The AX-5 to AX-15 Swap Thread

Well apparently the old 2.5L with 33x12.50 is just too much for the AX-5 so it decided to let go on the freeway in 5th gear. So if you have a AX-5 equipped XJ or other Jeep be very afraid of it giving out on you. My XJ AX-5 had 225,000 but most of those were easy grocery getter miles and it had been running Redline MT-90 for the last 5 years. I am hoping the AX-15 will be enough transmission for the 2.5L up to 35" tires and I did not even contemplate swapping in another AX-5.

For background information on this swap I referenced the threads from other sites listed below. My goal is to gather all the information in one spot easily accessible. All this information should be applicable to all Jeeps equipped with the AMC designed 2.5L backed by the AX-5.

http://porc.purdue.org/Forums/viewtopic/t=5748/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=40.html
http://www.jeeps-offroad.com/articles/ax15swap.php
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181361&highlight=ax5+ax15


Ok I have some part numbers for those interested in starting the swap. This is all applicable to my '86 XJ swap and are just parts for the transmission swap. I have yet to deal with the crossmsmber details. You will need a 23 spline input NP231 or other Jeep T-Case to bolt up behind the AX-15.

For both INTERNAL and EXTERNAL Slave AX-15

96-98 Dodge Dakota bellhousing from 2.5L
Clutch Disc 84 Camaro 4 cyl 4 speed --- Centerforce P/N 383824 or Autozone P/N CP4198
Clutch Throughout Bearing --- NAPA P/N BRGN4093
Pressure plate --- Keep your stock 2.5L pressure plate for your year
Flywheel --- Get your resurfaced or buy a new for your year 2.5L
Clutch Slave --- Dodge Dakota 96 NAPA P/N UP360045
Clutch Line --- makes it easy to hook up to Jeep master cylinder to Dakota slave Advanced Adapters P/N 716130TJ + 716130H (call them at 805 238 7000 for your application)
Pilot Bushing --- Advanced Adapters P/N 716167 for .750" OD input shaft tip. If smaller .60" OD then reuse stock. Measure the AX-15 with calipers to find out.
T-Case Linkage --- Stock linkage from an AX-15 equipped XJ or NOVAK SK2X
Clutch Shift Fork --- See factory part numbers below if your external slave AX-15 did not come with the throughout bearing linkage


For INTERNAL SLAVE AX-15. You need these parts to convert the AX-15 to external slave.

4636 382 ----- Front bearing retainer (this part can be had from partsmike.com for less $$$ than the dealer but it is still $$$.)
5252 053 ----- Seal front bearing (got it from the dealer its cheap)
5210 7555 ----- Clutch release fork (relatively cheap around $20 from dealer)
5208 7542 ----- Clutch release pivot (cheap from dealer or may come on the Dakota Bellhousing)

Ax15 is bullet proof.

NP231 23 spline input SYE Ready to go. There are enough write ups on this so I did not bother to write one. Since my XJ is an '86 I have a NP207 which I had to ditch. I could only find a 21 spline NP231 quickly so I had to swap the input to 23 spline. I decided to do the SYE since driveshaft modifications would have to be done anyway.


Dakota Bellhousing


New clutch fork and bearing ready to go


AX-15 front bearing retainer installed to convert my internal slave AX-15 to external slave


Dakota bellhousing installed. I had to measure the OD of input shaft to determine pilot bushing ID. As you can see it is 0.750" so I need the AA pilot bushing.


One AX-15 ready to go. Just have to clean up the input shaft a little bit.


My XJ isn't ready to go yet and I still have to pick up the pilot bushing and the NOVAK NP231 linkage. I should be making progress on this in the coming weekend.

the ax15 is a verrrry stout axle, mines only got 104k on it but i love it. Definitly a good swap over from your ax5. If you replace that 2.5 in there (which at somepoint im sure you'll do) you should swap in some sort of diesel and do a writeup...

Well the transmission is in and in working order. It feels good to have the old XJ back on the road again. I wish I would have taken more pics but when I was working on it I just didn't think about it but I can hit the major points.

Once you have amassed all the parts for the swap it is time to begin. For all the steps to remove the old transmission and install a "new" or resurfaced flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate follow the factory service manual or Chilton etc... because all those steps are the same.

Ok so know you have all the old AX-5 junk out and the new flywheel installed. To remove the old flywheel I recommend the tool that holds the teeth of the flywheel to keep it from spinning. I did not know about this tool until I went looking after breaking the crank pulley bolt loose trying to remove my flywheel bolts.

Back on topic, it is now time to install your pilot bushing. I wish I would have taken a pic of the Advance Adapters bushing becuase it is really nice and fits into the beveled grove of the 2.5L flywheel very nicely. After this install the clutch and pressure plate. Since you would have bought all of this seperately you probably will not have an alignment tool which is necessary if you only want to install the transmission once. I could not find one seperate so I bought a whole 1996 AX-15 clutch kit from Kragen which I returned after the use of the alignment tool. Now it is time to install the transmission. It helps to have help with this part and I owe the guys that helped me install mine because I could not have done it without them.

