Oil cooler selection

Have a Dixie Chopper lawnmower with factory kohler oil cooler. Its a small loop, on the side of the motor, uses 3/8"hoses, to go to the cooler, problem I have is it's a biotch, to replace these lines, and they go bad about every 2 years, or so. What I want to do is to replace the factory cooler, with a cooler, that uses screw on type hoses with crimped on fittings. Only ones I can find, in the automotive world, use 1/2" and 5/8" hoses, and pipe. My concern is that if I use something that big, I'll have a pressure loss, and risk the engine lube system damage, and I don't want to do that over the issue. Obvious question is Is there a cooler, be it hyd, oil, transmission, or power steering, that uses a smaller ID pipe, and is a small loop. that would fit this application??? Going to a junkyard tomorrow, so maybe I won't strike out there, but appreciate any input you guys can provide, from your experience...:notworthy:notworthy

I'd head over to the local speed shop and look at some coolers from B&M. They make all sorts of fluid coolers, make sure you get one with female NPT threads and use a JIC adapter. Common mistake is using JIC and AN fittings together. They generally are compatible however the AN fittings have a higher level of Quality control and the tolerances are tighter.


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All other things being equal, going to bigger diameter hoses won't cause a drop in pressure. You could in theory go to 4" hoses and, once they are full of fluid, you put 100psi in one end, you get 100psi out of the other.

Any chance you could silver solder some JIC adapters to the cooler you have now? Or maybe check with a hose supplier to see if there is a better grade of hose that would hold up longer?

Stopped by the junkyard, this morning, picked up an aluminum oil cooler, off a truck tranny, 3/8" hosebarb fittings, 1/2" tube, 4 bends through the fins, about the same size as the hydraulic coolers, on the mower. Best I could do, for a $10 experiment. Worked the mower hard, for 2-1/2 hrs, today, checked temps, 185ºF out, 277ºF in. Gonna try the longer hose to different cooler, tomorrow morning, will take temps after similar work time... I still have a line on a hyd fitting unit, if this one don't cause the oil alarm to go off, I may try the other. I bought the best grade 3/8 line, gonna try new clamps, eventually, too. Right for now I will be happy to have the hoses replaced, new lines, and hopefully less leakage, to limp through the last part of the year. The fancy stuff can come this winter, during the slack period. Maybe the longer hoses, and new clamps will take some stress off those short factory lines, with about an inch of an offset, where they meet the cooler...:salute:salute

Got the hoses replaced, and attached the new cooler, on top of the motor. When I take temps, at the oil cooler, the oil temp is reduced to about 180, or so, as I move down the in and out hoses, temps increase, as one would expect, but still lower than the old cooler, by a good 25-40 degrees, so I guess it was worth the $10 experiment...:thumbsup:thumbsup