I have 2 AW4 transmissions in my garage. Both have the pans pulled off.

AW4 1 is out of my current 94 XJ. It does not pull hard and does not take off sometimes without lots of throttle. The fluid in it was a dark red brown and there were no metal particles in the pan. The solenoids look like they have been hot but when tested they still function properly.

AW4 2 is out of a 87-98 MJ. It was supposedly pulling good when the vehicle was wrecked. The fluid was a somewhat milky pinkish red. The pan had a Grey film in the bottom and there are metal chips coating the magnet. The solenoids look brand new.

My engine is at the machine shop getting my 4.2 crank and rods put in. I followed the guidelines for the rock crawler here: http://www.jeep4.0performance.4mg.com/stroker.html

One of the transmissions is going in my jeep and I am going to attempt to rebuild the other one myself.

Which tranny should I use until I can afford to rebuild the other one?:confused:

I have 2 AW4 transmissions in my garage. Both have the pans pulled off.

AW4 1 is out of my current 94 XJ. It does not pull hard and does not take off sometimes without lots of throttle. The fluid in it was a dark red brown and there were no metal particles in the pan. The solenoids look like they have been hot but when tested they still function properly.

AW4 2 is out of a 87-98 MJ. It was supposedly pulling good when the vehicle was wrecked. The fluid was a somewhat milky pinkish red. The pan had a Grey film in the bottom and there are metal chips coating the magnet. The solenoids look brand new.

My engine is at the machine shop getting my 4.2 crank and rods put in. I followed the guidelines for the rock crawler here: http://www.jeep4.0performance.4mg.com/stroker.html

One of the transmissions is going in my jeep and I am going to attempt to rebuild the other one myself.

Which tranny should I use until I can afford to rebuild the other one?:confused:

well to be honest neither sounds great but you gotta work with something. i'll say #2 b/c you are definetley having driveabililty problem with #1 already. sounds like clutches are slipping and that fluid sounds burnt.

#2 sounds like it may have had water/coolant get in it to cause the fluid color. gray film is probably normal tc wear and metal chips on magnet can be normal wear as long as its not excessive. honestly this trans doesn't sound good either but may work for a while. change filter and i would change the torque converter.

oh make sure the output shafts and electrical conections all match up before swap.

Thanks for your input. I will be putting a new filter in for sure. Are there any measures I should take before buttoning it back up?

I don't know that I would bother installing either one. You're building a healthy motor that will probabally shred either one if they are already showing weakness. The AW4 doesn't really have a filter - it's just a screen. No reason to replace it unless it's all full of clutch and you can't clean it up.