Trans issues / options

So today I've found out that running a 20+ year old transmission thru water is not a good decision. The shop told me that there's water I the trans (duh) and that its more than likely shot. He quoted me $300 to clean and flush it twice on a crapshoot that it may not even work after.

Looking for opinions and options on what's the best and most cost effective way to proceed.

1. Find a donor XJ AW4 and install... hoping there's nothing wrong with it. Difficult? Expensive?

2. Try and find a replacement TF999 and install... hoping there's nothing wrong with it.

3. Find a shop/person to rebuild existing TF999. Expensive unless I find someone who can show me how and help me DIY.

4. ???????

Quote from Solomi

I have heard ridiculous stories of people draining the fluid of the AW4 - it coming out very milky - and it working fine with new fluid. Why not run several quarts of new atf through it and see?

Can't hurt it anymore than it already is huh?

On another note... Does anyone have a trailer I could rent/borrow to get it back to DE? My pops truck has both a regular hitch and a 5th wheel.

Quote from shadyluke

I guess its still out in Wharton? Guess you guys had as much fun as I predicted. Anyone swamp a motor?

Luckily I was towed back into Hammonton by cj8. My wife's grandma lives there. I had it taken to a local shop in town.

Quote from Keith.eric

Yeah it is. I didn't google the zip code. I just saw it was South Jersey and figured maybe it'd be close to where he was heading back to pick the Jeep up anyway.

Yeah but if I can get the whole kit & kaboodle for $750 obo then I don't mind a 4 hour round trip. That would give me the donor drivetrain to upgrade to FI w/ a 4.0 and AW4 trans. The whole wiring harness, fuel system and all.... Then I could sell the XJ parts (interior, body panels, etc.) to make some of my money back. Then turn around and sell the 4.2....

I'd have the funds to purchase the donor but both would have to sit for a while until I got the funds together to do the swap. Then again I just got a few rebuild quotes from local shops. One was $625 w/ a 3 day turn around. Decisions.......

I'm thinking that I'm not quite ready to handle a swap/sell/partout type of project at the moment. Maybe if someone convinced me it was easier than the difficult process I'm making it into.........

Quote from Keith.eric

If you didn't need it for your DD I would say do the swap. You'll learn so much. I can't even begin to tell you how much I learned doing the body swap on the CJ. It would be a great learning experience.

BUT...if I remember correctly you need to drive Chloe every day right? So that changes a lot of things....

Sent from my DROID RAZR

Well I do and I don't...

While school's out, and my wife's home, we can get by with one car for the next 2 months or so until school starts back up. I'm just not sure all what a swap would entail.... like parts needed (ie. motor mounts, brackets, etc.), time it would take, tools needed other than basic hand tools..... I'm sure I could get away with having the donor sitting behind my house if it's covered and doesn't look a mess and Chloe can relax in the driveway. The park management doesn't look too kindly on vehicles that are in disrepair for too long. I would definitely need some expert help tackling something like this.

I've read a few of the write ups on Stu's site for the AW4 and when it came to the wiring I was all :o :o :o .

Taking the motor/trans out and moving it to the YJ sounds simple enough. Space isn't an issue but the swap would have to be done in my driveway. After that though is where the modifications start happening, right? I'd have to do something with the fuel tank, pump and lines?... exhaust would need to be fabbed/modded?... will the stock YJ radiator work with the 4.0?... acquiring a new DS(s) is another expense.... If I have to get another DS then I'd want to do an SYE as well so that the DS cost is only incurred once... I read that it's may be possible to keep the front DS if there's enough room/spline w/ it stretched a bit...?

This is what's got me torn.... Do I attempt to tackle this big of a mod with my limited knowledge/budget/time frame? Have I planned out everything I need to do the job completely? Is it worth it in the long run (I'm sure it would be)? Or do I just take the easy road and just have the trans rebuilt?

I guess the thing I'm most concerned about is running into another major issue, which is more than likely with a 24 year old Jeep or the unkowon condition of the donor, that would prolong the downtime and/or increase the cost of completing the swap. Any significant increase in the cost would probably force me to stop and scrap the build/mod and sell the Jeep. I've been dropping hints to my wife about contacting Overhaulin but that's like waiting on your lottery numbers to hit. Besides there's a lot more people out there that deserve that more than I do.

My gut instinct is telling me to just have the trans rebuilt, learn from a bad decision and continue on with life.