ac?

hey I am trying to figure out why my ac in not working? I found the wires right at the the compressor were broke so I replaced them and still nothing so I replaced the ac compressor relay and still nothing I will add that when I hook it striaght to the battery the compressor works great it blows ice cold and I will also add that I added so freon to it and the gage says it is toped off! any idiea why my compressor is't getting the signal to come on? I was thinking about bypassing the whole deal and just hooking it up threw a swicth on the dash would that work? thanks for reading! oh yeah I have a 96 4.0

My first guess would be you were low on refrigerent but it sounds like you've covered that base. It could be the low or high pressure switch which have a reputation for failing. Since the compressor engages when you jump it, it sounds like the clutch and magnet are working correctly. You could pull the clutch and inspect the magnet for rust. This caused a failure of the compressor to engage on my 98. I just sanded the corrosion off and it's been great for several weeks now.

You could have overcharged it, I'm not that great with AC systems but they have two pressure sensors, low and high, if the low pressure end doesn't have enough in it the compressor won't turn on and if the high pressure end has too much it won't turn on then either. Without doing a proper evac/metered charge, instead trusting the cheap gauge on the refill kit, you can easily overcharge the system.

One of your pressure sensor switches could also be faulty - measure them. When the AC "should" kick on, both sensors should be under a couple ohms resistance.

Wiring up a switch will work but you can damage the compressor by running it when it's not supposed to run.

IF you are inclined, do some research on the web. I have had a number of issues with AC over the years. I ended up getting the AC guages from Harbor Freight. They have helped significantly. You need to understand how to read them though.
AC is fairly straight forward but getting to the right condition is a bit of a challenge for the uninformed.
The suggestions above are very valid and should be taken into account. Your discription indicates an electrical problem/or refrigerant quantity level. Watch out for oil quantity as well.