[prandel1]

Thanks for the quick reply. Planning on tackling this once the rain quits.

 

[hatzie]

Good writeup.
Transmission line can be identified by the SAE rating number. It's SAE J1910. I've had the parts guys try to sell me fuel line and un-rated hose for transmission coolers. J30R7, J30R9 fuel line and the unknown pedigree hose are not rated for hot lube oil so they break down and swell up.

Ideal worm clamps in this size have chintzy worm retainers and the entire band is slotted for the worm so these small fuel and lube hoses outer jacket will extrude through the slots.
German Fuel Injection clamps are the thing to use... or Oetiker Ear Clamps. The Oetiker clamps are single use and can't be snugged up if needed so I lean toward the fuel injection clamps but both will work and work well.

 

[1994Vmax]

On my 05 1500HD I heard a faint dinging at 6000 rpm in 2nd gear... look down and the dic says oil pressure low. Had to fumble around to get the keys in the ignition as the cylinder is so wore out I just lay them on the console while driving. Blew the feed line to the cooler completely off so no oil going to the engine.

Dug a block off plate I had kicking around out and put that on after tossing the lines in the trash... has better oil pressure now than I have seen in years. Cooler is useless anyway lol.

 

[dsptech]

The filter does not need to come off. The lines are on the side with two bolts holding it on. I had about a few ounces come out that I captured on the motor side when I swapped mine.

Some details an pictures here. I was doing a motor mount change at the same time. Nealinator's 2010 GMC Sierra All Terrain Build

It is about mid way down on that post were I did the oil cooler lines. I had the driver side fender liner out to help with the motor mount and that gave really good access to the oil cooler lines...esp with a 4x4 and the diff in the way.

Great post and pics.
About to do mine tomorrow so while searching online I found your post.
Did you have to drop the front diff to pull the cooler lines out?

 

[nealinator]

I did not have to drop mine. I had the motor mount out due to needing to repair that so did the lines at the same time. I have seen others on here able to snake them in without removing anything. Its just a little tedious to do so.

 

[dsptech]

Luckily I have access to a lift for this repair.
Do you recommend pulling the inner fender to make it easier to snake out the lines?

 

[nealinator]

Yeah...that would help. It comes out pretty easy. Only trouble I had putting it back in were a couple of push in tree connectors that hold some wires on the engine side to it. I may have gone in the wrong order but they were close if not under the fuse box and I had trouble pushing them in after the fact. So if you do, try and attach them before securing the liner back to the fender.

 

[Spectreniner]

Luckily I have access to a lift for this repair.
Do you recommend pulling the inner fender to make it easier to snake out the lines?

I didn't touch them at all. Dropping the diff made the hugest difference. I spent about 1-2 hrs messing with everything...once I dropped the diff, it was a 5-10min job, laying on my back with the truck up on ramps.

 

[dsptech]

Yeah...that would help. It comes out pretty easy. Only trouble I had putting it back in were a couple of push in tree connectors that hold some wires on the engine side to it. I may have gone in the wrong order but they were close if not under the fuse box and I had trouble pushing them in after the fact. So if you do, try and attach them before securing the liner back to the fender.

Awesome help, thanks!

 

[dsptech]

Luckily I have access to a lift for this repair.
Do you recommend pulling the inner fender to make it easier to snake out the lines?

I didn't touch them at all. Dropping the diff made the hugest difference. I spent about 1-2 hrs messing with everything...once I dropped the diff, it was a 5-10min job, laying on my back with the truck up on ramps.

Dropping the diff seems like a heck of allot of work.
Hoping to avoid that.

 

[Spectreniner]

Dropping the diff seems like a heck of allot of work.
Hoping to avoid that.

Nah. Literally just the bolts holding it up and the couple of bolts holding driveshaft. I'm not talking like drop the whole thing out of the truck, just drop it down and disconnect driveshaft. It opens up so much under there.

 

[dsptech]

Haven't had a good look under there yet.
Just bought the truck and noticed the leaks when they were mounting tires on it.
Trans cooler lines too.
It is a 2011 so I guess I should expect some repairs.
Quite the step up from my 88 stepside.
All this modern stuff on these trucks have me a bit nervous about fixing things going forward.
The 88 was so easy to work on.
I could crawl inside the engine bay and close the hood behind me.
Going to have to find my grandma's shoehorn to keep in my toolbox for this one.

 

[dsptech]

Well I got it done and thought I'd share some info of how I did it.
I did not remove anything other than the splash guard.
If I was to do it again I would have remove the front driveshaft to make it easier and faster to get to the mounting bolts at the block.
All I did was removed the two bolts at the block and removed the bracket bolt which was a bitch to do with so many wires in the way.
Had to fish the socket with short extension through to get at the 1/2 bolt.

I then disconnected the lines from the radiator and then cut them free from rubber lines.
You can now cut through the crimps on the lines outside of the truck to make that part easy.
Then I finagled the remaining block with tubes as far forward as possible so I could reach the two remaining crimped ends and cut them off carefully.
These are hard to reach and a small angle grinder with cutoff wheel is needed or a dremel with a wand attached.
I had to pull them forward with one hand and cut with the other.
Took the new rubber lines and hose clamps and installed them onto the barbed tubes still in the truck after dipping them in a solution of dish soap and water to help push them on.
I used each end of the rubber hose on these barbs to create a loop (I did not cut the hose to length at this point).
Then I pushed the whole assembly back into position and installed the new gasket and mounting bolts for the block.
Next installed the 1/2" bolt for the bracket.
Installed the metal tubes back on the radiator and clamped them back into the plastic bracket.
Then took the rubber hose still looped and cut them to length, and pushed them on to the two remaining barbed ends with hose clamps.
Put your splash guard back on and your done.

At some point in the future I know the metal lines are going to rust through and this will need to be redone.
I plan on buying a whole new assembly and cutting the tubes on the block side before the 2nd bend and get some good bubble flares on them.
Just need to make the rubber hose lines longer and fish them through to the front instead of trying to fish the pre-bent tubed portion.
That would eliminate the bracket and bolt as well and make the whole job a piece of cake in the future.

A big fat thanks to all who chimed in.

 

[Quinc]

Anyone try using a worm clamp over the crimp?

 

[davester3500]

Worm clamps have nowhere near the strength to compress the crimped metal, other than hold it on if it happens to split in half.

Some people have taken measurements/angles, cut off the crimps, and taken the metal lines to hydraulic shops to crimp on hydraulic lines, those seem to work better (assuming you can find a shop that can/will do it).

Others, have cut off the flexible sections, flared the ends, and used hoses w matching fittings to connect the lines together.