Hello everyone, I need sone help understanding the AW4 a little better. I recently had mine out of my 93 XJ rebuilt, brand new precision torque converter, bigger trans cooler, all lines flushed thoroughly before re installing. Transmission was doing fairly good before I took it out to be rebuilt I just knew it was due a rebuild and the funds were there so I went with it. Now after all of that I get it back in and get the fluid level right and this thing is doing some WEIRD stuff. So initially it acted like it had no reverse at all but you could put it in drive and it would go into gear like it seemed like it should. After rechecking fluid I messed with it some more and pulled the shifter all the way down to 1-2 on the shifter and it acted like you hit a break. It quit pulling all together in that position on the shifter, no forward movement at all. Then suddenly I moved the shifter back up through each position, drive went into gear, then neutral went out of gear like normal then it went into reverse... so suddenly it had reverse and when pulling it to drive it would going into gear but didn’t act right, it acts like its in 2nd gear... if you pull it to 1-2 gear position it goes dead almost like you hit a break. Now where it gets even weirder is in that 1st gear position if you slowly bring the RPM up it will suddenly release like you let off the break and start pulling forward... then when you let back off the gas shortly after it suddenly stops again as though you applied a break. Weirdest crap I have ever seen with a transmission. Some clarity would be much appreciated...

 

Your answer implies a shop rebuilt your trans, not you;

In that case, I would try a few things first;

adjust throttle/kickdown as per FSM, check solenoid resistances, unplug TCM and try complete manual control, ensure selector cable/lever is adjusted and operating correctly

If none of these actions rectify the problem, it should be taken back to the shop that built it, presumably they have a warranty

In the instance I hear there is a fault with reverse, that is not good, as it is simply engaged by a manual cam operated valve

If you are also saying your trans brakes hard in 1st or 2nd that does not sound good either

 

What happened here? Did you bring it back?

 

someone mentioned that first gear and reverse use the same clutch so it could be a simple valve body issue? Sounds like first and reverse are trying to engage together or something. Definitely seems like its isolated to first and reverse because if you jack up the rear and put it in drive it goes into 2nd and shift through to overdrive like it should. It just acts weird in reverse and first gear.

 

It could be as simple as an o-ring or check ball missing, but how would you ever know ?

I have been told in the event of an AW4 failure, you will often have better luck with a used one than rebuilt

I am now assuming you rebuilt this trans

 

No I had a transmission shop rebuild it however I took it out and brought it to them and then re installed it myself so they were never able to test it in the jeep. The jeep is going back to the shop now actually. I know the guy somewhat from past business with him so he’s a pretty stand up guy and don’t mind taking a look at it. I am interested in gettin acquainted with the AW4 though. I’m looking for a second one now to try and rebuild myself as a spare.

 

You are correct that the reverse and 1st clutch packs are together, but near the front of the trans

I also have several AW4 that I bought cheap as spares, which was handy when mine failed

If you have a look on Youtube, there is a 7 part series on rebuilding AW4

One of the the issues with auto trans rebuilding is it requires experience to identify certain worn parts, measuring alone wont do it