Big Scare Today

[packjh]

Well i hate this is my frist topic in awhile, but I been talking with MR. P and he told me to double clamp the lines on the tranny cooler since i had to rig something up to work with my water cooler.....which still needs to be mounted......Its been raining pretty hard and i have drove the truck about 30 min total prior to today and after the install. I get a call yesterday saying that i need to come down to my guard unit to resign some papers due to some complications. I didnt have time to throw the extra set of clamps on there. I make it to the interstate about 30 min into my trip and i look up and see that i am a huge smoke ball cruising down the interstate... thinking that i could have blown a seal and thinking the worst in general i pull over way off side of road and try to move and truck barely rolls forward. I shut it off walk to the front of it and didnt even see that the whole front of the truck was coated in red tranny fluid.... Look underhood smoke rolls out see black marks on my headers then i finally look up front and realized what should happen.... luckily dad works close to where i broke down brought out 5 qts. of fluid and extra clamps. I took his car to wher ei needed to go and he took truck to his work. Made it home re cut some hose double clamped everything and good to go.....

 

moral of story if MR. P tells ya to do something by god do it.....haha going to have to wash the truck tomorrow to try and get all that fluid off thank good ness it was raining today and got alot of it off.

[silverado_ss_04]

i got mine triple clamped

[Fireman31]

I didn't like the thought of using rubber hose when I did mine, I used 3/8 steel brake line instead.

 

You are lucky your truck didn't go on fire, you said your headers are caked with trans fluid. When ATF reaches its flashpoint it burns like gasoline(ATF fires are nasty), and you know how hot the primaries can get.......

Edited December 20, 2008 by Fireman31 (see edit history)

[misterp]

OOPS! Trust me I know the feeling, I've got gallons of ATF under my truck right now I've got to wash off! Glad to hear you had help nearby.

 

Double-clamping ATF hoses - I learned this from building demolition derby cars, we always relocated the transmission plumbing to inside the passenger compartment and in those circles it's common safety knowledge to double-clamp hoses to steel lines or else 90% of the time one of the lines will blow off; you orient the two clamps (screws) to be rotated 180-degrees apart from each other so the clamping force is distributed evenly around the hose. I would also take a cheap flaring tool and put a small lip on the end of the steel line too, for insurance.

 

ATF & power steering fires are extremely violent, I've seen both a gas fire (ruptured fuel line) and ATF fire in person and would easily deal with a gasoline fire over an ATF fire any day. I almost lost a friend to an ATF fire, he left the power steering hooked-up on his derby car because it also had hydraulic assisted brakes (a late 70's Lincoln)... anyways, that car got involved in a monster hit on the driver's front fender just over the wheel, one of the worst hit's I've videotaped, the other car was a '68-69 Dodge 9-passenger wagon coming from almost the other end of the whole arena going at least 20-mph and on impact it climbed over the frame rail of the Ford and not only broke the upper ball-joint but also just plowed all the fender sheet metal into the driver's side of the motor, the power steering/brake assist lines ruptured and the broken exhaust manifold immediately lit the ATF on fire and in 2-seconds the flames not only engulfed the engine compartment but were 10 feet tall and blocking the entire windshield opening & driver's window. For about 30-seconds we thought he was burning to death because we did not see him dive out the passenger window.

 

Mr. P.

Edited December 20, 2008 by Mr. P. (see edit history)

[shawnss]

So i take it you had to cut the factory steel lines? well when i bought my truck somebody had cut the steel lines and replaced it with rubber ones. well i have put up to 4 clamps on mine and it still has blow them off. the only thing that has worked so far is i expanded the steel line where the rubber meets it and so far so good. in two years ive blowin the lines off 5 times. this year im going steel breaded from tranny to cooler.

Edited December 20, 2008 by shawnss (see edit history)

[DAVECS2]

You can get the Summit pushtite fittings and lines needed for about 60 dollars shipped. After reading this it seems like a good damn investment.

