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Has anyone rebuilt your AW4? Good or bad results?

9

96 Cherokee

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Indiana
When the clutches were worn out I had mine rebuilt by a local Chrysler dealership a few years ago and it was a total disaster that cost me thousands, and the AW4 was scrapped.(It's a long, sad story) Was it a fluke, or are these transmissions just not good canidates for rebuilding? I have been watching the ads for a good deal on a used one but even though there were more '96s built than any other model year, the '96 AW4s seem to be scarce. A new dealer installed AW4 is cost prohibitive. A friend of mine had hers replaced recently, and the bill was around $3100, IIRC. Jasper sells rebuilt trannys that have a 75,000 mile warranty, but the last I checked, they were around $2500 installed. I don't need one yet, but I will probably will within the next year or so. I was hoping to find a good used one and have it sitting in the garage for the day when it's needed. Your thoughts?
 
i spent about 1400 bucks total to replace my aw4 with a remanufactured unit with some improvements over OEM (iron governor ring TSB handled, etc). actual total was about 1250 for tranny + install, but i paid them to try to get the fried aw4 going as well. good guys, good prices, but this was a small garage out in the country (westernish nc, conover if i recall). tranny has been fine since. i certainly wouldn't give a dealer that money.
 
I had mine rebuilt for $1500, it still jerks into reverse but it shifts very smoothly through all the forward gears. Overall I've been happy with mine.
 
Do a search, saw one the other day (didn't bookmark site) that was a new surplus one,think it was $1250 pus S&H of $135....think I was doing searches under "surplus jeep parts"
 
The AW4 is a fairly simple box - and a "Master" rebuild kit (including clutches, steels, and whatever) goes for about $300 locally, or a "Overhaul" kit (basically a reseal kit and components to renew the valve body) for about $90 - both at the tranny shop up the street from me here.

You will need two "special" tools that I was able to make from bulk stock - there are some very large snap rings (which won't work with standard snapring pliers - I made a part of "chopsticks" using 1/4" aluminum round rod and D&T for #4-40 setscrews) that worked well, and get a decent bit of barstock and some M10x1.5 and M8-something (I don't remember what) and some 1/2-20 allthread to make the bridge puller to pull the planetary sets out. If you need me to, I can probably dig them up and take digipix for you sometime in the next couple days.

Total cost for "special" tools - about $20, all up.

You MUST have a camera capable of giving you pictures straight away for any valve body work - since there seem to be a few revisions of what goes where, and the manual isn't always right. I should have the ATSG AW4 manual around here somewhere as a .pdf (it's the one I used - and I found it online somewhere. Probably at Strokers - groups.yahoo.com/group/strokers) which has everything else correct - I've just never trusted manual pix of valve bodies (and I'm usually rewarded for that lack of trust.)

The three valve body solenoids can be readily checked with an ohmmeter - as I recall, 13 +-3 ohms is nominal. Hopefully, they're fine - they're spendy to replace (and I haven't been able to build up a stock.)

With either renewal kit, you WILL have valve body gaskets left over - it's a kit for all AW4 variants (Celica, Supra, Pickup, Van, XJ, MJ, ...) and you will match the gaskets up against the old ones to select them.

Results? I did the transmission in my wife's 89 about 80Kmiles ago - no complaints.

5-90
 
Last time I priced overhaul parts(quite a while ago), they were prohibitively expensive. You can get used ones pretty cheap, and though obviously you've experienced failure, its very uncommon. The dealer experience could be due to their lack of experience overhauling these. Not an excuse, of course, but I worked on Jeeps for 8 yrs. at a dealer and never saw the inside of an AW4, because in that time we never had one in that required disassembly. I'd say go the used route.
 
the older Aw4 tranny's are stronger than the newer ones my 87 has 450,000 km on it and it has the original tranny and it is still running strong.''exept for the motor''
 
5-90 said:
The AW4 is a fairly simple box - and a "Master" rebuild kit (including clutches, steels, and whatever) goes for about $300 locally, or a "Overhaul" kit (basically a reseal kit and components to renew the valve body) for about $90 - both at the tranny shop up the street from me here.

You will need two "special" tools that I was able to make from bulk stock - there are some very large snap rings (which won't work with standard snapring pliers - I made a part of "chopsticks" using 1/4" aluminum round rod and D&T for #4-40 setscrews) that worked well, and get a decent bit of barstock and some M10x1.5 and M8-something (I don't remember what) and some 1/2-20 allthread to make the bridge puller to pull the planetary sets out. If you need me to, I can probably dig them up and take digipix for you sometime in the next couple days.

