Important steps in changing the AW4

I know I'm just asking to be flamed by asking this , but hey, I'm a newbie, I'm supposed to ask stupid questions, right?
I bought a new , not rebuilt, AW4 for my 1990 XJ, also got new flex plate and TC.
I have looked through the AW4 manuel which I have gotten directed to from other site users, thank you.
However, this did'nt answer my question.
When installing the new Tranny and TC, do I have to pour ATF into the TC prior to instalation, or do I pour all 13-16 quarts of ATF down that little hole for the dipstick?
Sorry if this is just a little too stupid a question for you people, but I have never changed a tranny before and I seem to remember someone telling me make sure to fill the TC, but that was on another type tranny.
My Haynes book did'nt mention it, nor did the AW4 manuel,I probably dont need to since those two ref. make no note of it, just wanted to ask here.
Thanks!

there is a plug in the t-case, so you have to fill it seperately

Thank you, but I was ref. to the torque converter.

I can't imagine anyone here flaming a n00b who takes the initiative to replace his own tranny and TC. Kudos to you for taking on such a job for the first time. I remember a long time ago people telling me I was crazy to try and replace the tranny in my Fiat Spider myself since I had no idea what the he11 I was doing. No better way to learn than to "just do it"

Thank you Dragline, but have you ever heard of putting fluid into the TC prior toinstallation?

scprandy said:

Thank you Dragline, but have you ever heard of putting fluid into the TC prior toinstallation?

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Go head and put a little in say a quart, the rest will have to be pumped in by the transmission.
Double check the flex plate then check it again, there has been lots of problems with the wrong flex plate.

Do you mean check, by measuring the distance from bolt to edge of bellhousing?

scprandy said:

Thank you Dragline, but have you ever heard of putting fluid into the TC prior toinstallation?

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Never replaced a tranny in a 4X4. Just for the record I skipped that step in the Fiat Spider.

I'm kind of giving advice form a position of ignorance. I've pulled the tranny and installed it again, but have never switched in a flex plate or put in a new torque converter, in the AW4.
From some of the posts I've read by others who have, putting the flexplate in has occasionally been a problem. If/when I do it, I'm gonna make double sure all the slots in the old flex plate, line up as exactly as I can get them to the slots in the new flex plate. I'm gonna do some careful inspection and some measuring. Wasting an hour on the front end, beats pulling the whole works back out again. It seems logical, the whole works will only go on one way or else it doesn't make any difference how it's indexed. But who knows if the factory that produced the flex plate messed up or whatever.
On the tranny's where I have put in a new converter, I filled in 6 quarts and ran it for a few seconds, added a couple more quarts and repeated. Worked for me. Kept adding till it was just below the add mark. Seemed like I was pouring fluid in there forever.
Getting the torque converter to slide into the notches, is a kind of a by feel thing. It will seem like it's seated all the way in, but then if you, push, fish and twist it will kind of slide in some more and catch.
Maybe somebody else can explain the proper seating of the torque converter into ( I guess) the pump drive a little better than I.
Do a search, I remember somebody that did a good explanation of how to seat the converter properly into the tranny.

scprandy said:

Do you mean check, by measuring the distance from bolt to edge of bellhousing?

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8Mud said:

Getting the torque converter to slide into the notches, is a kind of a by feel thing. It will seem like it's seated all the way in, but then if you, push, fish and twist it will kind of slide in some more and catch.
Maybe somebody else can explain the proper seating of the torque into ( I guess) the pump drive a little better than I.
Do a search, I remember somebody that did a good explanation of how to seat the converter properly into the tranny.

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That's pretty much the way it goes - push/twist, clunk; push/twist, clunk; push/twist, clunk until the TC is sitting behind the bellhousing as shown in langer1's image above.

DO NOT try to force things to fit by pulling the bellhousing to the engine - look for a few posts by me (in OEM Tech) from back in September '05 or so that cover this exact thing. (Edit: that would be this thread http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66885 that it looks like you've already posted in.)

I was reinstalling a full TC, but putting a quart in (slowly) and filling the rest through the transmission fill tube will work.

Jim

scprandy said:

When installing the new Tranny and TC, do I have to pour ATF into the TC prior to instalation, or do I pour all 13-16 quarts of ATF down that little hole for the dipstick?

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Just FYI, dry fill capacity for the AW4 is around 9 quarts total including torque convertor. Dumping a quart or so in the TC before installation isn't a bad idea at all.

Good luck

scprandy said:

When installing the new Tranny and TC, do I have to pour ATF into the TC prior to instalation, or do I pour all 13-16 quarts of ATF down that little hole for the dipstick?

Click to expand...

By the way, the approximate refill capacity of the AW-4 is 16.9 pints, which is 8.45 quarts.

...edit.
...okay, that was too close to the same thing as said only seconds before me. :laugh3:

Jim

This site is great, and yes thankyou for noticing Yucca Man I was aware of
TC issues in the Sept 05 thread you reffer to, very good write up, it's just that I spent allot of my money with this project and I dont' want something as simple as adding ATF before to mess up this job I've never done before.
Can you tell I'm just a little apprehensive?
Thankyou langer1 for the exact mesurement (picture), descriptions can be misleading.
I'm concerned that the flex plate issue 8mud reffered to could be a problem, but if it all came as a unit, it should be correct one.
Right now the TC is on the new tranny, allready seated in properly, I'll measure it to be certain, but would you guys just go ahead and mount it in the Jeep and not worry about putting ATF in the TC?

scprandy said:

This site is great, and yes thankyou for noticing Yucca Man I was aware of
TC issues in the Sept 05 thread you reffer to, very good write up, it's just that I spent allot of my money with this project and I dont' want something as simple as adding ATF before to mess up this job I've never done before.
Can you tell I'm just a little apprehensive?
Thankyou langer1 for the exact mesurement (picture), descriptions can be misleading.
I'm concerned that the flex plate issue 8mud reffered to could be a problem, but if it all came as a unit, it should be correct one.
Right now the TC is on the new tranny, allready seated in properly, I'll measure it to be certain, but would you guys just go ahead and mount it in the Jeep and not worry about putting ATF in the TC?

Click to expand...

The problem with the flex plate is there are 4 different ones that fit, but the engine will only run with one of them.
I would put some ATF in the TC just to lube it. You can't fill it because it will run out the output shaft when your installing it.

I was reading in an other post about flex plates that a guy was only getting
what sounded like sputtering when trying to start, I'm assuming that's what I'll get if it's the wrong one.
What's the fix, are there different part #'s ?

scprandy said:

I was reading in an other post about flex plates that a guy was only getting
what sounded like sputtering when trying to start, I'm assuming that's what I'll get if it's the wrong one.
What's the fix, are there different part #'s ?

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Pull the transmission and put the correct one back in.

I'm assumeing I'll just get sputtering on start up if it is the wrong one?
Are there different part #'s for the different flex plates?

Sorry , I did'nt see my other post appear.

Part numbers are a good indicator, but I often inspect and measure on critical parts. Compare the old to the new, do some marking and measuring. You never really know, if the guy that was packing the box could read or not. Twice now I've had parts guys try to give me 4.2 water pumps for my 4.0, parts numbers were right. I'm a confirmed pessimist, to "assume" is to make an ASS out of U and ME. Take your time, bad stuff usually happens when you are rushed or distracted.