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let this be THE peguot to AX-15 swap thread

stupidfast

NAXJA Forum User
Location
CT
alright, i searched, and found nothing usefull. there has to be one thread for us who want to ditch out peguot and throw in an ax-15. Post if you know of any write ups, or if you have done it yourself. give all details you had to learn to do the swap when you did it. crossmember location, mounts, welding, moding, anything you consitered when you did yours. POST UP

edit: dont post any pics of little red x's
 
"Peugeot"

I think it's a fairly straight swap to go from the BA-10/5 to the AX15, and only a little more work to go to the NV3550 (I've been researching.) I've got an BA-10 to be quit of (jusg replaced it for the third time) and I'd like to no have to dork around with it anymore.

ANyone got an NV3550 to part wtih, cheap? I'd be wiling to shuffle restomods to make this thing work...

5-90
 
The AX-15 is an excellent upgrade. I'm really glad I swapped out my failing BA-10/15.

Good article on the swap:
http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/xjtech/gears/trannyswap/trannyswap.html

A couple things I did different from the post. I had a local hose supply house build my new hydraulic line between the old, stock master cylinder and the new pin style external slave cylinder. And I used the old cat/muffler bracket style that bolts to the Jeep but used the new style bracket on the new tranny by welding the round rod shaped bracket into the old 'V' shaped bracket. Also at this time I replaced the old X-member with a low profile one from Rusty's 4X4. Email me if you have any questions, I know I didn't do a very good job describing the mods. Good Luck.

Woody
 
It isn't a hard thing to do,looking back on my swap the hardest part was figuring out which parts I needed to make it work.With the right parts it should "fall" together.The cross member(this is a 89) is one of the notable changes made in the swap,on mine I had to move it rearward(instead of the measurement from the lower control arm mount to cross member being 10" it's 14" now)but the holes are already there,they just need to be tapped.The cross member on my 89 even had the a second set of holes from the factory which are the correct pattern for the ax mount.......convenient?Yes.

You will probably need a pilot bushing from a jeep cj.On a side note when ordering clutch parts and any other parts for the swap I ordered 95 parts instead of 89 parts and everything went together fine.

Make sure the ax you have has a vent on it.Some years did not have the vent on the tranny,it was on the shift tower.When I got my tranny from man-trans.com it did not have a vent,which I suspect this is a earlier year transmission(correct me if I'm wrong here)and since the tranny did not come with shifter and shift tower I had to buy one separately,and of course the shifter didn't have a vent built in so I had to make one.All of this I had to realize on my own(hey ma I did it all by myself!!)because in all the searching I did before and during the swap I saw no mention of this important little detail.SO NOW YOU KNOW,wink wink.
 
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jjvande said:
if you're going for the swap...might as well make sure you go with the external slave setup.

i second that, big time. after replacing the internal one's every 8 mo. or so for a few years, i got sick of it and finally got an external out of the jy. it really sucks when the pos goes out when you have to drive to downtown LA for 3 days in a row for work. driving in gridlock traffic blows with no clutch.
 
so whats the deal with the external/interior slave setup? i know the link above probly says all the things anyone needs to know, but if for one day it dosnt work, it can be seen here. i plan on posting the whole swap with pictures in this tread when i get the tranny.
 
I did this in mine also...but for different reasons. Mine started out as a '94 with factory 2WD...I got a peugeot/NP231 combo for free and swapped that in as part of a 4WD conversion...crapped out within 3 months so I went the AX15 conversion route from man-trans.com, like was mentioned before. However, I had my old shifter and stuff from my 2WD AX15 so it wasn't as big a deal.

In order to do the external slave, you'll need a bellhousing from a '94 or later 4.0 motor. The transmission itself is the same. You'll also need the clutch master cylinder for the same year, as the slave and master are one piece connected with a formed hard line. Anything '93 and older will have the internal slave, which DOES work fine (I've run one on my '94 for two.5 years now, long story how that happened...) and it hasn't been a problem yet, but it IS more susceptible to dirt, wear, and such. The external slave is serviceable without having to drop the trans; the internal is not.

Keep in mind that the Peugeot is a 21-spline output, whereas the AX15 is a 23-spline output. Thus you cannot re-use the transfer case from your Peugeot without swapping a 23-spline input gear into it. This input gear can be found in any same-model transfer case behind an AX15, or any same-model transfer case behind a post-'91 AW4. I'd recommend just scoring an AX15/NP231 combo to reduce the headaches on your part.

The 4WD shift linkage is different between the two trannys, at least in my case. Be prepared to have to sort that out as well. Also, driveshaft length on the AX15 is about an inch shorter. Remember that, or you'll end up like me and have your driveshaft try and poke a hole in the t-case on every bump you hit.

The pilot bushing may or may not be an issue. I ended up having to custom-machine one for my application (Peugeot to '94 HO motor) because it didn't exist anywhere, but on someone doing a more traditional swap you might end up OK. There are two different pilot shaft diameters on the AX15, so depending on which year you get, you'll need to find the appropriate bushing.

Hmm...what else...

