Jeep Cherokee XJ Transmission Cooler
A transmission cooler will drastically improve the life of your Jeep Cherokee XJ transmission. If you have an overheating transmission then you can benefit by adding a cooler. This is a simple and inexpensive upgrade that will only do good for your Jeep Cherokee.
Here is what a common kit will look like:
When choosing a Cherokee transmission cooler kit, think about how it will attach to the front of your Jeep XJ. I had to fashion my own brackets to make it fit like I wanted.
NOTE: I also had to buy some sheet metal nail strips and a hose connector from Home Depot.
Remove the front plastic covers to expose the radiator. Decide where you are going to put the transmission cooler. I chose to put mine on the right side since the hoses seemed to work best on that side.
To give you more room to work you will want to remove the airbox by removing the three fasteners holding it on.
Now you have plenty of room to work.
Remove the nut that holds on the transmission fluid line.
NOTE: You don't have to worry about fluid squirting out.
I purchased this hose connector at Home Depot.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The threads on the connector are too long and don't thread on far enough! I had to remove the washer located under the nut you can see in the picture. Otherwise it leaked fluid! So remove the nut and pull off the washer and then replace the nut. The nut must be tight enough so fluid doesn't leak out.
Go ahead and chop off the top curved part of the transmission fluid line.
Connect the hose to both ends and feed it through to the front grill.
Go ahead and install cooler. I used some sheetmetal nail strips from Home Depot to connect the radiator to the front grill. Cut pieces to size and bent them in a bit of a Z at the bottom so I could screw them into the metal on my front grill. Attach them to the transmission cooler using some nuts and bolts and some lock tight. Place the transmission cooler in the front grill and screw it in. Then go ahead and attach the top tran cooler line to the brass connector that attaches to the radiator. The bottom line is attached to the metal hose I cut.
You are now done. You should make sure all your connections are tight and start you engine. Make sure there isn't any leaks. Check your transmission fluid level. The engine must be running for you to check the fluid level. Now your Jeep Cherokee will benefit from the cooling power of a transmission cooler.
UPDATE: I have been running my Jeep Cherokee transmission cooler for a while now and have noticed that I no longer have any trouble with an over-heating transmission. This has completely solved my problem. Very easy solution.