puegot to ax15 swap

hokiewrangler · 01-21-2009, 07:53 PM

unfortunately i havent been praying enough to the jeep gods lately because on a 6 hour drive from home to my duty station in nc, my trans decided that 5th gear didnt want to work anymore, thankfully, i made it back in the freakish snow storm in nc driving in 4wd on ice for about 70 miles (nc as a state is not in anyway equipped to handle snow, saw maybe 3 plows on the road all day) then i get in today to drive it to see if the problem has gotten worse and lets just say i dont think its got 10 more miles in it. making all kinds of noise and jerking. i was planning on putting in the ax15 but just not this soon. but anyways, doing my research, found an ax15 and xcase out of a 89 xj on ebay at a steal, now just checking to be sure im right by saying all ill need to put it in is a new pilot bearing and master/slave cylinders. if theres anything else im missing i would greatly appreciate any input.

**madmax79** · 01-21-2009, 08:42 PM

According to Auto Zone's website, the both use the same slave (internal) so you should be good there. You will need a new pilot bearing, I don't remember the part number but I believe it was from a late '70s era CJ V8 application. You should be able to find it with a search. The swap was not hard. I did it in mine and it was one of the first big repairs that I did myself. It is worth buying the reverse torx sockets to get the top star shaped bellhousing bolts out.

brunolinski · 01-22-2009, 03:04 PM

I just did this exact same upgrade a few weeks ago.

You need a bell housing from the donor jeep with the AX15 bolt hole configuration. The BA10 had a different bolt layout. I also had to have a new shifter, knob, and most importantly shifter boot. Also, the tranny mount was crazy. I had to drill new mount holes to my tranny crossmember to reflect the hybrid tranny mount.

The AX15 is slightly longer than the BA10. The AX15 will come up through the Jeep through the tranny cover hole, but doesn't line up in the same position as it did with the BA10. The shifter boot for my standard transmission AX15 and NP231 was one large boot with two parts that had no gap between them. The old boot fit, but not great. The AX15 is further back and the shifters end up further apart. Everytime I put into 2nd gear, it would jump out when the RPM's were just right. Eventually the boot ripped and let the cold in.

I added a sheet of steel to cover the space between the shifters. Then I removed tranny cover and used an automatic YJ trasmission shift boot for the tranny and I used a CJ transfer case boot for the NP231. Here is a pic of the finished project.

ks90yj · 01-23-2009, 11:38 AM

Is there any other tips you guys have for this I'm about to do it in a month or so

brunolinski · 09-01-2009, 08:02 AM

I have had mine for several months and seems to be going great! I am hauling a boat through the Mt.'s this weekend. Other tips? I have an 89 and I had to mod the tranny plate cover and shifter boot. Others have not had to. Don't forget to run 10W-30 in the tranny. If this is news to you, search the site for more info. Jeep says that is the preferred juice for the AX-15 now. Good luck and PM me if you need anything.

**shatteredsoul** · 09-01-2009, 04:27 PM

Everything will work on either except on mine we went with a solid pilot bushing instead of a bearing.Had to tweak the tranny mount a bit and the shifter is different.Also the shifters for the cherokees and wranglers with ax-15s are also different and if you get one from a cherokee you will have to move your center console back if you have one.The cherokee shifter is shorter and has more of a curve to them.The shifter for the wrangler will work perfect but are harder to find and cost more.If you put in a new clutch kit be beyond careful with the 4 o-rings for the 2 lines going into the slave or you might be like me,I had my tranny out 3 times the first month after buying my Jeep.Once for stupid ba10 second time to install new ax15 third to redo slave for blew out o-ring.