Total cost for "special" tools - about $20, all up.

You MUST have a camera capable of giving you pictures straight away for any valve body work - since there seem to be a few revisions of what goes where, and the manual isn't always right. I should have the ATSG AW4 manual around here somewhere as a .pdf (it's the one I used - and I found it online somewhere. Probably at Strokers - groups.yahoo.com/group/strokers) which has everything else correct - I've just never trusted manual pix of valve bodies (and I'm usually rewarded for that lack of trust.)

The three valve body solenoids can be readily checked with an ohmmeter - as I recall, 13 +-3 ohms is nominal. Hopefully, they're fine - they're spendy to replace (and I haven't been able to build up a stock.)

With either renewal kit, you WILL have valve body gaskets left over - it's a kit for all AW4 variants (Celica, Supra, Pickup, Van, XJ, MJ, ...) and you will match the gaskets up against the old ones to select them.

Results? I did the transmission in my wife's 89 about 80Kmiles ago - no complaints.

5-90
Click to expand...

5-90,
I do a lot of my own work on the Jeep. Brakes, plugs & wires, oil changes, radiator replacement, and I'm going to install an electric fan to replace the clutch fan in about 3 weeks. I even changed out the power steering pump and alternator myself. But a transmission is WAY beyond my ability. But I do appreciate the offer of assistance. I have found a mechanic who will R&R the AW4 for me for not too much money, if I find a matching AW4. This mechanic's father is a friend of mine who is a lifelong transmission specialist, but only for older non-computer controlled transmissions. He is reluctant to rebuild mine because he has no way to check anything electronic. So what years match a '96? Number of splines on the output shaft vary, and I have heard there is some variation of electronics, but have no specific information.
I have learned not to trust the book, or the vin information, because my '96 came with 29 spline axles, and it should have 27s by everyones book/computers. That was real pain to deal with when I bought a Powertrax locker for it. Imagine trying to put a 27 spline coupler on a 29 spline axle.
So what years of AW4s match?

Thanks
 
xjj33p3r said:
I've had mine rebuilt twice. This second time, I hope it'll last a bit longer than a year.
Click to expand...
My rebuild job lasted about 2 or 3 months, then started going bad. They never did figure out what the problem was. After rebuilding it again and trying several differnent valve bodies, including a custom made valve body from a shop in Chicago, and it still would not work. They eventually gave up and installed a salvage yard AW4. It would not go into reverse! So they installed another salvage yard unit, and it works fine, although it is now in it's "twighlight" years. My Jeep was in the dealership shop for 3 months and 3 days after total failure. This was after I had taken it to the dealership, (which is 25 miles one way) seven, yes 7 times to have it fixed ! The last time it had to be towed in because the transmission was totally fried. While it was there someone stole my gas cap and 2 thirds of a tank of gas. It was a nightmare, and I should have sued them. I had to buy another vehicle to run my route while I waited for my Jeep to be fixed- under warranty! There is a lot more to this story, but I won't go into it because it will raise my blood pressure. Oh yea, I was going to say that in the end, they guessed it was an unseen and undetectable crack in the housing, causing fluid to flow where it should not in one of those little channels. Looking back on it, if they had installed a brand new AW4 from Chrylser and charged me $4000, instead of rebuilding mine for $1300, it would have been far cheaper and saved me a lot of time and miles. In fact, I would have paid $5000 to NOT have to go through that nighmare......
 
BrettM said:
they often last 2-300k miles in stock form, I would never bother rebuilding one, just find one with under 100k miles for about $200.
Click to expand...

This is what I have in mind, but the local salvage yard wants $600-700 minimum for them. One with low milage, if it can be found, are more. I would drive 100 miles for one from an individual at a more affordable price, but of course there is the risk that it's junk.
 
mgreen84 said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AW4-30-40LE-4WD...ryZ33727QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I bought one from these guys and it has ran fine for 2 years now, and I drive 150 miles 5 days a week
Click to expand...

This would be a good deal, if I lived near Pheonix, AZ. But by the time I pay shipping twice(have to send the core to them), $595 for a decent 48,000 mile warranty, and installation, I'd be paying about the same as a Jasper reman which is reman'ed right here in Indiana and Jaspers have a 75,000 mile warranty! And, there is a Jasper shop about 20 minutes from here. But it sounds like it's working good for you.
 
96 Cherokee said:
This is what I have in mind, but the local salvage yard wants $600-700 minimum for them. One with low milage, if it can be found, are more. I would drive 100 miles for one from an individual at a more affordable price, but of course there is the risk that it's junk.
Click to expand...
Judd has one in lower michigan: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=383858
 
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