AW4 ERRATIC SHIFTING

What year tranny did you put in? There was a change in the speed sensor in the late 90`s sometime.
Did you flush the cooler and/or dump out the torque converter and refill with fresh Dexron before you put the new tranny in? When you lunched the last one it's possible some of the junk got into the cooler or torque converter.
But some sort of sensor and/or electrical gremlin is more likely. Makes sure your TV (kickdown) cable is properly adjusted.
There is a last ditch trick you can try, but it can lunch your tranny, so it's best saved as a last resort.

tranny came out of a 98 as well. cooler was flushed and torque converter from the new tranny was put in.

Most I've driven don't seem to shift at exactly the same RPM every time or even at the same speed. If you drive the same stretch of road every morning up the same incline at about the same speed from a stop, you can usually tell when something is out of wack.
There seems to be combination of inputs, from the throttle position sensor and the speed sensor and less so from the tranny pressures. I don't know this definitively, but it seems the TCU is preprogrammed to shift at a certain point, to shift depending on the throttle position and the speed of the vehicle. The duration of the shift seems to be pressure controlled or in other words the shift starts and the clutches slip until the shift is completed depending on pressures, largely governed by the throttle position. through the TV (transmission vavle) cable and the TV itself. The transmission valve helps with pressure regulation along with kickdowns.
The neutral safety/shift rotary switch, must also have some influence, though I've never had one cause me any trouble, other than starting in park.
Here is a link that may be helpfull, though the writer does seems to be a little stronger on theory than with hands on knowledge.
http://www.transonline.com/transDigest/magazines/1997-10/Shift Pointers/index.html

Here is another that may be helpful. http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/AW4_manual.PDF

Shifting at 4500 RPM seems like it's stuck in the 1-2 gear range.

Anyone else agree?

have you adjusted the kick down cable? Try changing the tranny fluid....just simply draining what you can and refilling with fresh fluids can do wonders.

In my experience, just pulling the plug drains ~3.5 quarts of fluid, while doing the filter drains about 4 qts. Always check with the dipstick though just to make sure.

fluids are fresh, about 10 qts worth. it is a lo mileage tranny from a junkyard, so it had a complete drain. new problem, when i turn the key on the radiator fan comes on and the engine will crank but not start. so it seems to be a plethora of electrical problems.... who knows....