I am looking for a little help. I just traded my 97 lifted XJ for a 51 ****** pickup and a 95 XJ. I drove the 95 XJ today and noticed the trans felt like it was skipping 2nd gear. It pulls out fine in first then hits second and immediately shifts to third causing the motor to pull hard. I also noticed at highway speeds the converter does not lock up. Its a 4.0 with an AW4. 193k miles.

 

TPS (throttle position sensor) or kick down cable may be the problem.
You can test the TPS (thanks to CJ7-Tim @ jeepforum):

"TPS
Physical Symptoms:

The engine loses power and is stalling. The engine will idle, but may die as soon as you press the gas pedal. When driving, it seems as if all power is gone. Sometimes speed maxes out around 25 mph, and it feels as if the transmission is failed or isn't shifting properly, if at all. You can be going 25mph down the road at 5,000 RPM's. If you quickly jump on the gas you might be able to get the transmission to shift into second, but it won’t shift properly by itself. Shifting manually, the transmission goes through all the gears.

TEST

You should have 5 volts going into the TPS. At idle, TPS output voltage must be greater than 200 millivolts. At wide open throttle (WOT), TPS output voltage must be less than 4.8 volts.. The best is to use an analog meter (not digital) to see if the transition from idle to WOT is smooth with no dead spots. With your meter set for volts, put the black probe on a good ground like your negative battery terminal. With the key on, engine not running, test with the red probe of your meter (install a paper clip into the back of the plug of the TPS) to see which wire has the 5 volts. One of the other wires should show .26V (or so). The other wire will be the ground and should show no voltage. Move the throttle and look for smooth meter response up to the 4.49 at WOT.

Perform the test procedure again and wiggle and/or tap on the TPS while you watch the meter. If you notice any flat spots or abrupt changes in the meter readings, replace the TPS."

Look here for kick down cable adjusting:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/free-quick-fix-41821/

 

mine seems to do the same thing

not sure if i am missing second or third and second but it revs up in first then shifts into higher gear and bogs down

i was told it might be the governer on the back of the transmission has the weights that spin on it stuck causing it to shift to many gears

but if i put it in 1-2 i still dont have second gear...just revs up high in first and doesnt shift

 

Sounds like we have the same problem. Mine has 193k on it so I think I may try to rebuild it. I feel like it may be a mechanical problem inside the case. Ill let you know if I find the culprit so maybe you can fix yours. Mine is driveable skipping second but I have plans to lift and add large tires. I will really need second gear then.

 

ya mine is only a trail rig so im not in a big hurry yet

mines an 88 with 178k on it, i am gonna through some lucas in it and see if that helps, ive had good luck with the lucas trans stuff in the past so maybe it will fix it so i dont have to tear into it