Bleeding the valveless Dakota clutch is interesting and I don't think I got it quite right but I must say again that the braided stainless line from Advance Adapters is a must have for the ease of install. With the transmission in you now face the crossmember issue which I will talk about later in the thread. Once this is installed and fluid is in the AX15 and NP231 it is ready to drive once you have drives hatfs. If you are in the SLO area I highly recommend Adric from Villa's for quality drive shaft work.

Now for some highlights/information about the swap

Here you can notice how the AX-15 input shaft sits flush with the bellhousing as apposed to the .5" the AX-5 points out. This is ok and the Advanced Adapters kit for this swap comes with a 3/8" plate which pushes the AX-5 bellhousing forward flush with the input shaft.

AX-5


AX-15


Here is a look at the Ax-5 np207 combo compared to the AX-15 NP231 combo. As you can see the AX-5 was external slave. Yes I know the Ax-5 was filthy.




Here is the AX-15 installed. Notice the AA braided stainless clutch line.


A view from the inside. This transmission fits very tight in the tranny tunnel and almost its it. The shifter has a little different geometry and longer troughs than the AX-5. I have yet to install the NOVAK linkage completely and will probably get to it in a week or so.

On to the cross member which was only part that required some type of fabrication to get the swap to work. Since my AX-15 did not come with teh factor XJ mount I had to modify the stock AX-5 mount.


That is not the final version though and I did not take a pic at the time of the final version and I don't want to take it off to get one. But it is pretty much the same as that one there but the exhaust mount portion had to be cut off. I probable will have to address this later on but I am busy with graduation coming up.

I don't have any real good pics of the crossmember set up but the front pair (facing front of XJ) of the stock rubber transmission mount line up with the rear 2 holes on the crossmember. What I did was cut, drill, and weld a plate onto the crossmember to grab all the trassmission mount bolts as you can see in the pic below. This allowed me to install the crossmember into the stock location. This was inportant to me because I have un reinforced fram rails and I had just drilled the holes for my DPG belly skid(which I highly recommend) the night before my AX-5 blew up.



This is all the detail I can think up now and if you have any questions about this swap just post up.

I came into a little more problems that needed to be addressed. The rod on the 96 2.5L Dakota Slave cylinder is a little too short for the application. It makes the slave work in the last little bit of travel and I did not like the feel of the pedal. I had a custom stainless rod machined at Elco Machine in San Luis Obispo 3/4" longer for $10 which was turned out well. It made the slave work at the middle of its travel which I feel will be better for longevity of the slave.

My old clutch master cylinder also had problems and needed to be replaced. I have been driving it around all day today and it the clutch pedal feels good. Everything works excellent and I am glad I chose it over another AX-5.

Are your axles regeared for the 33's? I expect my ax-5 will hold up to the 31's I plan on putting on, and don't expect to have any regearing for them...

I'm gathering parts for my MPI swap, and plan to take good pictures for a writeup also.

Thanks for the writeup! How hard was it to find the dakota bellhousing? I would expect pretty hard...

I'm kinda babbling, I'll go to bed now, but it was a nice read!

Mr_Random said:

Are your axles regeared for the 33's? I expect my ax-5 will hold up to the 31's I plan on putting on, and don't expect to have any regearing for them...

I'm gathering parts for my MPI swap, and plan to take good pictures for a writeup also.

Thanks for the writeup! How hard was it to find the dakota bellhousing? I would expect pretty hard...

I'm kinda babbling, I'll go to bed now, but it was a nice read!

Click to expand...

I have yet to regear for the 33's but around town it isn't much difference over the 31's. I picked them up cheap from a buddy just to wheel on but my transmission let out before I got the chance. I plan on going to 4.88 in the future.

The Dakota bellhousing isn't that hard to find actually if you use www.car-part.com. I was able to get mine for $100 shipped which isn't a bad deal at all since the kit from Advanced Adapters is well over that. The cost fro the rest of the stuff is similar to a clutch replacement. My clutch needed to be replaced anyway so basically the new flywheel, clutch disc, pressure plate, slave cylinder, throughout bearing, and master cylinder needed to be replaced anyway so that cost wasn't really extra. One of the points I want to stress is to find a EXTERNAL slave AX-15 for the swap so you don't have to purchase the throughout bearing retainer. I got a good deal on the transmission but it cost about the same as a external slave one after the purchase of the bearing retainer. The AX-5 should last you the 31's but when you are in need of a clutch replacement it would be the opportune time to do this swap since you would need to purchase the majority of the parts anyway.

Anybody have a list of part #'s to put in a NV3550 instead? It has the same bellhousing pattern as an AX-15, so the Dakota bellhousing should work, I just wonder if there any other details that are different to worry about with that tranny instead. A company called high-impact makes a conversion kit, but it's pricey. http://www.high-impact.net/transmission_and_gear/nv3550_AX5replmt.htm

Edit:
Guess I should have read more of the linked pages. Here is some information from one of them:

"I swapped a Nv3550 from a 2004 Tj into a 94 wrangler with the 4cyl. I got the trans from ebay, the bellhousing and clutch fork from a 98 Dodge Dakota from car-part.com and the pilot bearing, clutch disk, and slave cyl conversion from advance adapters. I did also have to extend my clutch slave pushrod a little over 1.5 inches and evrything else pretty much bolted right together. This is the external slave cyl. type too.

