Adequate tranny replacement

xjj33p3r · Aug 15, 2006

I've been having problems for the past few years with the transmission in my cherokee, the AW-4. It's a nice auto tranny when it's rebuilt, but after a few wheeling trips, it seems to just give up, and shift hard into 'D' and 'R', and take it's sweet time when it comes to shifting when it should.

I don't really think that it has to do with my driving habits, seeing as I'm pretty timid most times. At the same time though, I've never heard of anyone having as much trouble with their AW-4 as I have had with mine, so maybe it has to do with something else going wrong?

Either way, I'd like to know if anyone has some ideas as to a transmission that would suit my jeep well. Enough so that I don't have to be rebuilding it every summer. I don't care if it's an auto, or a manual, I just need a transmission that will LAST.

5-90 · Aug 15, 2006

A lot of good said about the AX-15 five-speed stir-it-yerself, I'm getting ready to drop one in place of the damn Peugeot in my 88 (once the landlord gets an electrician out here to solve the power problem in the shop - search for "electrical code" and a thread started by me for details...)

The NV3550 is probably a better box, but in later models and harder to find.

Anything after that will probably require fabrication/modification of the chassis - but I know someone here who has put an NV4500 in his XJ (and it did look decent... Something I'd like to do myself, once I build an engine to go in front of it.) Failing that, I'd see about adapting an SM425, SM465, or an old Muncie top-loader four-speed, but that would take work.

How are you doing the job when you "rebuild" your AW4? Just wondering - I rebuilt a "core" I got from a salvage shop, and put about two years on it before I had significant engine trouble (nothing to do with the transmission...)

5-90

xjj33p3r · Aug 15, 2006

5-90 said:
A lot of good said about the AX-15 five-speed stir-it-yerself, I'm getting ready to drop one in place of the damn Peugeot in my 88 (once the landlord gets an electrician out here to solve the power problem in the shop - search for "electrical code" and a thread started by me for details...)

The NV3550 is probably a better box, but in later models and harder to find.

Anything after that will probably require fabrication/modification of the chassis - but I know someone here who has put an NV4500 in his XJ (and it did look decent... Something I'd like to do myself, once I build an engine to go in front of it.) Failing that, I'd see about adapting an SM425, SM465, or an old Muncie top-loader four-speed, but that would take work.

How are you doing the job when you "rebuild" your AW4? Just wondering - I rebuilt a "core" I got from a salvage shop, and put about two years on it before I had significant engine trouble (nothing to do with the transmission...)

5-90

Thanks for the recommendations.

As far as the rebuild, I don't actually do it myself, I take it to a shop in town. The first time I had my jeep there, they recommended a rebuild after the internals had fried from a crack in the bellhousing. The second time I went was a little less than a year later, which was still under warranty, so I spent $0 on that last rebuild. I'm taking it BACK to him tomorrow morning to see what the deal is with it now, and see if we can get an AX-15 into my jeep without too much trouble. I'll most likely end up doing it myself if at all possible, or at least I hope that I can do it myself. Should be a fun project if I can afford it

slvrmdxj · Aug 15, 2006

There's a guy selling an AX-15 out of a '91 XJ over on JU for a decent price. Just FYI.

Adequate tranny replacement

xjj33p3r

NAXJA Member #1108

5-90

NAXJA Forum User

xjj33p3r

NAXJA Member #1108

slvrmdxj

NAXJA Forum User

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