Ax5 swap for ax15

Is it possible?

yes...?

Do you have any more details or are you sticking with that?

i thought i wrote what vehicle i had my bad. its a 86 xj with the 2.8

bellhousings are different. An AX-15 will not bolt up to your AX-5 bellhousing, so if you can find a bellhousing that mates to the AX-15 and to your GM 60* motor then yes, you can make it happen.

Is there an adapter bellhousing or would I find it off a certain vehicle?

Late model 2.5 4 cyl Dakotas used an Ax-15.... so you would need to find a bellhousing from one of them, which are rare. That way you could bolt an AX-15 to a 2.8...which shares the same bellhousing bolt pattern with the 2.5

Would the flywheel and clutch assembly still work or would I need a new one?

IIRC is that the AX15 does not have a mount for a crankshaft position sensor. Not having worked on any 2.8L's, does it utilize one?

dasbulliwagen said:

Late model 2.5 4 cyl Dakotas used an Ax-15.... so you would need to find a bellhousing from one of them, which are rare. That way you could bolt an AX-15 to a 2.8...which shares the same bellhousing bolt pattern with the 2.5

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Really? I was under the impression that they were quite common!?!

Ive been doing ALOT of reading on the swap because my dads 4 banger TJ needs a new clutch, so I figure as long as im dropping the tranny....

you need:

-84 4cyl camaro clutch disk
(10 spline to match AX-15, while still similar in size to AX-5 clutch plate)

-23spline T case out of a 4.0 jeep
(4cyl have 21 spline t case imputs)

-Dakota bell-housing (HAS spot to bolt CPS)

-AX-15 transmission mount.
(TJ's have a universal crossmember, not sure about XJ's.)


If you dont mind spending the cash, Advance adapters sells an AX5 bell-housing to AX15 adapter.

One thing I have still not figured out is this brass bushing that is required. All the write ups mention it, but I still dont get why it is required.




Ill probably Just buy this kit for $450 to save the headache: http://www.advanceadapters.com/products/pn-712563/

After the kit you just need a t case, the trans, and longer front/ shorter rear drive shafts. I figure If I buy the transmission from my local pick N pull, I could convince them to trade transfer cases with me.

ALSO, a 2000+ NV3500 will bolt in same as the AX15, essentially the same size and bolt patterns.

That adapter kit says 2.5 will it work on a 2.8? I've heard there the same.

Shartx24 said:

That adapter kit says 2.5 will it work on a 2.8? I've heard there the same.

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the previous poster wiht the TJ is swapping it to a 2.5

No, it's not the same pattern as your 2.8.
Call advance adapters or novak and ask them if they make one that will adapt to your 2.8 (GM 60* block)

Why all the hassle of swapping to an AX-15 behind your 2.8? Are you breaking AX-5s?

Seems a lot of hassle and expense for minimal gains.

Well Ive read that the AX5 is an AX4 with OD. And supposedly they did a crap job of adding the 5th gear.

If I was doing the swap in a 2.8 equipped XJ, I would go ahead and do the 3.4 V6 swap at the same time.

yea i plan on swapping in the 3.4 thats why im asking about the ax15. its not running right now i just finsihed putting in the d44 up front it has a 9 inch in the rear i have not ran it since the swaps but everyone has told me the ax4 and np207 wont last a day of wheeling

Shartx24 said:

yea i plan on swapping in the 3.4 thats why im asking about the ax15. its not running right now i just finsihed putting in the d44 up front it has a 9 inch in the rear i have not ran it since the swaps but everyone has told me the ax4 and np207 wont last a day of wheeling

Click to expand...

What? The Ax-4 and 207 are just fine. The main problem with the AX-5 is the 5th gear goes out. This is because the designers did a shoddy job tacking on the 5th gear to the AX-4.

And the 207 is a fine t case, it just has zero aftermarket support.

(I have no first hand experience with either, it is just some info I have read over and over)

I could see going from AX-4, just to get a proper overdrive for the highway.

It looks like you need to start hunting for a 4wd AX-15 and it's matching t-case, and the dakota 2.5L bellhousing and clutch bits. What is the 3.4 coming out of? possibly you might be better of grabbing the entire drivetrain if it has a transmission that's decent and can be mated to a new process case. GM and Jeep generally used the same bolt pattern for the transfer cases, so expand your search into the GM light truck world for transmissions. You might have to get a different input shaft to mate a Jeep transfer case to a GM transmission, that was usually different.,