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Crushed the Tranny Cooler


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When I summerized my boat and reattached the hose to the input side of the transmission cooler, I tightened the hose clamp apparently too hard and ended up crushing/collapsing/deforming one side of the fitting. I tried to bend it back to round and re-tighten the hose clamp without my Hulk strength but it is still leaking.

Any great ideas on how to get the normal round shape back on the input side of my tranny cooler without causing a much worse problem? Dealer says a new cooler is $360 and I really don't want to go there.

Edited by Baddog
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If you're going to try to "re-round" the end...heat it with a small propane torch first so the material becomes more pliable. Find a piece of pipe that just barely fits inside and then use that to "tap" against with a hammer to reshape.

But your dealer is nuts. You can get a tranny cooler from skidim (Discount Inboard Marine) for less than $100.

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If you're going to try to "re-round" the end...heat it with a small propane torch first so the material becomes more pliable. Find a piece of pipe that just barely fits inside and then use that to "tap" against with a hammer to reshape.

But your dealer is nuts. You can get a tranny cooler from skidim (Discount Inboard Marine) for less than $100.

If you don't have a pipe, try with large sockets. Impact gun style ones. You can move up to the exact size.

Edited by 1FootDan
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Be careful with that repair. The metal on that cooler looks very brittle to me. Hows the lake temp. were you are? The bay was not bad this weekend.

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Be careful with that repair. The metal on that cooler looks very brittle to me. Hows the lake temp. were you are? The bay was not bad this weekend.

I think the cooler is made out of copper and it is very maleable. That is why I am asking for advice here being bulldozing forward. The pipe or socket ideas sound good. Anyone know what the ID is on the cooler?

EJ,

Lake Hopatcong was 65.5 F yesterday which I consider not too bad. My wimpy kids however . . . .

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I used to have a tool that was for "rerounding" exhaust pipe ends. You insert it & then turn the bolt & it expanded & pushed uniformly against the pipe. I bet it's still available from a parts store. Napa, etc. can get stuff overnight ususally if they don't stock it.

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When I summerized my boat and reattached the hose to the input side of the transmission cooler, I tightened the hose clamp apparently too hard and ended up crushing/collapsing/deforming one side of the fitting. I tried to bend it back to round and re-tighten the hose clamp without my Hulk strength but it is still leaking.

Any great ideas on how to get the normal round shape back on the input side of my tranny cooler without causing a much worse problem? Dealer says a new cooler is $360 and I really don't want to go there.

Been there, done that. Got made fun of here on the board for doing it Crazy.gif I tried to round mine back out, but was never very successful and as a result spent the summer with wet carpet on the left (port?) side of my boat from a nice spray of water pushing past the kink in the flange of the cooler. I ended up getting a new one pretty cheap from SkiDim.

Daniel

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When I summerized my boat and reattached the hose to the input side of the transmission cooler, I tightened the hose clamp apparently too hard and ended up crushing/collapsing/deforming one side of the fitting. I tried to bend it back to round and re-tighten the hose clamp without my Hulk strength but it is still leaking.

Any great ideas on how to get the normal round shape back on the input side of my tranny cooler without causing a much worse problem? Dealer says a new cooler is $360 and I really don't want to go there.

Been there, done that. Got made fun of here on the board for doing it Crazy.gif I tried to round mine back out, but was never very successful and as a result spent the summer with wet carpet on the left (port?) side of my boat from a nice spray of water pushing past the kink in the flange of the cooler. I ended up getting a new one pretty cheap from SkiDim.

Daniel

Thye are not going to make fun of me because of the "forearms of steel" warning.

You wouldn't happen to remember the model number or dimensions would you? Any tricks to changing it out?

Edited by Baddog
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When I summerized my boat and reattached the hose to the input side of the transmission cooler, I tightened the hose clamp apparently too hard and ended up crushing/collapsing/deforming one side of the fitting. I tried to bend it back to round and re-tighten the hose clamp without my Hulk strength but it is still leaking.

