Fitting Kit - 240390

I'm not sure if it's available from other stores. I bought that and the Hayden Imperial Maxi-Cool 7-3/4"x11"x3/4"thick stacked plate cooler - Hayden Maxi-Cool XL - 243007.

I bought it from Advanced Auto, but they did not carry the fitting kit. Here's the link to advanced auto's website - Advanced Auto - Hayden Maxi-Cool XL - 243007

I just bought the:
Brand: FLEX-A-LITE
Description: 20,000 GVW, Heavy Duty 6-Pass Rail Cooler - 3/8-inch Barbed Fitting
Will I need anything else with this. Check it out @ truckperformance.com. This is where I orded it from. I hope to get them by saturday to install them by sunday.

Good luck finding a place to mount that thing... I went with a 7-1/2"x11" for a reason... There wasn't enough room for hoses and the cooler in front of the radiator. The 7-1/2"x11" was just the right size. Also, you can have too much cooling. If you aren't towing frequently and/or living in the mountains, that GVW rating is way too high.

This is exactly what I've got even though I purchased it locally and under a non-brand name, B&M SuperCooler 7-1/2"x11"x3/4" Stacked Plate Cooler.

Oh and I would bet that you would still need the fitting kit unless you wanted to cut your transmission lines like the instructions suggest.

I like the stacked plate design myself. I also don't mind cutting the factory line to connect the rubber hoses. Use a pipe cutter instead of a hacksaw though. A hacksaw will leave little metal filings in the line, while a pipe cutter leaves clean ends.

Its not that I mind cutting a factory line, but I'd rather be able to cleanly undo any modification that I do to a vehicle. Definitely use a pipe cutter to cut the line!

quote:

ORIGINAL: swartlkk

Its not that I mind cutting a factory line, but I'd rather be able to cleanly undo any modification that I do to a vehicle.

Hahahaha, I never return them to original condition. I drive em till they die or the wife makes me trade it in. She has this image thing to maintian. Me, I could care less what it looks like, as long as it is mechanically sound.

Very true. I'd like to drive 'em until they die, but many times it's the little annoyances that finally get to me and force me to get rid of it. Electrical gremlins are the worst and hardest thing to figure out. That's the primary reason why I got rid of my old '94 Intrepid. I loved the car, but it was starting to degrade (electrically) and while the car still looked good, I dumped it!

It's Off Branded for a reason....Like the ole saying goes"""U Get What U Pay For""""Just like using Bosch parts on our Blazers when u & I both know that AC Delco is the way to go...Right?

Although that is true in most cases, it is off brand because Autozone sells the Hayden (which makes the B&M) and Advanced sells the Imperial (which is made by Hayden). It's all a run around so the stores aren't selling the same product.

You'll find out quickly that there are only afew true sources for aftermarket parts no matter what the final packaging is.

In the case of the cooler, I have run the imperials on the last 5 vehicles that I have owned. They have all performed flawlessly with no leaks. My father has also run them on all of his farm trucks. One even lived through a front end collision on his old '89 C1500. Made a dent in the radiator, but it didn't leak and was reused on the new radiator when we put everything back together.

Using the AC Delco vs Bosch isn't the proper annalogy. Actually, there really isn't a proper annalogy. Parts of equal quality can be branded (painted, boxed, etc) different so they can be sold in many different markets. Hayden does this with their coolers. Imperial=Hayden=B&M. Buy them with equal confidence from where ever you want. I work for an undisclosed major fluid pump manufacturer and we sell the same pump to 2 different markets and call it X in one market and it's painted one color and call it Y in another market and it's painted a different color. It's the same pump, same parts, but different names and colors.

**EDIT - actually, the price for the different brands of the same cooler are about the same no matter where you purchase it from. Purchased locally, you wouldn't pay shipping charges, but would pay tax.

Acutally not sure where u read that Hayden made B&M????? According to B&M they have never or ever will associate w/anyone due to there OWN history of sucess...since the 50's...So that hayden makes B&M is un- warranted....to say the least

I have had a Hayden cooler and a B&M side by side and EVERYTHING right down to packaging (asside from the artwork on the box) was identical. Now that may have changed as it was 4-5 years ago, but I highly doubt it.

I was referring to ur claim that hayden MADE B&M.....yes they may look alike but trust me they are no where in the same class of quality...thats all i was trying to clear up...but hey nice try..lol joking....

I'm not sure that they aren't the same quality. Just because it's B&M doesn't mean that it isn't made in China! IIRC, the stamping numbers on the end plates of the 2 that I saw were in the same location. Also, at that point in time, I know for a fact that the PN's were identical. Now maybe Hayden was copying B&M. I don't know, but it is mighty suspicious to say the least.

I'm sure that B&M makes a damn good cooler and that is all that matters per this discussion. I'm just stating what I know from actual comparison. And I think that Hayden/Imperial is a damn good cooler as well.

*EDIT - Even though the pictures of the coolers themselves (B&M) looks identical to the imperial that I have on my Bravada now, it does look like the B&M kit from Summit contains everything that would be necessary for a nice clean install.

know this is old but very helpful. atleast it was with me today when I picked up the hoses. Could be B&M makes the haydon. Model. There is just allot of branding any more. You would be amazed at how many dif. brands of bread is made in a certian bakery. Just use as an example.