Ax15

[Jammer]

I bought a Transmission for my jeep that was advertised as a five speed hooked to a 6 cylinder and the box looked like an AX15. Once I got it home I found out it was an AX5. Did Jeep ever put an AX5 behind a 6 cylinder?

 

[BajaEdition]

no, the ax5 was only behind the 2.5 4 popper, it is not that strong of a tranny for a six.

 

[Old Dog]

X2 I'd try to get my money back.

 

[ThisGuyUKnow]

Same thing happened to me. Still have the tranny sitting In my garage as the seller said I could get my money back but he got scarce when the time came to make a time to meet up.

 

[BajaEdition]

Bit of AX15 advice, the tranny came with one of 3 output shafts in jeeps, you need to know which shaft is needed for your application when ordering, Bit me in the butt and cost me an adapter.

 

[ThisGuyUKnow]

What are you running your ax15 in?

Another couple of pieces of ax15 advice:
try to get on from a 94plus xj,yj, or yj. This way you will have an exernal slave.

And really think through your clutch setup before you start anything. My suggestion is look into retrofitting in a yj brake/clutch pedal assembly so that you can set yourself up for a yj brake booster swap and everything will look and function just as if it were a stock yj

 

[Jammer]

This is going into an 87 wrangler and the AX-15 was supposed to be a 99. Like you mentioned I did want to get an external clutch slave. It was supposed to have the Transfer Case matched so I wouldn't have to mod my 87 to fit. I talked with the seller and he says he'll take it back so I hope he follows through. I'm not sure I clearly understand about the brake booster. Is the YJ booster better? Also will the 87 clutch master work correctly with the 99 clutch slave? Thanx

 

[ThisGuyUKnow]

This is going into an 87 wrangler and the AX-15 was supposed to be a 99. Like you mentioned I did want to get an external clutch slave. It was supposed to have the transfer case matched so I wouldn't have to mod my 87 to fit. I talked with the seller and he says he'll take it back so I hope he follows through. I'm not sure I clearly understand about the brake booster. Is the YJ booster better? Also will the 87 clutch master work correctly with the 99 clutch slave? Thanx

If you are running aN 87 wrangle (yj) with a AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l then the comment about the pedal set up and the brake booster I made do not apply.

From what I saw he other day at the junKyard, a 91 xj with internal slave has the same master cylinder(by looks) as the one that came with my ax15. So I want to say yes it will work but I can't promise anything. I do know that I was able to swap a slave from a 04 wrangler for my slave that came with my ax15(1995).

What Transmission is in your yj now? May be time to fill out your profile....

Look at your tranny if it has a dark ring between the shift tower and the body then you have an ax5, a 99 ax15 shouldn't have the spline issues baja was referring to.

If your wrangler has a AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l you will need to change your fly wheel and clutch disk too.

 

[Jammer]

I'm thinking my peugot has a 21 spline and the later model ax15's use 23? If thats true I'll need a later model Transfer Case or convert output spline shaft right? Ya, the Transmission I got has the dark ring in between, doh. I do have a AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l and you say I need to swap flywheels? Is that due to the different pilot bearing sizes? If so could I custom machine a bronze pilot bearing to fit the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l or are there more issues? thanx

 

[BajaEdition]

why bother machining a custom pilot bearing, you can get them in the correct size, call Novak
Also you can get a clutch disc with the correct size and spline count for a flywheel
I would think the major issue is the adapting the tcase to the tranny, a ax15 is a good strong unit, and worth going with. I have had several Jeep mechanics tell me it is a better unit than the NV3550 in strength. I am using the AX15 in my build of my CJ6 , using an internal unit however, no it does not bother me.
I will say a 15 is 16 1/2 long and a 5 is 15 and 5/8s, that is the best check you have

 

[ThisGuyUKnow]

I'm thinking my peugot has a 21 spline and the later model ax15's use 23? If thats true I'll need a later model transfer case or convert output spline shaft right? Ya, the trans I got has the dark ring in between, doh. I do have a 4.2 and you say I need to swap flywheels? Is that due to the different pilot bearing sizes? If so could I custom machine a bronze pilot bearing to fit the 4.2 or are there more issues? thanx

if it has the dark ring it is an ax5 and never lived behind the i6. The reason you need to change the flywheel because supposedly the 258s is thicker and you will have bellhousing clearence issue and hydraulic throw out can be touch about their throw length. I know aa has a kit that uses a t175 bellhousing to adapt the nv3550 to amc 258s and 360s. They do that so you can retain the old flywheel.

You cAn try to keep the old fly wheel as I am pretty certain the T-5 and the ax15 have the same spline count you should be able to use the old pilot bearing. But if you are replacing the tranny I would just go ahead and get a clutch kit for 150at the parts store for whatever tranny u swap in. The kit will come with a new pilot bearing.

 

[Jammer]

I was finally able to get my money back from the AX5 and get an AX15. It's a 97 with external slave with 87000 miles. I got bellhousing, flywheel, throwout bearing, fork, transfere case, pressure plate and and clutch disk. Pressure plate and disk only had 1k miles on it. He kept the bearing retainer for a swap he was doin so I need to find a retainer. I'm looking at the clutch slave options and all I'm seeing is presealed plastic junk. Anyone know if there is a bleedable, rebuildable, cast iron units that can be purchased for reasonable amount, say $50 ish. I'd like to rebuild the master on the 87 and just buy a slave and get some braided line to hook them up. I'll fab my own crossmember. I get goin on this and will post some picks.

 

[ThisGuyUKnow]

Good luck

 

[BajaEdition]

waiting for the pics

we like pics of this stuff

and good luck

 

[Jammer]

We'll, I've finally gotten time to get back to this project and thought I'd post some pic's. One is the old Pugo, and one of the new AX-15. I work in a machine shop so boring the pilot bearing to .750 for the new input shaft saved me $30 so was good. Pressure plate and clutch disk looked identical from the pugo so I reused it. New bearing retainer installed and had to cut a little around the transfere shift bracket to get it to work but good to go.

 

[Jammer]

I had to repair the frame where the crossmember bolts on due to all the bolts breaking off. I made square cutouts where the old bolts were and fab'd a piece of 1/4 plate with some nuts welded on the back side and used this to patch the frame.

 

[Jammer]

I also had to fab a new crossover as the old one has some bad spots and thought I'd just start over. I'm still looking at how I want to marry the 2 together but shouldn't be a biggy. I've got to get the slave unit and shorten the drive shaft by about 2".

 

[Jammer]

I've gotten it completely assembled and was installing the clutch slave. I purchased a new slave and I cut the straps on it, hooked brake fluid to it and cycled it quite a few times to purge the air out before I installed it. Once I put it on the bellhousing and started pumping up the system it started leaking pretty bad out the front of the slave cylinder. Did I get a defective slave or did I do something wrong? I'd be suprised if what I did let the cylinder cup become dislodge from the bore or something but I'm starting to wonder

 

[ThisGuyUKnow]

Hmm was the slave installed to the tranny when it started leaking? I discovered very early on that if you don't have anything like the throw out fork or a hand in front of the slaves rod and you push the clutch the font boot will pop off. The setup is supposed to not be bleedable( I think jeep was tying to ge more money for repairs or something) the way I figured out to bleed the clutch lines was to pullthe cap off the mc( while installed to the truck) and pull the slave off the tranny and pump it by hand while my dad watched for bubbles. Almost the same process as bleeding brakes.