AW4 Swap

Spence

Spence

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Salisbury
I am looking to swap an AW4 into my currently peugot equipped '88 MJ. I have been able to find one write up online of swapping this tranny into a TJ, but obviously there will be some differences.

My main question is what year models can i get one from? I currently have the 21 spline NP231 and plan on going to a 23 spline case at the same time as the tranny. Were some of the older aw4 equipped vehicles 21 spline outputs? If so, when did they switch to 23? Also, would I need to grab a the TCU from the newer vehicle that I pull the trans from or would I necessarily need one from an 88 or so model? Also, is the CPS the same over the years, or at least swappable??


I would appreciate any help, as I am trying to pull the tranny this saturday if I can decide what I need and can find one at the yard.

I probably have a few other questions, but I will stop here for the time being......
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
you might look into http://awshifting.com/ for your shifting on the tranny...
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242965
many XJs had AW4s so I see as being a fairly strait forward swap for you...
Click to expand...

I have looked into his controllers, but i would prefer my tranny to shift itself, so even if i bought his controller, i would still have to swap the tcu from the donor, which is the part causing most of my confusion.

also, a $20 TCU is a much more appealing option money-wise.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 8379qtj10
Would an 88 XJ have the AW4??

My 88 XJ does.
Click to expand...

do you know if they came with the 23 spline output or 21? it wouldnt me mandatory, but i would like to upgrade t-cases unless it would make the swap more complicated.
 
OK, well i finally had some time to do a little searching, and from some posts over on naxja it looks like I will definitely need to use the TCU from a similar model cherokee for this swap, even if i use another year tranny. I will also apparently have to switch toa different style of TPS.

so basically the spline count question is one of the few remaining things i am totally unsure of, i guess i will keep on searching.
 
Which grand cherokees came with an aw4? i know a lot of them came with other trannies. And what is an easy way to ID an aw4 in the junkyard? Sorry for all these basic quiestions... i guess this should have gone into NEWBIE.......
 
awspence said:
Which grand cherokees came with an aw4? i know a lot of them came with other trannies. And what is an easy way to ID an aw4 in the junkyard? Sorry for all these basic quiestions... i guess this should have gone into NEWBIE.......
Click to expand...
Only the early 93's afaik, then they switched to the 42series
 
yeah only 93 ZJs had AW4s... I am thinking that they switched over to 23spl somewhere around 92, but you cant hold me to that...

iirc, last time i was there pull-a-part in charlotte had quite a few 80s model XJs, dunno if id pull the tranny there, but you could easily get the TCU and TPS there...
 
Cool, thanks for the info. Any reason you wouldnt pull it there? unknown condition is one big thing... but for $40 i can buy a couple til one works........
 
yeah, unknown condition is the main thing... but as you say, theyre cheap... and i think you can get a warranty with em, but if its bad you gotta pull another

but then again, you can learn all the ins and outs of the vehicle while pullin a tranny, instead of messing your rig up my accident
 
OK, so when did that happen? haha sorry i am at work so i technically dont have time to be google seaching around to find out.
 
88-89 4.0 xj's definitely had a 21 spline aw4.

all HO 4.0's (started in 90 or 91, i forget) had the 23 spline aw4.

if you use switches to control your aw4 then you don't need any of the tcu wiring or computer itself.

if you want the tcu to control the tranny you will need the dual tps from the non ho 4.0 xj and you will need to tie your brake pedal into the tcu's harness. might have to get creative with that but it shouldn't be too hard. i THINK those are the only two signals you will need that require getting creative.
 
OK so i have got the tranny and transfer case....... and have been workibg on getting my wiring harness constructed a little bit after work this week.

My question is when did the cherokees change styles of slip yokes from the long cone shaped one on my 88 to the shorter one with rubber boot like on my 99? I pulled this trans out of what said it was a 95, but now that I think about it, wasnt 96 the first year for that type of tailshaft? If so, the yard either had the car marked wrong or i got some crazy end of model year with mismatched parts????

If so, and the trans is also a 96 model, that will suck, since it uses a different speed sensor in the trans which will require a great deal more work to fix it seems like.......

any insight into this?
 
OK, well I was able to answer my speed sensor question searching on naxja, and it turns out i was wrong, it didnt change to the 4 lobe until 1998, so I should be ok.

The t-case tailshaft question, however, remains. Is a 95 model "supposed" to have the long cone shaped slip yoke, or the shorter style which uses the rubber shock boot looking thing? I would like it if i lucked out and got a hold of a 96 style case so that i could use the hack-n-tap style SYE if i chose to, which only works on 96+ models. I do know that the output on this tranny looks just like the one on my 99.
 
OK, well back from the dead.

The truck worked well after the swap, except for one thing....

From a stop, when i lay into it, at WOT, it will bounce off of the rev limiter before shifting to second, until i let off.......
(in first)
while this sounds entirely cool at the time, it makes me worry a little, and wonder if there s any simple solution???

Also, possibly related, when the engine is cold, it will sometimes cut off when coming to a stop???? When warm it does not happen.
Any ideas on that?
 
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