Coffinmaker

Thanks again for all the great info. It sounds like it's doable. I would need the clip on mirrors for sure. My truck does have a tranny temp gauge. I've never seen it move above half.

smokeywren

Then you have the oil-to-water (OTW) tranny cooler, but you don't have the oil-to-air (OTA) tranny cooler (heat exchanger). If you don't have a digital tranny temp gauge as part of your display screen, then you will probably burn up your tranny before you realize it.


The tranny temp gauge on the dash is an "idiot" gauge. It is not analog. It works, but you have to watch it very closely when working the engine hard such as pulling a trailer up a hill or mountain pass.


And Ford has a weird definition of the zones on the idiot gauge. The white zone means go. The tiny yellow zone means your tranny is overheated, so you need to stop and cool off the ATF immediately. The red zone means Oops! too late! Your tranny is probably toast already.


There are three or four temp zones within the white zone on the idiot gauge. So the needle will jump from the middle to about 3/4 as it gets hot, then to the top of the white zone as you work the drivetrain hard. After it gets up to the top of the white zone, then watch it like a hawk and be ready to pull over and stop the instant the needle jumps into the yellow zone.


When you stop, Do not kill the engine. Instead, elevate the idle RPM to 1,200 RPM and sit there twiddling your thumbs until the gauge drops back into the white zone.


If you have the Ford digital tranny temp gauge in your gauges package on the display screen, then ignore the idiot gauge and watch the digital tranny temp gauge. Any temp up to about 220° is okay. 225° is the red line.


If you have to stop and cool off more than once every blue moon, then you need to add the OTA tranny cooler that was part of the regular towing package. Here's a link to the OEM OTA cooler parts. You probably need part numbers one thru nine to add the OTA cooler. Part numbers 10 thru 16 are probably already there for the OTW cooler.


http://parts.autonationfordwhitebear...il-cooler-scat

SixShooter14

Thanks Smokey, I was going to mention the "oops, too late" that goes along with the analog red zone. But you covered it nicely

Coffinmaker

Thanks for the great info Smokey. Would you suggest I need the upgraded radiator as well? Not sure how much of a different it makes if I were to already have the OTA installed. Thanks.

smokeywren

The regular tow pkg included an "upgraded radiator". That's not an inexpensive upgrade, so I probably wouldn't do it until after some serious towing in mountains with an eagle eye on the coolant temp gauge.

I'm not a Ford parts expert, so I don't know the difference in the two radiators available for the 2014 5.0L. One is "super cooling" and the other is not, but the cost is almost the same. I would discuss it with a knowledgable Ford parts person or tech to determine if all you need is the radiator, or when you replace a regular radiator with a super cooling radiator, does the super cooling radiator require other parts as well.

http://parts.autonationfordwhitebear...mber=bl3z8005a