swapping to 4wd need suggestion/help

okay, so here i am 5 months later and still havent finished my swap. I know what i need but i dont know what transmission will work. i have a 1997 jeep cherokee 6cyl. 2wd but i am converting to a 4wd.

I have already installed the front axle and steering when i put the lift on my jeep but now i need to know what year trannies will fit my jeep without throwing a check engine light. I want to "plug and play"


will a 1996 tranny fit or not i have heard a bunch of people say it would and others say only use 1997 + ( but i cant find a 1997 and up)

auto or 5spd? what TC?

97 is a funny year... I'm assuming you have an automatic tranny?

You can use any AW4 from a 4wd XJ 91-97, if you use a 91-96 one you will need to splice a new connector onto the harness but that is it. If you are pulling the tranny from the junkyard just cut about 6" from the engine harness on the other side of the connector going to the tranny, then you can cut the harness off your old tranny and use the two "extra" connectors to build an adapter so it leaves both harnesses entirely unmodified. As I recall, all the wire colors match, a few may not, if you run into any problems post up your lists of wire colors.

Did you already get the list of other stuff you need? Rear driveshaft from an XJ with the same engine, transmission, 4wd, and same rearend as yours, plus the obvious stuff. The driveshaft should come from the same vehicle the transfer case is coming from since 95-down use a different style slip yoke and different length driveshaft than 96-up.