87' Peugot tranny croaked! AX15?

One of the engineers at work informed me today that his 87 dumped its tranny. He just put in a new motor and would really like to keep it running, he only has 350k on the Jeep so the rest of the XJ is like new. It has the, forgive me if I spell it wrong, Peugot manual. Its a 4.0 and has a NP 231. He bought this Jeep brand new and is not ready to give it up yet!

Will the AX-15 fit? What year is the best donor and what parts will he need from the donor Jeep?

Will his driveshafts work? I'm not sure which present rear end he has.

All 4 of my XJ's are AW4 auto's, and I know nothing about the XJ straights but I told him I would help find what he needs to get his baby rolling again.

Please help!

Mid-89 to 2000 (IIRC) will have the AX-15, and it's a direct swap. I don't have a detailed writeup, but from what I've found, it should be fairly easy (I'll probably do a writeup when I do the job myself - I'll be changing the gearbox for the fifth time in my 88 sometime soon. Finally got an 89 "donor" vehicle, so I'll have everything handy for the swap and can, hopefully, really write it up.)

I've heard that the NV3550 will also fit directly, but it's a little harder to find (later TJ and very late XJ.)

Note that you WILL NEED the transfer case that came off of the donor gearbox, or a new input gear for your transfer case, since the spline count will be different (21/23 spline - but I don't recall which is when.) The upshot of it is that the AX-15 transfer case will fit, but will not mate to the BA-10 - and vice versa. You'll need either the input gear (might as well change the outside bearings while you're about it...) or the whole tcase.

Also, DO NOT get a 2WD AX-15, if you'd like to keep 4WD. Converting a transmission from 2WD to 4WD requires removing the tailshaft housing, swapping the mainshaft, and sourcing a transfer case adapter housing - in essence, an overhaul (you'll have to tear the thing to bits anyhow.)

You should, however, be able to use the same driveshafts without difficulty.

5-90

Thanks 5-90, I'll start calling the "Yards" tomorrow. Thanks for the tip on the spline count differences, I hadn't thought of that. I'll just get the tranny and T-case as a unit.

Jon

xjtrailrider said:

Thanks 5-90, I'll start calling the "Yards" tomorrow. Thanks for the tip on the spline count differences, I hadn't thought of that. I'll just get the tranny and T-case as a unit.

Jon

Click to expand...

Best idea going. You should be able to use pretty much any AX-15 found in a Jeep (XJ, MJ, or YJ) without too much trouble.

Another Helpful Hint - before you discard the old Peugeot, cut the input shaft off and throw it in your toolbox, so you can use it for a clutch alignment tool You can still use the Peugeot-spec clutch with the AX-15 - the hydraulics changed only as a connection - the bearing is otherwise the same (I checked.) The clutch disc and cover are also the same.

If you get a later AX-15 (1996 and up, I think,) you'll need to get the whole clutch setup as well, since they went to an external slave cylinder in the later years. If you find a spare, I'd like to get the bellhousing, throwout fork, and possibly the front bearing reatiner for the transmission as well, so I can convert mine (I never did think that integral slave was that damn good an idea, and I might still be able to get a greasable throqout bearing - I'd have to check.)

5-90