I have an 89 xj with a blown tranny and have a 95 Trans laying around. The 95 has an electricall transfer case whole the 89 have a vacuum system to engage the 4wd. I'm wondering in I can somehow hook the electricall transfer case up to a toggle switch or something so I can use the 95 trans. Anyone know anything about this ?

 

Good chance there different spline counts.

 

Yeap. The 89 has 21 splines & the 95 has 23.

 

And the 4wd engagement is done by the lever in the cab. The vacuum versus electrical is for front axle engagement and/or indicator lights only. Sell the 23 spline case and buy a 21 spline.

 

What year did Jeep switch over to the electrical transfer case? Because I have a blown transmission as well and I have to pull one from the pull a part yard on Friday. I have an 89 as well. And the only Cherokee that could potentially have a transmission and a transfer case is a 91 and a 93.

 

It wasn't an electrical transfer case. The transfer cases are shifted with the lever on the floor.

NP231s through 1990 were 21 spline. They used a vacuum actuated front axle engagement called CAD. The vacuum system also triggered the dash light.

NP242 transfer cases through 1990 were 21 spline and used a switch on the transfer case to trigger the dash light. Did not have the CAD axle.

In 1991, both the NP231 and NP242 were 23 spline, had no axle disconnect and used an electrical switch to trigger the dash light.

 

When I blew out my 89 TC i had a 99 I used, opened it up and swapped the output shaft from the 89 into it. works great.

 

So if I were to put in a post 91 np231 Trans case in my 89 to replace my np242, would it still work? Or should I swap the input shaft from the 91 trans case into my np242? If you had to choose a np231 or np242 from any year, which one would you put in a Renix Jeep?

 

87 to 90.