Will an AX-15 work with an I6 / Dana 300 sans adapters and other questions

[Flex BT]

I have an inline 6 and Dana 300 Transfer Case . I found an AX-15 on craigslist that I'm hoping would be a drop-in replacement or something easy. I'm waiting to hear back what it was mated to. It is coming from a 1999 jeep cherokee sport.

The owner says it was whining when he removed it but did not grind or have any other problems. I was thinking it might be a good candidate to have professionally rebuild and put in my 81 CJ. Thoughts? Please educate me!

 

[computeruser]

It could work, but what exactly are you trying to accomplish? That Transmission will give you five gears and an Overdrive , but not a huge amount of gear ratio spread compared to a cast iron 4-speed with a granny-low first gear.

You will also need to buy adapters for the Transmission -to-t'case, which will cost some coin.

Unless there is something compelling about the AX-15 in your broader design plan for the vehicle, I'd probably do something else - T-18 , NP435, SM465, or even T-176 .

 

[Flex BT]

The AX-15 is what I thought was seen as the best 5-speed. The goal is to put something solid in and not have to worry about it much. Almost all street driving for now but I want to take it offroad after the rest of the house is in order. Right now I have a T-4 and think another gear would be really nice. Any time anyone mentions a T-5 someone dumps on it as being "weak" and says "why the hell wouldn't you get an AX-15". I'm definitely open to other lines of thinking.

 

[mylittlecj5]

Thats a pretty long Transmission , aluminum case and the later years had a trouble-prone internal slave/throwout bearing. The Cherokee will have either a 4.0 or AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l in it, don't know when they switched.
Its great when used in the YJ/Cherokee it came out of, but I think it would be a lot of work and $$ to adapt it to your drivetrain.

Get a T-176 or even a CJ T-18 if you can locate one. Even springing for one of the other GM transmissions mentioned would be better in the long run I'd say.