BA-10 to AW4 swap?

hey all,

my dad might be picking up a comanche on the cheap but its got the BA -10 manual trans. the clutch is completely shot on it so rather than replacing the clutch my dad wants to swap in an AW4 to make it auto. yea not the typical AX15 swap thats usually done. but anyways, before thinking about getting this MJ i would like some input on how hard the AW4 swap would be. i know its controlled by a separate computer, but how hard is it to swap it in? parts should be easily available since there are a plethora of automatic XJs in the junkyards. i also know it would require ditching the flywheel for a flexplate, and making sure the donor AW4 is a 21 spline 4wd model to fit the transfercase thats currently on it, or finding a 23 spline tranny/tcase pair for it. and then there's shifting linkage which shouldnt be a problem, but i know MJs came with a column shifter, but shouldnt an XJ floor shifter work too? those are my thoughts for now, any opinions/advice?

You'll need:

AW4 harness out of an auto xj/mj
aw4 computer
auto brake pedal with brake switch
auto shifter
auto floor plate (around shifter)
interlock cables
best to get an auto steering column


There are about 16 wires to splice in, if you can read the FSM that takes about 2 hours. From there, its just a lot of bolting in gear...

We did the conversion on Crackers MJ over a weekend at a casual pace with no problems.

Drive/drag doner home get all the parts at onces that way. If you doing the auto column. Then you like the stock look and not hacked up, The doner handly will have all the little parts that will make the swamp look sweet.

i was actually thinking about doing that too. theres a parts rig close to me that i could buy but we only have room for one more car in the drive way we gotta figure out the car situation before we buy anything haha. gotta find a place to put them.

cal said:

You'll need:

AW4 harness out of an auto xj/mj
aw4 computer
auto brake pedal with brake switch
auto shifter
auto floor plate (around shifter)
interlock cables
best to get an auto steering column


There are about 16 wires to splice in, if you can read the FSM that takes about 2 hours. From there, its just a lot of bolting in gear...

We did the conversion on Crackers MJ over a weekend at a casual pace with no problems.

Click to expand...

And don't forget the auto TPS, and depending on the year of the donor might want to grab the power/comfort switch (or just set it up permanent "power").