New to iRules and trying to get port translation to work

On your back end servers, are you checking for specific host headers to route the traffic? I don't think the host header is designed to include the port number. Within your pool, it should send the request to whatever port is specified. Updated code below that may help (and I find the switch command a little cleaner, so I changed the if to switch):

when HTTP_REQUEST { 
    switch -glob -- [string tolower [HTTP::host]] {
        "solidwaste.dev.mesaaz.gov" { 
            pool solidwaste.dev.mesaaz.gov 
        }
        "*swfm1.mesaaz.gov*" { 
            pool swfm1.mesaaz.gov 
        }
        "*swfm2.mesaaz.gov*"{ 
            pool swfm2.mesaaz.gov 
        } 
    }
}