Where to find a good AW4 transmission to swap into my TJ?

Ashton Keiffer

Ashton Keiffer

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Joined
Mar 2, 2016
Messages
70
Location
Lexington, SC, USA
As the title suggest I'm looking for a transmission for my TJ. Over the weekend I had planned to install a Mopar deep dish oil pan on my 32RH as well as a Derale Trans Cooler to help keep the trans a little cooler this summer in SC. However during my inspection of the filter I found large chunks of metal and a lot of shavings in the bottom of the pan. Needless to say that I might have found the result of my recent whining noise, not the rear band as I had hoped.

I need to go ahead and start looking for a transmission but I want to swap it for the transmission that I had planned on upgrading to a few years down the road but I suppose now is a good time. I'm wanting to find either a low millage or rebuilt AW-4 transmission to swap into my TJ. I have already printed off the entire write up the Stu Olson did and I know this is the transmission that I want (not sure if this is a good idea or not but I'm gonna try). While I was rebuilding building the TJ with my dad in high school, I drove his 98 XJ everywhere and I have dearly missed it since; it met its untimely demise in an accident with one of my friends right after I had taken my exchange student to Waffle House for his first time. I loved the AW-4 that was in it compared to my TJs 32RH that begs me to kill it while cruising down the highway for 2 hours to see my grandmother, or the 3 hour it takes to get to Uhwarrie from my house.

I see a lot of them on my local Craigslist and I know there are a bunch of XJs down at my local Pull-a-Part but I want to know for sure what I'm getting because I don't want to have to deal with this for a long time after the swap. I'm just wanting to know if anyone has any suggestions for online dealers or local shops or even anyone with a 98-01 XJ that has been sitting it there yard for the last 20 years that might be able to hook me up with a reasonable price. I've spent 6 years completely rebuilding this thing as my DD and I have given every limb I have to pay for parts. I'm down to a soul and a kidney and I need those to be able to enjoy this thing if it's even possible lol. Last resort is to Fred Flintstone it because I've put too much time, money, literal blood, sweat, tears, memories and energy in it with my dad, brothers & friends to ever sell this thing.

Any leads would be appreciated y'all

Jeep On,

Ashton K.

#TJOIIIIIIIO
 
I'd stick with the 32RH and buy a rebuilt or overhauled replacement. The AW4 runs hot and is a royal pita to get working properly. Especially on the wiring and lockup torque converter control. The 32RH is a superb transmission, I wish I had another instead of my present 42RLE.
 
Chrysler offers a factory rebuild exchange. Not cheap but all factory with warranty.

And the 32RH is the best Wrangler tranny ever. Think BULLET PROOF.
 
I swapped from a 5 speed to a AW4 in my 2003. It wasn't too bad. If you are decent with automotive wiring (can look at and understand pinouts and wiring diagrams) the wiring aspect of the swap isn't hard, but it needs to be taken slowly and carefully. It's been documented numerous times.

It depends on what you do with your jeep. If you cruise town and just trail ride, swap another 32rh in. It's easy and tough. If you have steep gears and want to run down the highway to the trail,an aw4 works nice.

One thing to consider is a longer front and shorter rear driveshaft if you swap to the aw4. This is an added cost to consider. I believe it is longer than your current trans. And a nice plate type cooler helps keep temps under control.

Another cool thing you can do with the aw4 is manually (electrically)control the shifting. I used a Radesigns shifter setup with mine. When in manual mode, the trans will stay in whatever gear you want. If you want to take off in second gear low range and hold second it will. Works nice when playing on sand hills and stuff like that. Pretty neat product.

Paul
 
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I don't want to seem like a crowd pleaser but it looks like you guys are recommending to stick with a 32RH. @moab I'm assuming you've personally worked with Transmission Express? And @billiebob where would one go to find a Mopar reman 32RH? I actually started my seach trying to find a Mopar replacement 32RH and couldn't find anything, that's when I started looking into the AW-4 again.
 
Not a bad move keeping the 3 speed. You might find a local transmission shop that will rebuild yours. The 32rh is basically a tf904 renamed. Any decent trans shop can rebuild it. Get a new or reman converter, they are nearly impossible to flush out.

Watch out for transmission warranties. Some shops will not honor them if they dont do the remove and reinstall themselves.
They do it to cover their own butt because alot of people will change a trans and not flush out the lines and cooler properly.

Paul
 
Jerry Bransford said:
I'd stick with the 32RH and buy a rebuilt or overhauled replacement. The AW4 runs hot and is a royal pita to get working properly. Especially on the wiring and lockup torque converter control. The 32RH is a superb transmission, I wish I had another instead of my present 42RLE.
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X2 to this.

Swapping in the AW4 is a stupid idea IMHO.
 
I disagree on this being a bad idea if your Jeep is a 2002 3-speed automatic or earlier and you have the $$, time & aptitude.

