Transmission Cooler Bracket

Does anyone know of a company that just sells the transmission cooler brackets for the 2019 and up Tundras that didn’t get them from the factory? Ideally, it would be nice if Genuine Cooling Systems would sell the bracket and the associated mounting hardware separately, although I understand why they would not.

If anyone knows of a company that sells a mounting bracket please let me know.

 

Thanks - is that a direct bolt on to existing bolt holes in the radiator support?

 

https://cruiserbrothers.com/shop/automatic-transmission/transmission-oil-coolers/heavy-duty-transmission-oil-cooler-kit-to-suit-toyota-tundra-2007-onward-with-6-speed/

Kinda pricey for a cooler and bracket, but all made in Australia so hopefully it’s quality stuff

 

The older ones had the cooler mounted to the side of the radiator, not the best for airflow at slow speeds...

Just make your own brackets! It isn't that hard. My own suggestion with a giant ass cooler:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/parts-list-for-adding-oem-trans-cooler-to-5-7l.125248/

 

Yes, 07 - early 10 model Tundras have the same style cooler as the LC 200. The issue with the side mount, as mentioned above, is low speed cooling. Toyota did not carry over the the LC 200 lower radiator tank atf heat exchanger on the Tundra, which largely took care of low speed. After replacing enough transmissions, 12/09 models Tundras had the cooler moved in front of the radiator so the fan could take care of low speed. The problem with placing the cooler in front of the radiator is the preheating of the air intended for the radiator. This brings us back to the side mount, which is the best place to mount for the greatest efficiency in all cooling systems.

Anyway, the radiator support is likely the same shape, and possibly the holes may be there… so the early side mount might be easily accomplished. Come spring, I’ll be doing something with this on my 2011.

 

Thanks everyone for the information. I know I could make one but I prefer the clean look of the GCS bracket or something similar.

 

Did you contact Genuine Cooling for a price for just those parts? I did a while back and he was willing to sell me just the cooler bracket. Never did get around to buying from him as my job got a computer controlled plasma cutter. Made it on there and sourced all the other parts. I put my kit together for around $550-600.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn’t know that he would sell parts separately. I’ll reach out to them.

 

In the event anyone is interested in the GCs bracket - I emailed GCS and they stated they don’t sell them separately.

 

With GC raising their price I am not surprised they don’t sell it separately. I was taking note of all part numbers and was going to just build out my own kit. Then I ran into the bracket issue. In the end I ended up just buying GCs kit b/c he has his own bracket.

 

When I did mine about a year ago he was going to sell it to me. I was able to do it at work so it saved me some $$$

 

Yeah, I did it all myself and saved half of what he sells them for. I was going to buy a bracket from him and back then he was willing to sell it but also at a high cost. Did the bracket at work. Was pretty easy.

 

I just looked at his site and the site looks nothing like before. Now it's just 1 page of the tundra cooler and it's out of stock.

 

If I could get a nice mounting bracket to make it a nice factory like install I would DIY the rest of the kit. The bracket is the only item holding me up.

 

It's easy. Set the cooler on a cardboard trace out the cooler and then the cooler fin area and cut that out. Drill the holes of the cooler brackets. Then mock it up to the truck and see where it mounts to and cut that out. Only thing I did at work was have them plasma cut what I had drawn on the aluminum plate. But it can be done with a Dremel, grinder, jigsaw, etc. the bracket doesn't have to be a perfectly looking bracket, just as long as it holds the cooler in place. Google picture to get ideas also. I like to dyi and have been doing mechanical work since I was young so I couldn't see myself paying that much for a kit when I could do it for half the cost.

 

Any advantage to making the bracket out of steel? Is there any concerns with aluminum fatigue and cracking?

 

Most of the bracket is off the shelf Setrab. The cross pieces are the only custom part, and they look fairly simple. https://setrabusa.com/collections/mounting-brackets?grid_list=grid-view&filter.v.price.gte=&filter.v.price.lte=

 

I did see those Setrab brackets, they would make it easy to mount the cooler to the fabricated bracket. This is an older GCS bracket. Something close to this is what I would need to make. Not terribly difficult. I do have the issue of being slightly OCD and striving for perfection which makes some projects harder then they should be at times.

 

Not really. Steel is stronger if the thickness are the same. Aluminum is just easier to cut and shape and will hold up just as good. But a metal will work. It's just holding the cooler.

 

I believe I’m going the DIY route. I’m going to order supplies to put a kit together.

I’m leaning towards aluminum for the mounting plate. Any suggestions as to 1/8” vs 3/16” for the plate? It’s hard to tell what material and thickness the GCS bracket is but looks closer to 1/8”, might be steel?

 

1/8 is good. Remember, it just holds it in place. No force or real weight being applied

 

Depending on how you wheel also.

 

I don’t do any off-roading besides gravel roads into hunting areas.

I suspect the only force on the bracket would be from the air pushing it.

 

As I’m building my cooler kit I’m looking for 3/8” hose to go from the hard lines to the push lock fittings on the cooler. Any suggestions on the temperature range that I need?

 

High pressure high temp hydraulic hose

 

Amazon or any auto parts sells transmission lines. They are specifically made for trans oil and temps. I got mine from Advance auto. J1532 is the rating it should have or what you should look for.

 

These are cooler parts I used. Bought from Amazon. It was the cheapest place at the time.

 

A lot of the hoses I’ve looked at list the max temperature at 257 degrees. I think that the ATf fluid temperature would only get close to that temperature while towing up a long hill, if ever.

I did find that Derale has 3/8” hose with a 300 degree max temperature rating. I do like the idea of the extra temperature margin. The parts numbers are 13016 or 13017 depending on how the length you want.

I haven’t measured yet but I’m speculating that the feed and return will need 4ft or less on each side to go from the cooler to the hard lines.

Once I make my cardboard template for the bracket I’ll either give it a try cutting it out with a jigsaw or I’ll go to a local business that will cut it out for me on a plasma table. I’m leaning towards .125” (1/8”) steel for the bracket. Not sure what the mounting point for the bottom of the bracket will look like yet, hope to look at some designs out there for ideas.

I’m always open to advice and suggestions.

 

Looks to be exactly what I ordered from a single company on eBay, the total was $296.

Can you post pictures of your mounting bracket?

 

There should still be a good video on Genuine Cooling site that shows the whole install. It's very informative and you can get ideas from it.