Aw4 gurus please help.

My brothers trans took a dump on him. We knew the trans is completely shot. Burnt smell BLACK fluid. We bought a used trans and the guy guaranteed it. He even offered to refund the money if the trans doesn't work. We replaced the filter and gasket on the new trans. While draining the old fluid out of the torque converter I kinda tilted it side to side and tried to shake the burnt fluid out of it. Well we put it in and reconnected everything and tried to take it for a test drive and the jeep didn't budge a bit. The motor didn't even dip rpms a bit when we put it in gear. I checked all the linkages and fluid level was good. I checked everything I possibly could. I could hear the trans pump fluid when shifting into drive. When putting it back in park it kinda made a clicking sound like when the tires are off the ground and you try to put it in park. It seemed like there was absolutely no resistance to the trans. My question is does this sound like a bad torque converter? Would this be the problem? When I was trying to shake the old fluid out of it if felt loose inside like something was sloshing around. I wasn't sure if it was normal or not. The torque converter was replaced about 6 months ago so we assumed it was still good. But when the trans went out it was so hot fluid was coming eout of the top of the dip stick like when you pop a radiator cap. When we took the pan off the new trans to change the filter the fluid was bright and there were no fragments in the pan and nothing on the magnets. Just looking for any ideas. Sorry for the long post just wanted to give the most info I could. The jeep is a 91 with 4.0 aw4 231. 21 spline. Thanks for any help.

Anyone?

Make sure the transfer-case is in gear.

We tried that I even shifted the jeep from underneath by hand just to make sure.

Something shook around in my tc when I had it out so might be normal, did you cycle fluid through all the gears at install?

Yep I've installed quite a few trans in different vehicles and my xj as well. I've never had a car with a bad trans not budge at all. That's why I'm wondering if it's the torque con. it didn't even give a slight bump to let you know it was in gear. It did nothing at all.

You should NOT have used the old converter because it is full of the burnt fluid,burnt cluches and metal shavings from the old trans. The supplier of the trans should have given you the matching converter with the deal. When you started the engine you pumped all the debris into the good trans. Did you leave the converter on the flex plate? If you did not remove it and line up the converter into the trans front pump it will ruin the front pump causing a no drive situation.
Next did you clean out the auto trans cooler? It will also be full of crude that will ruin the new trans.
Sorry for the bad news.
Ron

Since you said you have done trans before did you turn the converter clockwards till you got it to engage the pump ?? Should be three steps in till it full engages!! And hope you cleaned the cooler out if it had one and least the radiator tank!!

I reused a tc that had fluid so bad in it it caused me to dryheave and then popped the oil pump putting the tranny in, shifts like butter for going on 2 years now :eyes:

I am going with the TC was not engauged in to the front pump fully and now there is damage to one or both.

Did you flush the cooler lines before you hooked up the new trans?

Yes I flushed the tank in the radiator that has the trans lines goin to it. I poured out the old fluid in the tc the best I could and put new fluid in it swished it around and emptied it again. Yes I put the tc all the way in and made sure it clicked. I'm sure it wasn't the best idea but the tc was just replace about 6 months ago when the flex plate cracked to hell. The trans was on it's last leg for about a year and my brother ran it as long as he could. He's on a real tight budget and we just tried to get the jeep running. That's why he bought a used 100 dollar trans instead of rebuilding it. We were hoping the trans just went and the tc was still good. The new trans didn't come with a tc so we used what was there. I've done a lot of trans swaps and I've never had a problem. This one has me stumped. The jeep didn't even move or do anything at all. We started it put it in gear and it didn't engage at all. If it did blow shit in the new trans that's more than what I thought it did. Anyway my brother pulled the tc and is going to have it tested to see if it's bad. At least it will give us an idea of where to go from there. Thanks for the advice.