The AW4 is THE transmission TJ's SHOULD have come with from the factory. Especially early models from 1996-2002. AW4's have stood the test of time for both durability and reliability with millions installed in Jeeps & Japanese vehicles back to the early 80's everyone claims are so much more reliable than US made vehicles FWIW.

Ask @Paul Ruggles if he's ever compared a similarly equipped and geared TJ Wrangler to his with one that has the 42RE in it and what he thought.

I'll bet his TJ shifts better and drives nicer than a 42RE equipped TJ does.
 
RangerRick said:
I disagree on this being a bad idea if your Jeep is a 2002 3-speed automatic or earlier and you have the $$, time & aptitude.

The AW4 is THE transmission TJ's SHOULD have come with from the factory. Especially early models from 1996-2002. AW4's have stood the test of time for both durability and reliability with millions installed in Jeeps & Japanese vehicles back to the early 80's everyone claims are so much more reliable than US made vehicles FWIW.
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Not everyone agrees with that anymore. They used to be a lot more popular than they are now for reasons like they run significantly hotter and they're really not that easily wired in so they work perfectly including the lockup torque converter. @mrblaine used to like/install them but I'm pretty sure even he stopped installing them in TJs for several reasons.
 
I’ve seen many threads where @mrblaine talked in detail about installing AW4s in TJs. What I took away from that was that he absolutely won’t do it unless the customer insists on it and has good reasons.

It’s been a while, so maybe I remember wrong.

One thing I do remember is that I owned a number or Cherokee XJs before my TJs. Each one of them had the AW4, and I never remember thinking to myself that it was that great of a transmission. It still did the classic overdrive hunting like my 42RLE.
 
That's because the transmission is only ONE part of the equation. Gearing and tire size are two more parts to the puzzle so if your transmission hunts on rolling hills and easy terrain down the interstate, it's most likely related to load, tire size and gearing. Gearing is something a lot of average Jeepers overlook. It's a big reason why everyone bashes the deep O.D. ratio of the 42RE..... Gear 'em right and they will run better, that's been said a thousand times on this forum alone. This also directly relates to the statement about heat generation here. Proper cooling is assumed even if common sense isn't so common anymore.

If I had a choice in reality of ANY transmission, the 4L60E adapted would be better than all the MOPAR choices albeit the most complicated and at that point, we're back to just reman the original and re-install it.....

All part of good engineering practice here folks.

A
 
RangerRick said:
That's because the transmission is only ONE part of the equation. Gearing and tire size are two more parts to the puzzle so if your transmission hunts on rolling hills and easy terrain down the interstate, it's most likely related to load, tire size and gearing. Gearing is something a lot of average Jeepers overlook. It's a big reason why everyone bashes the deep O.D. ratio of the 42RE..... Gear 'em right and they will run better, that's been said a thousand times on this forum alone. This also directly relates to the statement about heat generation here. Proper cooling is assumed even if common sense isn't so common anymore.

If I had a choice in reality of ANY transmission, the 4L60E adapted would be better than all the MOPAR choices albeit the most complicated and at that point, we're back to just reman the original and re-install it.....

All part of good engineering practice here folks.

A
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What would you suggest for a TJ on 35's with the AW-4?
 
I only ran the aw4 for about a year and a half. Now I have a 5.9/46re combo in my jeep. Had that setup for about 2 and a half years.

Trying not to steal the thread, but here is a short rundown of the engine/ trans combos I have had in my current 2003. 4.0/ 5 speed, supercharged 4.0/5 speed, sc 4.0/ aw4. Removed the supercharger /aw4, finally the 5.9 v8/46re. In a 2003 Grand Cherokee I had 4.6 stroker inline 6 with a 42re.

For me, for what I do (daily drive, run 80mph OP the highway to meet my friends to go trail riding, play in deep snow/ sand, no rocks ,tight trails in the trees) the combo I would like the best is a 4.6 stroker/aw4 with a 42re not far behind. The 5.9/46re works great, but it's a little overkill.

The aw4 worked great for me. The ability to select a gear and hold it in that gear ( with the radesigns shifter) was a nice feature for me.

The 42re catches alot of crap. It's not bad. I rebuilt the one in my GC when I put the stroker in. It is basically (but not exactly)an electrically controlled tf904 with an overdrive unit on the back of it. Most problems are due to the electrically controlled pressure circuit. There is a screen that gets clogged in front of the pressure transducer and causes erratic behavior, which can mess up clutches and bands due to reduced hydraulic pressure. If the problem is solved before damage is done, they can hold up pretty well.

All automatic transmission are piles of crap if they are not maintained with clean , cool ( but not cold) fluid.
 
