I have the 22re with auto, and on the highway it's a sluggish pig compared to the 5 speed. Remember that it was built when 55 was the speed limit and the little motor works too hard trying to pull 65 on a road/expedition trip. It's practically bullet proof however and is used in the old Cherokees as well. Note that it's also the same basic tranny in the Supra so it holds up to all kinds of abuse. The only real disadvantage off road is no engine braking when going down hills.
If I could do it all over, I would have held out for the stick shift, but that was 15 years ago and a nice 'Runner is hard to come by now.
I make due with the auto though, as I've always expected to swap it out with a stick when it dies...
Edit: I misread and didn't realize the tranny was out. A340F may be worth rebuilding as it's a bit rare if I'm not mistaken as the transfer case is divorced and you can add a dual tcase to it (as opposed to the more common A340H). Then swap the engine with a Cressida/Supra or Jeep 4.0 and you'd have a pretty slick setup. Another interesting thing on these trannies is you could theoretically manually 'lock' the solenoids or completely shift the transmission with buttons if you wire them in. Precursor to the lexus/toy steering wheel shift. Just don't leave it locked under load as you'll overheat it pretty quick.
