XJ Tranny Swap

I have a 92, two wheel drive XJ with the 4.0 and AW4. I just purchased, for $50, a fully functional 87 four wheel deive XJ with the 4.0, AW4, NP242, Dana 44, and non disco Dana 30. The floor is badly rusted (emergency escape hatch style).

I want to use the tranny, front end, and t-case on the 92. The Dana 44 is for another project XJ.

What will I have to do to use the 87 AW4 from the Renix injection system, with the 92 OBD 1 computer? Can I simply plug it in? Also will I need to know anything special about the t-case? It has some wires connecting to it. Are they simply for the indicator lights?

Finally, should I ever need to, can I use the 87 engine with the 92 injection system and electronics?

Thanks a million.

You'll need to use the 92 AW4 computer. There are two square connectors on the passenger side of the firewall for the tranny wiring. You should be able to unplug the 92 tranny wiring there and plug in the 87 wiring harness.

The wires on the xfer case are probably for the speedo and the dash 4wd indicator. If you pull up the carpet, you'll probably find a plate that you remove and then swap over the xfer case shifter. Have a look and see where the shifter linkage mets the body and figure out if you need to move over or redrill that little bracket.

You can use the 87 engine with the 92 electronics. There are a few issues like the throttle body being different, but those can be worked through. Lots of info available by searching the forums.

Everything will bolt right in. You'll be installing the 87's trans/transfer, shifter/linkage, f&r driveshafts, and you'll need to pull the speedo gear housing from the 92's 2wd trans and install in the 87's.

You'll need to lengthen the 92's original wiring harness to reach the speedo housing which will now be in the transfer.

You'll also need to swap the trans kickdown cable from the 92 aw4 to the 87 aw4 trans.

Dont forget to install a vent line to the transfer.

I swapped a 91 4wd AW4 into an 89 2wd and converted it. I left the harness on the tranny and in plugged right into the 89 plugs. The 91 kickdown cable hooked right up as well.
The frontmost tranny cooler connection on the tranny had to be swapped from the 89's 2wd tranny over to the 91 4wd. The quick connects where different sizes. Luckily the adapter just unscrews from both trannys.
Heres the link to my conversion:
http://usjeeps.com/upload/showthread.php?t=1045&page=3

The first two pages are mostly worthless chitchat, so I linked to page 3. page 4 has some pictures of the tranny stuff.

Can I just swap the tail housing on the tranny?

Terrific said:

Can I just swap the tail housing on the tranny?

Click to expand...

I don't believe so. I think the output shafts are different lengths. Hopefully someone else can confirm.

Yup, different output shaft lengths. 2wd ones are longer to go all the way to the end of its tailshaft. 4wd ones are shorter due to the transfer case being bolted up instead of a tailshaft.