okay, you all know I'm in the middle of a rebuild of the 4.0 for my 1995 XJ.


I just got the short-block back. Along with some paperwork and suggestions from the machine shop.


One of the things the machine shop suggests, is to replace the torque converter. They warned me about the dangers of it "ballooning".


Maybe they have a point. I mean that tranny has nearly 173,000 miles on it.


But. man.. that's another $200 I just don't HAVE right now.


I was wondering about it. IS it an issue?. Is this one of those things everyone does but no one talks about it? Is it standard practice to replace the torque converter when pulling an engine?

I see no need or reason to replace a convertor unless you know its bad. Or want to change the stall speed. What was the actual reasoning behind it for the shop to mention replacing it in the first place? Ballooning is a thing, usually in racecars (nitrous for example). Why are they concerned with it on a Jeep?

I sure would do it if I had the engine out,, but..... I understand about not having the $200. And really, 173k miles is no big deal on these vehicles.

Okay.. I looked it over.. and it seems to be in fine shape. I will definitely be flushing out the tranny fluid once the engine is in.


I plan to do that thing where you run the engine and let the impeller pump out the old fluid while you fill it with new.

I am in the process of getting my engine rebuilt. Do you think it would make sense to replace the flex plate since the engine is out. This component seems to fail fairly frequently based on what I've read in the forums. Thanks!

Only if it’s bad meaning has bad wear on the ring gear teeth or is cracked OR any of the holes for the converter bolts are out of round . To the OP no don’t fix what isn’t broken leave the TC alone .

If it's good, run it.

By replacing with "new", you run the risk of getting some poor quality CRAP.

That's Chinese Replacement Auto Part.