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Ashton Keiffer said:
While I was rebuilding building the TJ with my dad in high school, I drove his 98 XJ everywhere and I have dearly missed it since; it met its untimely demise in an accident with one of my friends right after I had taken my exchange student to Waffle House for his first time. I loved the AW-4 that was in it compared to my TJs 32RH that begs me to kill it while cruising down the highway for 2 hours to see my grandmother, or the 3 hour it takes to get to Uhwarrie from my house.
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Let me preface this with I've done many AW-4 swaps, around 10 or so. I've done them in all TJ iterations except 42RLE to AW-4. I also owned a 99 XJ at the same time as the swap was done in my wife's TJ. My helper is an XJ expert and as knowledgeable about the XJ as I am about the TJ.

When he started here and since I've known him for years, I had him drive Kat's rig since we had a swap coming up and I was bitching about it since I despise them with a passion. His comment when he got back from an extended test drive over several days trying to discover why the cruise kicks off? What the hell? How it is possible that a trans that is so awesome in the XJ just falls flat on its face when you swap it into a TJ?

Well Mike, I just don't know, but I do know that every single one I have done does it.

So yes, I fully agree that in the XJ it is about as good as it gets. Put it in a TJ and the traits that make it suck show up with a vengeance.

It has two things going for it. One is good and the other is so so. The good is it is a very reliable fairly bulletproof trans. The other is it has an overdrive. The problem with the OD is the ratio is .75 and that isn't far removed from the terrible .69 in the 42RLE.

Do whatever you like, I won't try and talk you out of it, but if you are objective and know how to evaluate stuff, I'd be very surprised if at the end of it all you find that I've not missed the mark by much.
 
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Following, I'm interested in the AW4 swap as well. I'm tired of hitting 3k rpms doing 60mph on the Freeway.
My good friend who is a mechanic at Chrysler dealership said you would want to get a trans from the same model year as your TJ so you would have less issues with potential mis-match of your PCM to transmission controls.
 
Probably the biggest problem with any of the TJ transmissions is we did not buy them new. Now we, the second or tenth owner, are dealing with the lack of maintenance that the previous owners did or did not do.

I guess that applies to engines and axles and.............
 
Jerry Bransford said:
Not everyone agrees with that anymore. They used to be a lot more popular than they are now for reasons like they run significantly hotter and they're really not that easily wired in so they work perfectly including the lockup torque converter. @mrblaine used to like/install them but I'm pretty sure even he stopped installing them in TJs for several reasons.
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I haven't quit, but I absolutely make sure my ducks are in a row via email with all the potential downsides to the client before I turn a wrench. Fortunately that has saved me a couple of times when they get in touch after they have lived with them for awhile and want to know why they weren't warned about certain things ahead of time.

Matt was the best one so far. We did the swap in his. He insisted that it ran better and hauled ass. About 6 months later he wound up following someone around in their TJ Unlimited with the same size tires, same gears, and the 42. Walked off and left him and he was less than pleased but at least it opened his eyes to the power that gets lost and he no longer disagrees with me over that.
 
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I'm glad I found this post. I stumbled across it after searching for AW4 TJ swaps, as that's been recommended to me recently. I've read @Jerry Bransford and @mrblaine's posts for years on various forums, and haven't found many guys more knowledgeable than them. I currently have an '03 with a NV3550 (Stretched/ Tons/ Atlas/ 42" Stickies/ ORIs). I really want to swap to an automatic, because I'm tired of wheeling with a clutch (my TJ is strictly a wheeling toy). There is NO highway driving, and very few street miles at all. I think it's seen less than 50 street miles in the past 3 years combined.

One of these days, I'm going to get around to swapping in an LS, but I'm just not there yet. I don't think I want to mess with the 42rle.....I know it's not the BEST choice, but I have a freshly rebuilt TH400 sitting on the shop floor. Should I consider adapting that to fit behind the 4.0?

What other choices are there?
 
beaureed445 said:
I'm glad I found this post. I stumbled across it after searching for AW4 TJ swaps, as that's been recommended to me recently. I've read @Jerry Bransford and @mrblaine's posts for years on various forums, and haven't found many guys more knowledgeable than them. I currently have an '03 with a NV3550 (Stretched/ Tons/ Atlas/ 42" Stickies/ ORIs). I really want to swap to an automatic, because I'm tired of wheeling with a clutch (my TJ is strictly a wheeling toy). There is NO highway driving, and very few street miles at all. I think it's seen less than 50 street miles in the past 3 years combined.

One of these days, I'm going to get around to swapping in an LS, but I'm just not there yet. I don't think I want to mess with the 42rle.....I know it's not the BEST choice, but I have a freshly rebuilt TH400 sitting on the shop floor. Should I consider adapting that to fit behind the 4.0?

What other choices are there?
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The 400 and the 700R4 are notoriously difficult to get the converter dialed in. Most that I know have given up and swapped the trans out after a few converter swaps to try and get the stall speed correct. I don't know that I would adapt a 3 speed in when there is a bolt in 32RH available.
 
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