As far as the NV3550 and the AX15 - they share the same bellhousing bolt pattern. Meaning, if you've got an AX15 installed already, you can just unbolt it from the bellhousing and NV3550 will bolt right up. NV35xx trannies have been around long enough where they're starting to show up in salvage yards and rebuild shops, so you might be able to score one for cheap. They have a slightly lower first gear than the AX15 (4.0 vs. 3.8ish) and have a more stout internal bearing setup so they can handle more torque. They are also more stubborn to shift in cold weather and can be fairly noisy at times.

Any other questions, just let me know.
 
ok so lets get this straight. the external clutch slave is more disierable and is on the outside of the bellhousing. they came this way starting in 94. spline counts on the shafts from the puegeot/TC setups are different than the ax-15 to the puegeot TC years, so a 23 spline shaft is needed to run an ax15 with the original Transfer Case. or, just get an ax15 with a TC already on it. they are good up to high milage. You need a CJ5 304 3 spd piolt bushing for it to all mate up, and the tranny crossmember needs to be moved back, wether the holes are already there for you or not. you also need the whole hydrolic clutch setup line from the same year as the ax15 you purchase. and the driveshaft on the ax15 vehicles is an inch shorter... which means that an ax15 is an inch longer? and be careful if you dont have much of a lift, becasue it will jab at your tcase... but acctualy this is good if your going spring over. an extra inch not to worry about with the driveshaft is good when soa in the rear.
so is there anything that i forgot? or anything that isnt nessesary? is that it?
 
stupidfast said:
ok so lets get this straight. the external clutch slave is more disierable and is on the outside of the bellhousing. they came this way starting in 94. spline counts on the shafts from the puegeot/TC setups are different than the ax-15 to the puegeot TC years, so a 23 spline shaft is needed to run an ax15 with the original Transfer Case. or, just get an ax15 with a TC already on it. they are good up to high milage. You need a CJ5 304 3 spd piolt bushing for it to all mate up, and the tranny crossmember needs to be moved back, wether the holes are already there for you or not. you also need the whole hydrolic clutch setup line from the same year as the ax15 you purchase. and the driveshaft on the ax15 vehicles is an inch shorter... which means that an ax15 is an inch longer? and be careful if you dont have much of a lift, becasue it will jab at your tcase... but acctualy this is good if your going spring over. an extra inch not to worry about with the driveshaft is good when soa in the rear.
so is there anything that i forgot? or anything that isnt nessesary? is that it?

Just to clarify a few things...

Both the Peugeot and the AX15 have the same transfer case behind them, the NP231. The Peugeot trans has a 21-spline output, and the AX15 has a 23-spline output (more splines = stronger). So, you'll either need to find a t-case that has a 23-spline input, or you need to find just a 23-spline input gear for the t-case and swap that into your existing one.

IF you go with the external slave setup, you will need to buy or find the whole thing, including the newer bellhousing. If you stay with the internal setup, the slave cylinder and plumbing from the Peugeot will work fine on the AX15, but you will still need an AX15 bellhousing.

The AX15 does have a slightly longer housing than the Peugeot does, which does mean the driveshaft length is slightly less, all other things considered equal. When you say you're going SOA - are you talking about in a YJ then? Being that this is, well, NAXJA, I kind of assumed this was an XJ you were talking about, which is what I have, which is already set up SOA in the rear. FWIW, with the AX15, NP231, and a D44 rear with about 4.5" of lift, my rear driveshaft is around 30" long from u-joint to u-joint.

I'm not sure about what specific pilot bushing you use; like I said, I just ended up making one on a lathe out of some oil-impregnated brass.
 
Man,where was this thread when I was doing my swap!!!!

Like mentioned above a cj5 304 pilot bushing worked well for my 89.

I haven't hooked my np231 linkage up yet what's the easiest way to make it work?the ax15 that man-trans sent me didn't come with any kind of bracket.Do I have to buy the newer 94 and up t-case linkage or can I make the old 89 that I have now work?How do I mount it to the trans?.

T.I.A

b.t.w almost forgot,I have a 23 spline np231 input gear to mate up an ax15 here if anyone needs one.
 
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vetteboy said:
When you say you're going SOA - are you talking about in a YJ then? Being that this is, well, NAXJA, I kind of assumed this was an XJ you were talking about, which is what I have, which is already set up SOA in the rear.
Could be an MJ.
 
Nooooo, that sounds too much like nambla.

The early AX-15s are 21 spline output. No idea where the cutoff is, probably 90.
Jeep on!
--Pete
 
Pete M said:
Nooooo, that sounds too much like nambla.

The early AX-15s are 21 spline output. No idea where the cutoff is, probably 90.
Jeep on!
--Pete

The AX-15 didn't appear in jeeps until late '89...my experience with them has been that they're all 23-spline, but those changeover years can be sort of wierd, so who knows.
 
I checked on car-part.com and theres a difference between 89-91 AX-15s and 92-93 AX-15s. I'm betting it's output spline count. 94+ will have the external slave so that's why there's a cutoff at 93.
Jeep on!
--Pete
 
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