Any great ideas on how to get the normal round shape back on the input side of my tranny cooler without causing a much worse problem? Dealer says a new cooler is $360 and I really don't want to go there.

Been there, done that. Got made fun of here on the board for doing it Crazy.gif I tried to round mine back out, but was never very successful and as a result spent the summer with wet carpet on the left (port?) side of my boat from a nice spray of water pushing past the kink in the flange of the cooler. I ended up getting a new one pretty cheap from SkiDim.

Daniel

Thye are not going to make fun of me because of the "forearms of steel" warning.

You wouldn't happen to remember the model number or dimensions would you? Any tricks to changing it out?

I don't remember the part number, (just call SkiDim) but the change out was super easy. Just make sure to keep the transmission lines up and out of the way or you'll have transmission fluid all over the bilge.

I also found probably half of an impellar in the screen from the previous owner shredding it. It's amazing how little water these engines actually need to cool them.

I think the main culprit of my grief was Hankster the Bankster, something about my gorilla grip. Lucky for you he's been MIA.

Daniel

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Once again, this site is the fountain of all knowledge. Went out to the boat last night and used the socket approach to gently yet firmly re-rounding the end of my cooler and it worked much better than my expectations. My new rule on this clamp is tighten loosely, then start engine, then tighten just enough to close off water leakage, and leave my gorilla strength for opening jars of whatever the CFO can't open.

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tighten loosely, then start engine, then tighten just enough to close off water leakage,

Thats always been my approach, especially on the sea water pump.

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They also make a rubber tape, but it is kind of thick.

Does it have a name other than Rubber Tape? Is its purpose exactly what I was trying with electrician's tape? Lowes have it?

Thanks,

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3M/Scotch #130.....They don't make a tape called "I need to fix the cooler I screwed up".....Maybe, if not elec. supply store.

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3M/Scotch #130.....They don't make a tape called "I need to fix the cooler I screwed up".....Maybe, if not elec. supply store.

You have to admit that is a snappy name and would no doubt sell a bunch of tape.

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3M/Scotch #130.....They don't make a tape called "I need to fix the cooler I screwed up BECAUSE I HAVE FREAKISH GORILLA STRENGTH IN MY FOREARMS.".....Maybe, if not elec. supply store.

You have to admit that is a snappy name and would no doubt sell a bunch of tape.

There, fixed it for you, NOW you'll sell boatloads of it.

D

Edited by Daniel
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They also make a rubber tape, but it is kind of thick.

Does it have a name other than Rubber Tape? Is its purpose exactly what I was trying with electrician's tape? Lowes have it?

Thanks,

Rubber Tape... nah, that's just too easy... Innocent.gif

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Let me tell you about using electrician's tape as a "gasket" on your tranny cooler intake.

DON'T DO IT! DOESN'T WORK WORTH A S HIT.

Went skiing on Saturday and as we rounded a point on the lake, the exhaust sound changed drastically all of a sudden. Then smoke appeared. I immediately dropped the rope and when my buddy came around I frantically signalled him to cut the engine. NOW!!

Got back in the boat and realized the bilge pump was going full tilt. Opened the engine cover and sure enough, there was the water hose completely off of the cooler. It is truly amazing how quickly you can fill your bilge with that particular hose off. Ripped off the tape and re-tightned the hose (carefully) and was back in the skiing business. Engine seems fine.

One question though: What caused the oil smelling smoke out the exhaust? Rapidly increasing engine temp thinning the oil to the point that it slips past the rings?? Any short or long term problems to be aware of?

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Told you they don't make a tape called..... Could the smell have been your exhaust hoses getting hot. Trying to get the guys from work up to the lake on tues. or wed. next week, I'll keep you informed. Maybe we can finally get to meet.

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Told you they don't make a tape called..... Could the smell have been your exhaust hoses getting hot. Trying to get the guys from work up to the lake on tues. or wed. next week, I'll keep you informed. Maybe we can finally get to meet.

Let me know, should be in town.

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