Installed a Setrab transmission cooling kit

Ordered a Setrab transmission cooler from Nick and installed it yesterday on my 2021 4x4 Crewmax. As we all know, the Tundra no longer comes with a factory transmission cooler. Yet - all the components still exist and the vehicle has proper mounting locations for the oil lines. Incredible that it's no longer an option.

Website:
https://genuinecoolingsystems.com/

Tundras.com thread with lots of Q&A:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/tundra-transmission-cooler-kit.60550/

My Pro Tips:
- The video at the website is overly long but informative nonetheless. Watch it before you start.
- The guy notes that installing the thermostat and plugging in the Toyota hose segments is a huge PITA and ends up assembling them separately. So I did the same and plugged in the hoses on my bench
- Based on that I decided to pre-assemble the Toyota hard lines and hoses as well. It was a good call, they are much tighter and would have been a nightmare to do under the truck!
- Figuring out how to install the hard lines is the most difficult part. Be patient and experiment, I ended up shoving forward and rotating 'clockwise' when view from the rear of the truck.
- Use a hair dryer to warm up the hoses before plugging them in
- Don't tighten the cooler side rails until everything is aligned between the cooler and bracket
- I didn't need to do anything with the horn wire, simply unbolted from old location and bolted in the new spot. Easy.
- When you install the cooler on the truck you're supposed to center the top left bolt since it interferes with a factory radiator mount. To avoid that situation I flipped the bolt backwards and have the nut facing out. Now the clearance issue is resolved.

It took me about 6 hours, now I could probably do it in two. The Setrab cooler is a high quality piece of equipment and the kit included everything needed. Decided to unpin the thermostat after a test drive since my transmission likes to 'warm up' and shifts smoother thereafter. Others like to leave it pinned in order to have max cooling at all times.

The Setrab


When assembled to the brackets
(Remember, don't tighten until all bolts are in place - that includes the little allen bolts)


Supplied hardware



Assembled thermostat and Toyota in/out hoses.
(Note: All hoses only need to be pushed past the first 'nub' ... I pushed past both but it's a PITA. You'll see what I mean when you get the kit)


Flipped the top left bolt on the cooler bracket in order to clear a factory radiator mount


Before hose connections


Final connections.

 

I wouldn't. My 2008 Tundra had the factory kit, was very happy with it. They serve the same purpose, no need for two coolers.

 

That looks nice.

19 didn’t have a factory one. @chasenicholas93 mentioned working on a kit for 07-18. I read this kit won’t fit ones with a factory cooler. I added one inline with my factory one on my 2010 and it helped when towing.

 

Thanks for the review and tips!

 

How many miles prior to install?

What temps were you seeing that made you want to add this?

What do you tow?

 

Good work

 

- About 1500 miles
- I have no idea. No intent to measure either. I wanted a cooler just like my 2008 Tundra had, that is all.
- An airstream 28 (25ft box), 6000lb dry weight

 

BrakeDust; Excellent post! Well done and very helpful.

You write: -
“Based on that I decided to pre-assemble the Toyota hard lines and hoses as well. It was a good call, they are much tighter and would have been a nightmare to do under the truck!”

So if I’m picturing this right you have the Thermostat connected to the short hoses (you wrote IN and OUT on them) connected to the hard lines connected to several feet of flexible hose all connected together?? So you snake this train of tube, parts and hoses from the rear of the truck towards the front. You feed this through turning the hard lines “clockwise” into position.

Thanks VERY much in advance for your help.

Dave

 

I did it in three steps:
1) Connected the long hoses to the hard lines and installed as a set (snaking the hoses through the install path is no big deal, finding out where the hard lines fit is the tricky part and no video or instruction set can explain it... )
2) Connected the short hoses to the thermostat and installed it
3) Connected the short hoses from the thermostat to the hard lines - very easy

Doing [1] and [2] in your garage is the part that saves frustration.

 

Thanks very much!!!

 

Ah gotcha, cheers

 

Great tips! I have this kit sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. Will definitely pre-assemble these parts before crawling under the truck.

 

Someone asked me for pics of the truck with the grille on. Here you go, can't really tell if there's a cooler or not.

 

Great tips and photos... glad to see the hill country can't escape all the Texas rains either....

 

I'm going to take your advice and install the in and out hoses on the thermostat. Is the orientation that you have them in the photo correct? That was my only concern with installing those first is not having them set in the correct position.

EDIT: I just laid everything out on the table to figure out the angle the hoses should be and it would seem that the paint marks on the hoses are an indicator and should be facing out, atleast on mine that made them align correctly with the metal hoses. I didnt snap the clamps down yet and they still spin easily if I need to adjust them. I put some atf inside them with a q-tip.