Buying a transmission?

I want to replace the 170,000 mile transmission on my 99 cherokee because it's 1. losing fluid and has had slipping gears/refusal to go in before and 2. is a backup for hauling a horse trailer.

I've looked at rebuilt engines before, but never transmissions. How would you go about it, what would you be willing to pay, and do you have any advice?

Is it even possible to rebuild an automatic myself, and if so would it be reliable? I can't have the thing leaving me on the side of the road with a horse and dogs when we're running from a hurricane.

Don't bother with a rebuild, AW4's are plentyful & inexpensive.
Find a Used AW4 in a junkyard & swap it in,
It's a couple of hours work.

garr said:

Don't bother with a rebuild, AW4's are plentyful & inexpensive.
Find a Used AW4 in a junkyard & swap it in,
It's a couple of hours work.

Click to expand...

What he said...

I'll start looking around. Back in Georgia there's a Jeep only salvage yard, and I miss it. Having to hunt things down around here is a PITA.

garr said:

Don't bother with a rebuild, AW4's are plentyful & inexpensive.
Find a Used AW4 in a junkyard & swap it in,
It's a couple of hours work.

Click to expand...

And if you want it to last a long time after you swap it in do a complete drain/install new Dex3 fluid.
Install a good quality tranny cooler (I recommend a B&M 70264)
+ install a magnefine inline tranny fluid filter. http://www.amazon.com/Transtar-Indu...3VR0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317850802&sr=8-1

Cheap insurance & your AW4 will love you for it!

It's already got a radiator on it, but I'm not sure what it is. I'll do some homework.