I'm thinking of adding power steering to one of my cars. I have read some past posts on the subject of coolers and see that they were only put on cars with 3:54 or higher gears. My car has 3:73 gears. What I would like to know is, is having a power steering fluid cooler really necessary as in the past I have owned other brands of cars with higher gears ratios that didn't have a cooler. Was it due to the type of steering pump Chrysler used or was there some other reason? Just trying to determine if I should add one or not when I add the power steering. I would prefer not to if I don't need to as I don't particularly care for their appearance as well as the fact that they add more clutter to the engine compartment.

i don't think you would need one unless spinning hi RPM's for a long time. that said it couldn't hurt having one

I don't think there's a lot of value to running them. Trannys run pretty hot and the fluid is fine. Lots of radiant heat from the engine hitting the steering box and pump and there's thousands of guys running steep gears with no coolers without problem.

Mostly for Police cars, severe duty type stuff. for our weekend warriors I don't think it's really needed, just something else to say you have on your car. That said I did have one on my '72 and I don't have one on my '73, I haven't noticed any difference.

I have an after market power steering/oil cooler on my 1968 Barracuda. It is mounted to the front of the AC condenser.

Prior to installing the cooler, the laser temp gauge (Craftsman) would read in the 235 degree range at the front hub of the PS unit. The oil inside the .94 Saginaw reservoir would read around 215 to 220. One day, the return power steering line popped off of the power steering unit. Hot oil went everywhere.

After installing the PS oil cooler (I think it is a Hayden), the PS pump hub runs around 180 or so and the oil runs around 175 or so. The return line has not popped off since.

Buy a laser temp sensor and see how hot the power steering hub is and how hot the PS fluid is and make your decision based on that.

Hayden oil cooler:
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail...6&ppt=C0031

Photo is a factory PS cooler that came on a 1969 GTX.