Add a transmission cooler to tow Casita Camper?

[BriSco]

Transmission temp is available in the Off Road guages.

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[MedicineMan4040]

Brisco thanks. I worked in health care 35 years/little mechanical knowledge. Are you saying the circled in red is transmission temp? I'd thought that was oil temp. Now to the right, the little thermometer with gear icons....I'd be that is transmission temp....but no number. I want a number, not a range.

 

[Jason B]

Brisco thanks. I worked in health care 35 years/little mechanical knowledge. Are you saying the circled in red is transmission temp? I'd thought that was oil temp. Now to the right, the little thermometer with gear icons....I'd be that is transmission temp....but no number. I want a number, not a range.

That's oil pressure. Trans temp is the one to the right of oil pressure, turbo boost is to the left.
The numbers shown are maximum, not current values.
So, boost is 0 - 40 PSI, oil pressure 0 - 100 PSI.
And just like coolant temp, no actual value shown, so it's a wild guess.

 

[BriSco]

Jason is correct on the three.
Number swould be nice, but I don't believe necessary. Drive the truck without towing observing what is normal for your truck. Establish a baseline normal. Then watch when towing.
Notice that the transmission temp guage has a yellow area then finally red at the top. The yellow is a caution area, the red is a pull over and park it temp. I'd say anything below the yellow is fine. If it did have numbers, they wouldnt mean much to me, not knowing what number is good or bad.

Brisco thanks. I worked in health care 35 years/little mechanical knowledge. Are you saying the circled in red is transmission temp? I'd thought that was oil temp. Now to the right, the little thermometer with gear icons....I'd be that is transmission temp....but no number. I want a number, not a range.

 

[bigb]

The yellow is a caution area, the red is a pull over and park it temp.

A reminder if you pull over to let your transmission cool whatever you do don't switch the engine off! Once you do that all cooling stops.

 

[DuneOH]

Robert,
Welcome to both the Ranger and Casita family. I have a '24 Ranger Lariat with the 2.3 and a 2005 Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe which we picked up at the Casita factory. We've towed it with three different vehicles: a 2001 F150 with the 4.6 V8, a VW Touareg with a 3.6 V6 and the Ranger. The F150 pulled it like a dog. I absolutely hated towing with it due to a mismatch of engine torque and the 5 speed manual trans. The VW Touareg pulled like a charm including a 12,000 mile trip to Alaska and back. While we've only towed 5,000 miles with the Ranger including a trip to west Texas and back to Virginia, it surpasses towing with the Touareg due to better low end torque and the 10 speed trans. You do not need a transmission cooler on the Ranger. The Casita is well within the tow, tongue weight and payload limits.

Happy camping days ahead!

Yes I agree. I too have the 2.3 and a Casita. Excellent tow vehicle and no need for the extra cooler in my case (midwest, & south trips). Happy camping.

 

[Bushmechanic]

Transmission coolers become important under severe duty.

That includes towing close to the vehicle's capacity for lengthy periods of time (or exceeding it's capacity), towing very slowly under non-ideal conditions (such as through sand), towing every single day, encountering long, steep inclines, and towing over unmaintained roads (trails) or, perhaps most importantly, when there are no roads at all.

The farther out you go, and the heavier your load, the more that cooler will matter. I wouldn't go without one in the middle of nowhere, but I don't care around town. I hate trailers, anyway.

Towing moderate loads on highways is what it was engineered to do. Stay within the vehicle's limits (accounting for increased drag), and keep it where it needs to be when climbing, and you'll generally be good.

That said, with these overly-packed ten speed transmissions, it may be a closer call as to whether or not you're going to get any benefit out of one. I'm not familiar with them, in that regard; nor do I know how hot they get.

 

[Jason B]

And as a reminder, that heat exchanger is also there to get the trans up to temp in cold weather.
Too cold trans fluid can be just as troublesome as too hot fluid.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Thanking everyone for all the input and information.
As hopefully mentioned, only thing I've towed is my utility trailer with a Kaw Mule or my big mower...so 2000 pounds at most. I never thought of transmission temps/wind catching frontal area/tongue weight/etc. So this is a whole new learning experience and I do appreciate everyones help.
Robert

 

[ShadowDragon24]

Jason, what am I seeing here. Oil temp on the right, rpm's on the left, and you're heading northwest but not very quickly Need more info, but it's better than nothing I suppose.

Scantools brand they sepperated from scantool

OBD Link. Im using the MX+ comes with free lifetime enhanced diagnostics updates. vs the mx or others you have to purchase them. and the obd link app is android auto compatible. so the extended display will show over there. and you get to pick what pids you want shown from the available list. while driving only the top 4 will show. then in park or neutral, the full list you picked will show.

but on the dash you get Coolant, rpm,turbo boost, engine oil pressure, and transmission temp, then oil temp, and fuel level. on the obd app I then picked the fuel remaining, which for me shows in liters remaining(canada)

snapchat video when I first set it up back in april.

and use to run torque pro in my old 2012 escape with an Atoto android headunit.

I have forscan on my phone and laptop for the stuff torque and the obd link software cant do/forscan on laptop for the full features. lol

forscan can change all the letters to #'s but you cant pick what ones.. your fuel gauge then goes 0-1, instead of E-F for example.

 

[BriSco]

I've towed a bit with this trailer, total weight about 3500lb in temps up to 104F and this is as high as my trans temp guage ever gets. This is the normal level even when not towing. Today I was towing at 73F. It has never gone higher than this.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Bottom line, transmission temps towing a Casita 17' will be a non issue.
p.s. I still haven't found that screen in your image above.

 

[BriSco]

Bottom line, transmission temps towing a Casita 17' will be a non issue.
p.s. I still haven't found that screen in your image above.

I'm assuming you have 4x4, 4x2 may not have these.

To get to the guages I go to right side of the steering wheel buttons, hit the menu button, scroll down to Off-Road, hit Ok, scroll down to vehicle guages, hit OK.

 

[superj]

2wd have them. I have them on my screen while driving

 

[MedicineMan4040]

OK Brian, Jason. I've got the gauges now. Appreciated.

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