Ax-5 questions

After 2 days of debaclery (if thats a word) my new ax-5 transmission has been pulled from its home in an '85 xj chief and now lays in my backyard under a tarp awaiting installation. Having never removed a transmission before nor had any idea at all how to do so, it was quite an experience. Nevertheless, out it is, and undamaged. I drained the fluid, but haven't separated it from the t-case yet. That can wait for another day when i'm less tired.

So here come the questions. Sorry to beat a dead horse, but i'm confused as to what fluid to fill it with. The owner's manual says to use 75w-90 gear oil, so i went and bought several quarts of said sythetic fluid, but after reading a bit online, i'm not so sure this is what i should be using. Before you reply, keep in mind I don't really care about "smooth shifting", I just need this one to last. The current tranny in my xj has 190k on it, and this one only has 150k. Only? Well, finding an ax5 around here is, well, a PITA. Anywho. Considering I only put on 3-4k miles on it per year, I shouldn't have any trouble with it lasting.

Next, the flywheel. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the FSM says they aren't resurfaceable, but this may have been referring to the T-5 transmission. Hopefully the one on there is in good enough shape i can grind it down myself and won't have to shell out the $50 to have it resurfaced.

Finally, the clutch. I've found a "Perfection Hytest" clutch kit for $130, so i figure while i've got the junker out I might as well get the clutch taken care of at the same time. I was wondering if anyone is running one of these, and if so are they worth a damn.

The issue of resurfacing the flywheel is really that the master cylinder/ slave cylinder setup isn't really adjustable. If you resurface the flywheel, the clutch will disengage further down the pedal stroke. There are several ways to handle this. I went with a different MC with a bigger bore and a adjustable rod. If you have the internal slave, you can make a shim for behind it, or if it is external, you can shave down the aluminum spacer a few thousandths.

Around here a flywheel resurface is about $30

My understanding is that the newer XJs (beginning in what year I do NOT know) have a contour built into the flywheel, and when resurfaced this is lost. Kejtar may be able to shed some light on this, because he recently went through a mess with a clutch replacement.

There's a thread running now or within the past few days on tranny lubes. The AX-5 is really just a slightly smaller/lighter version of the AX-15. The determination was that for all years of the AX-15 we should be using gear lube rated GL-3 (NOT GL-5). I would apply the same advice to the AX-5.

Redline synth is supposed to be safe for brass synchros. Mobil-1 is not. Dunno about Amsoil.

I have done both the AX-5 and AX-15 flywheel resurface within the last year or so on earlier model XJ's and there was no profile to deal with. Son't know about the newer ones but the earlier models don't have any problem.

I only recommend the redline MT90 available at www.summitracing.com and some performance shops. It's specially formulated to be easy on the soft brass synchros of the AX5 and AX15 trannies.

A GL5 like Mobil 1 syn will eat the synchros and your tranny won't last long. It's possible your tranny has had improper fluid in the past, so I'd buck up to the redline to make that high mileage tranny last as long as possible.

Check out www.carolinaclutch.com for LUK clutches. Just get OEM replacement, no need for a performance clutch.

Have the flywheel resurfaced and replace the pilot bearing too. I had the machine shop that cut my 'wheel press in the new bearing because I didn't trust myself to get it in straight If the flywheel isn't too warped, the shop should only have to take off a couple 1000-ths, which makes a big difference in smoothing out dis/engagement. Like Eagle said, the contoured flywheels have only been made reference to on later model AX15's, like Kejtar's (unfortunately..). I'm running Costal GL3 oil in mine, but I did run Mobile 1 synth (GL5 rated) in the old AX5 I took out for about 2 yrs but didn't notice any bad effects. YMMV though.
Jeff

Ok I need to dig this old thread up to get a little more info on my flywheel on my 89 xj with 4.0.I'm swapping in a ax15 external slave tranny so i went with a 94 up luk pro gold kit and I had my flywheel resurfaced at the local napa machine shop(before I heard that you should'nt resurface)Do the older xj's have a convex flywheel and will the 94 clutch work with the resurfaced 89 flywheel?
If not, should I get a new flywheel?Will I be required to buy a new flywheel for 94 up so as to match it with the 94 up clutch kit?
I guess what I'm trying to say are the 89 and 94 flywheels the same?Thanks for all the help