[kelleyperformance]

OOPS! Trust me I know the feeling, I've got gallons of ATF under my truck right now I've got to wash off! Glad to hear you had help nearby.

 

Double-clamping ATF hoses - I learned this from building demolition derby cars, we always relocated the transmission plumbing to inside the passenger compartment and in those circles it's common safety knowledge to double-clamp hoses to steel lines or else 90% of the time one of the lines will blow off; you orient the two clamps (screws) to be rotated 180-degrees apart from each other so the clamping force is distributed evenly around the hose. I would also take a cheap flaring tool and put a small lip on the end of the steel line too, for insurance.

 

ATF & power steering fires are extremely violent, I've seen both a gas fire (ruptured fuel line) and ATF fire in person and would easily deal with a gasoline fire over an ATF fire any day. I almost lost a friend to an ATF fire, he left the power steering hooked-up on his derby car because it also had hydraulic assisted brakes (a late 70's Lincoln)... anyways, that car got involved in a monster hit on the driver's front fender just over the wheel, one of the worst hit's I've videotaped, the other car was a '68-69 Dodge 9-passenger wagon coming from almost the other end of the whole arena going at least 20-mph and on impact it climbed over the frame rail of the Ford and not only broke the upper ball-joint but also just plowed all the fender sheet metal into the driver's side of the motor, the power steering/brake assist lines ruptured and the broken exhaust manifold immediately lit the ATF on fire and in 2-seconds the flames not only engulfed the engine compartment but were 10 feet tall and blocking the entire windshield opening & driver's window. For about 30-seconds we thought he was burning to death because we did not see him dive out the passenger window.

 

Mr. P.

the fire i was in last year, in that tahoe from the broken driveshaft, was both an ATF and fuel fire.... and i have to agree with you. that shit is terrifying they did engulf the whole truck, up the windshield and all...

[packjh]

So i take it you had to cut the factory steel lines? well when i bought my truck somebody had cut the steel lines and replaced it with rubber ones. well i have put up to 4 clamps on mine and it still has blow them off. the only thing that has worked so far is i expanded the steel line where the rubber meets it and so far so good. in two years ive blowin the lines off 5 times. this year im going steel breaded from tranny to cooler.

 

Nope dont have to cut nothing just push like a angry man to get the rubber hoses over the line then double clamp them. Drove around today for awhile getting everything nice and warm to see if the lines would stretch and blow off... going to pull the grille off tomorrow and doulbe check the clamps.

Guess the reason it didnt catch on fire is because most of it blew straight back. and the fact i was doing 80 mph may have kept the tempature down enough to keep it from igniting...

[mwalls54]

I had the exact thing happen to me when i just got it running this year. i had it stored in my warehouse on base and drove 30 min home and the last few miles it cooler actually busted and fluid blew back on the motor and under it.

 

I should be driving thru tuesday nite. real late.

[silverado_ss_04]

since we are talking about cooler lines here, i was just wonding if you guys think i will be fine with this line triple clamped?

 

[packjh]

looks like it would hold but rubber might wear quick next to high heat....

 

Mwalls, what time you think you getting ronoake have to come down after the holidays and help you pull the truck off the trailer.

[mwalls54]

i will be there the 24 thru 28 then going to inlaws and then 1st thru 3rd then its back to kansas city

[Fireman31]

since we are talking about cooler lines here, i was just wonding if you guys think i will be fine with this line triple clamped?

 

 

rotate one clamp on each end of that 180* to even the clamping force........see Mr. P.'s post.....

[Krambo]

I used pushlock fittings and hose from the tranny all the way to the cooler. Pushlock fittings and hose are designed to be used WITHOUT worm type clamps. Clamping them actually makes the connection leak and failure prone.

 

[DAVECS2]

That is exactly what I used when I put my trans back in. Added some P clips on the frame and the truck has been fine for the last 30K With not a drop of trans fluid anywere.

 

One thing to add I guess, is I used the teflon lined hose, because I was not sure how the regular stuff would hold up to ATF long term.

Edited December 21, 2008 by DAVECS2 (see edit history)