Did 1996 TJs have a heater control valve and were they discontinued in 1997?
I ask because on an XJ that is what happened and it may have been a "Jeep thing" across the board. If you want to ditch the HCV on a pre97 XJ it's common to use 97+ heater hoses which were designed for no HCV.
EDIT: btw ... for XJs, 1996 is considered an oddball year. It was the last of the original body and interior style but it was also a change year for several mechanical, electrical, etc. items many of which carried on into the 1997 model.