bad ax15?

[jayuu]

93 4.0 ax15
so i was driving down the interstate today and put it in 5th (rarely do 31s on 3.07s) and as soon as i let off the gas it popped out of 5th. the shifter moved maybe 1/4 inch. it didnt come out into the neutral position, but it wasnt enaged in 5th. and i could hear a very slight metal on metal grinding noise. i noticed that if i keep power to it then it stays in fine, but if i let off its out again. so whats my problem?
also evry now and then i have to reallly jam it into 1st, but i dont think i couldve bent the shifter. and it holds in 1st and 3rd just fine.

[lawsoncl]

Bad motor or tranny mount, causing the shifter stalk to hit the edges of the hole?

[red91]

93 4.0 ax15
so i was driving down the interstate today and put it in 5th (rarely do 31s on 3.07s) and as soon as i let off the gas it popped out of 5th. the shifter moved maybe 1/4 inch. it didnt come out into the neutral position, but it wasnt enaged in 5th. and i could hear a very slight metal on metal grinding noise. i noticed that if i keep power to it then it stays in fine, but if i let off its out again. so whats my problem?
also evry now and then i have to reallly jam it into 1st, but i dont think i couldve bent the shifter. and it holds in 1st and 3rd just fine.


to clarify...you say it "wasen't in neutral, but wasen't in 5th gear"...was it free spinning like or ws it still moving forward? If it was moving forward you had to have been in 5th gear.

Might drain the fluid in the trans and get some GL3 lube in that thing to see if it helps.

[RichP]

Being in wisconson he's going to want to be running synthetic for the winter I'd say. Redline makes a GL3/4 lube, MT-90, that they recommend for the AX trannies. I was going to change mine out but it's been raining here for the past 3 days and it will take 2 days for the driveway to dry out after it stops so maybe I'll be able to do it this sunday, we'll see. Whatever you do do not put a GL5 rated lube in there no matter what the parts store says...

[bewilderedbeast]

Amsoil also makes a GL-3/4 gear oil that works.

[MPETESS10]

HONESTLY to me it sounds like the throw out bearing is failing or very close to "failed"
start thinkin about a clutch
if its diagnosed as something else completely your still gonna want a new clutch in there anyway when the tranny gets the work done so you wont have lost anything by lookin into doing a clutch

[jayuu]

yeah the clutch is on its way out i think. its not losing any fluid but it it wont shift into first from a dead stop. and when stopped in first with the clutch in, every now and then it will very lightly pulse forward. the motor and tranny mounts are poly, put them in about a year ago. i figure ill try to milk the clutch for everything last drop.

and it acts as if its in neutral, but the stick isnt in the neutral position.

[lawsoncl]

yeah the clutch is on its way out i think. its not losing any fluid but it it wont shift into first from a dead stop. and when stopped in first with the clutch in, every now and then it will very lightly pulse forward. the motor and tranny mounts are poly, put them in about a year ago. i figure ill try to milk the clutch for everything last drop.

and it acts as if its in neutral, but the stick isnt in the neutral position.
Not sure how MPETESS10 jumped from popping out of 5th to a bad throwout, but from your later post it looks like you may also have some sort of some sort of clutch problem is brewing. It's possibly a bad throwout or worn clutch , but this also sounds like it could be a pilot bearing problem. Do not milk this until your can't shift at all. You'll just tear up the synchros and if the pilot bearing is bad you can tear up the tranny input shaft and tranny input . BTDT, got the dead AX15 in the garage to prove it.

The fifth gear problem sounds like possibly a bent shift fork, but it's kinda hard to diagnose from your description. I was kinda hoping it was a simple as something interferring with the shifter. I would also check that all of the bellhousing bolts are tight and that the bellhousing isn't loose. A long shot, but it can cause similar wierdness.

[jayuu]

i did have a loose bellhousing problem before, was even missing one of the bolts. but i redid all of those and torqued them to specs around the same time i put in new mounts last year. i will check them again. i was almost wondering if this could be a problem from driving it when it was loose.

[hotrodXJ]

Do you ride down the road resting your hand on the shifter? This sounds to me like a worn or bent shift fork and probably something else too.
I don't do a lot of work with any transmissions, but I did just put a shift fork in a manual (not a jeep) for popping out of gear when not putting power to it. The owner never owned a manual trans car before and felt it was ok to rest his hand on the shifter all the time. The shift fork had a very small amount of wear. It just didn't take much to not put it all the way in gear.

[jayuu]

yeah i let my hand rest on it.

[hotrodXJ]

yeah i let my hand rest on it.

Sounds like you need a shift fork.

And get your hand off the shifter when not shifting.

[lawsoncl]

i did have a loose bellhousing problem before, was even missing one of the bolts. but i redid all of those and torqued them to specs around the same time i put in new mounts last year. i will check them again. i was almost wondering if this could be a problem from driving it when it was loose.

A loose bellhousing adds lots of stress to the pilot and input bearings. I'm thinking you've got a bad pilot bearing now.

[jayuu]

the pilot bearing is part of the slave deal right?

[lawsoncl]

The pilot bearing goes in the end of the crankshaft and supports the end of the transmission input shaft.