My trans did not come with a shifter so I had to order a B&M short throw because the dealer wanted 300 bones for a new assembly. There was a little bushing on the ball of the shifter that took me forever to find that my B&M did not come with. The part # for that was 83500519.

Here are the rest of the aprt numbers from AA
Pilot bushing: 716167
Slave cyl Kit: 716340
Clutch disk : 383824"

A final update on this swap. Novak Adapters shifter installed. It is definitely not a standard swap per the Novak instructions as a typical XJ install.

The t-case location required me to trim about 3 inches off the threaded rod to shorten the linkage to about 4-5 inches. Bolted up the shifter rod part as far back and up as possible so I did not have to cut the tranny tunnel. Since the tranny/t-case combo sits up higher than the old combo no bending of the rod was needed. Shift is smooth and easy. Novak makes a great kit. Pics to come later.

Ah, this swap looks better every day...

So; it's looking like this:

Purchase engine, then rebuild it and install MPI components.

Swap out engine, new clutch (warrantied), then drive for a while.

I'll probably explode my ax-5 anyways, it's losing most of it's synchros and totally sucks, not to mention the fact that my hydrolics are cutting in and out... I just replaced the MC, so now it's time for the SC... Blegh, need money!

I want to first off say Thank You for this thread. My 1993 YJ has the 4 banger in it and has had 3 ax 5 tranny's put in it by myself in the gravel of my drive way with no tranny Jack or anything, and to tell you the truth i was getting ready to sell the Jeep after I found the Third Tranny was no good either. Well long story short I started my search for the parts for the swap since I am unemployed since my Company packed up and moved to Japan, and I am in School now at my age trying to get a new carreer.
But I have come up Short on one part and really short on cash I bought an ax15 tranny thats numbers show it to be a 92 -92 tranny but mine has the front bearing retainer for a internal slave, And the Bellhousing I got was from a 1998 Dodge dakota with and external Slave( it took me 3 weeks to find one close to me) So my problem is I need a front bearing retainer for the ax15 that has the snout for the throwout bearing to ride on and cant afford the 80 bucks to order one so I am Pleading for anyone that has one to PLEASE Donate one to me I would be Forever greatful.
:us:

Hey Guys

I am in the middle of a tranny swap in my YJ, from a ax 5 to an ax 15 BUT
I am short 1 piece that I am having a hard time finding, and when I find it the people are really proud of the part and want wat to much money for it.
What I need is the front bearing retainer for an ax 15 I have to have the one with the snout that is used for the external slave. So if you have one and would like to help me out please contact me.

In your first post you said that the swap info you had should pertain to all jeeps with the amc 2.5L backed with the Ax-5. One more piece of info that might not be know that I just ran into at work while swapping a ground up Ax-15 from a YJ for a used Ax-15 from an XJ is that the clocking positions where the t-case bolt up to the tail housings, from XJ to YJ are different and will mess with your four wheel drive bracket mounting. The tail housings are easily interchangeable and will keep you from having to buy special linkage. This is if you have the option to attain the correct tail housing. You probably have the AX-15 from a YJ in your project and that may be why you had a hard time with adapting your shift linkage. I know its too late that you have yours in order but for anyone else who may be interested I thought it might be a good bit of info for your very useful thread.

xj92 said:

Anybody have a list of part #'s to put in a NV3550 instead? It has the same bellhousing pattern as an AX-15, so the Dakota bellhousing should work, I just wonder if there any other details that are different to worry about with that tranny instead. A company called high-impact makes a conversion kit, but it's pricey. http://www.high-impact.net/transmission_and_gear/nv3550_AX5replmt.htm

Edit:
Guess I should have read more of the linked pages. Here is some information from one of them:

"I swapped a Nv3550 from a 2004 Tj into a 94 wrangler with the 4cyl. I got the trans from ebay, the bellhousing and clutch fork from a 98 Dodge Dakota from car-part.com and the pilot bearing, clutch disk, and slave cyl conversion from advance adapters. I did also have to extend my clutch slave pushrod a little over 1.5 inches and evrything else pretty much bolted right together. This is the external slave cyl. type too.

My trans did not come with a shifter so I had to order a B&M short throw because the dealer wanted 300 bones for a new assembly. There was a little bushing on the ball of the shifter that took me forever to find that my B&M did not come with. The part # for that was 83500519.

Here are the rest of the aprt numbers from AA
Pilot bushing: 716167
Slave cyl Kit: 716340
Clutch disk : 383824"

Click to expand...

Except the NV3550 was used behind the V6-238 in the Dakota, which means LA-block bellhousing pattern. I know the AX-15e and NV3550 use a common bellhousing mounting pattern (to the transmission case,) but does the AX-5 bellhousing mate to the AX-15 case, and vice versa (and did I miss that little tidbit? If I did, I'm sorry...)

But, if the AX-5 and AX-15 have a common bellhousing mounting pattern, then it should be relatively simple to adapt the instructions as given to work with the NV3550...