My 97' Cherokee, automatic, str 6, has a bit of a down shifting problem. It up shifts fine, but I have to manual shift down to 1st in order to start off. Please someone help me with this. I'm praying its not an internal tranny problem.

 

I'll go so far as to say no, your tranny is probably just fine. There is an adjustment you can do to the throttle cable, search kick down adjustment. Or the tranny is low on oil. Have you checked all fluids for accurate levels/quality?