The load-carrying or power-transmitting capacity of machine parts are adversely affected by the maximum temperature rise at the relative sliding contact, which occurs as a result of frictional heating. An increase in temperature affects friction and wear and needs careful investigation. Wear under reciprocating sliding is more severe in relative sliding parts that reduce the service life. In this work, a transient heat transfer model for the measurement of frictional heat in a pin-on-reciprocating plate tribometer is presented. This research was aimed to facilitate the calculation of the thermal response in reciprocating dry sliding. Here the responses measured were bulk frictional temperature. The test parameters were normal load, sliding velocity, sliding distance and stroke length. All the experiments were carried out on a fabricated tribometer with a maximum stroke length of 150 mm. The generation of heat and division of frictional heat along the stroke length and its dissipation was studied and reported. From the results, it is evident that a lower stroke length of 50 mm had a larger bulk temperature due to frictional heating. The developed model validated with experimental results and the model was in agreement with the experimental results.