I have a 96 w a bad trans. Found a 98 aw4 for 200 bux. Were they all the same auto trans or what?

 

As far as I know yes the aw4 has to do with the transfer case

 

I think there are at least 3 different AW4s. The 87-91(?) had the lower .70 OD vs the later .75 OD, and the comfort/power switch. '92-'96 are very similar, but in '96 you have an external slip yoke for the rear driveshaft. '97 would fit '96 with a little rewiring of the harness. '98-'01 have a 2nd VSS. '97-'01 TCUs need to be flashed by the dealer for the year ov vehicle. '92-'96 TCU is plug-n-play

The '96 trans won't work in the '98-'01 due to the lack of the 2nd VSS. I can't tell you that the '98-'01 will or won't work in the '96 with a rewired harness and deleting the 2nd VSS.

 

As long as the transfer cases are the same model and the output shaft has the same spline count you should be fine.

 

What about the wiring? The 98 trans comes without transfer case. I will have to put mine on it?

 

Are the spline counts on the output shafts the same count? There are two different ones.