u2slow wrote:
There's also non-electronic transmissions you could adapt from older Jeeps (XJ, YJ) and Dodge trucks that bolt to the Liberty tcase.
Neither of those would be a particularly good choice for a transmission donor if you want to avoid electronics.
The AW4 behind the 4.0 in the XJ was electronically-shifted. However, you can remove the TCM and still have first through third gears (IIRC), but you will not have any lockup of the torque converter.
In 2.8 V6 XJs, the Chrysler A904 TorqueFlite was used. That one was hydraulically-operated, but only had 3 speeds. They were also never used in conjunction with the NP231/242 transfer cases in an XJ, so you could end up having to do more adaptation than you might want to in order to make one work.
4-cylinder XJs... I'm somewhat hazy on those. My recollection is that they always had only 3 speeds regardless of year, but I don't recall which models were used.
I believe that all 6-cylinder TJ automatics were electronically-shifted regardless of year. The TJ also never used the AW4 from the XJ. Don't recall what they used behind the 4-cylinder models, but something is telling me that, depending on year, there may have been some commonality with the XJ in that regard.
My recommendation would be for an AW4, which is a very bulletproof gearbox if looked after. That said, the 2.2 (as others have mentioned) probably wouldn't do the greatest job of shoving a KJ through the air. You might want to consider a CRD, but only if you're fine with seeing exactly how much engine bay space can be consumed by a 4-cylinder engine
Oh, and on the CRD note: just buy one with it already in it. There's a lot on a CRD that isn't plug & play with the V6 / 4-cylinder models.