AX-15 Expert Advise Needed...

92 XJ (internal slave cyl) 231, 4.0

I'm trying to resurrect my beast but I'm in a pinch I have heard 2 things from 2 reliable mechanics and pretty much I need to know from someone's experience.I had a new clutch kit in the Jeep and everything was working fine for about 2,000 miles. I coasted out of a driveway backwards (to keep from waking my buddies baby) I went to press the clutch and it was rock hard. Like an Idiot, I pushed the pedal and it popped down. I shifted into 1st then 2nd then 3rd and 4th the pedal started swinging back and forth with zero pressure. I drove it 30 miles on the freeway home using my starter at stoplights to start and it got me there.First mechanic said it was throwout bearing and slave cyl 2nd said I would have heard the bearing as I drove home and that I probably pushed the seal out in the master cyl. It holds fluid and if my buddy presses the cap down really hard and I pump the clutch it starts to gain a bit of pressure back then it starts squishing air from the cap. I have limited funds and I can't do the labor myself so I wan't to order the parts and take it to a mechanic friend but I wan't to know what I'm getting it into before I start. Is it just a Master cyl???

I've had masters with internal seal issues--there was no leak, but pressure wouldn't build. I've also had a slave "pop" off inside the bellhousing. You might try taking off the bottom 3 bolts that hold that bellhousing plate and bend it up/wedge it open and take a look to make sure slave is still in contact with throw-out fork.

*bump*

If you can build pressure by pressing on the cap, sounds like a master cylender to me. Make sure you have a roll pin punch to take the line off the cylender.

Gradon - there is no clutch fork on an ax-15 - the slave is a doughnut wraped around the input shaft, and the bearing is right on it.

i would take it to the first mechanic

Check and make sure the pedal is attached to the linkage.
On my TJ it would bind and pop off
Look under the dash first.

I called it a fork--it's the bracket that pivots that the throw-out bearing(donut) is connected to and the slave(plunger, not donut) pushes. I'm on my 3rd ax15 XJ, btw.

I just had a similar problem when I did my 4.0 conversion and swapped in an AX15 with an internal slave. Brand new clutch kit and slave/throwout, new flywheel also. Drove it about 3 weeks and then "pop" one day going down the road. Thinking the new slave had taken a crap, I limped it back into the garage and pulled the tranny, only to find out that one of the cheesy little U-clips that holds the steel hydraulic input line into it had worked it's way loose and the line popped out of the slave. Tossed all of those clips out and replaced with cotter pins......that'll never happen to me again:wave1:

Jeff

same thing happen to me twice with my 89(ba-10 trans but has the same hydraulics as the ax-15). first time it happened about 10 years ago and it was because the weld failed at the top of the clutch pedal. easy fix, pulled out the pedal assembly and welded it.

second time it happened was a year after a new clutch and hydraulics(slave and master)installation. the slave/throwout went bad. you should be able to see hydraulic/brake fluid leak out the bottom of the bellhousing. the fix was to install a new slave. not a hard fix but you need time, space, tools(e-12 socket, transjack). i did it in my driveway and it took a couple days to get completely finished and on the road. it takes longer to get everything removed so you can slide the trans back then it does to replace the slave and bleed the system.

XJ_ranger said:

If you can build pressure by pressing on the cap, sounds like a master cylender to me. Make sure you have a roll pin punch to take the line off the cylender.

Gradon - there is no clutch fork on an ax-15 - the slave is a doughnut wraped around the input shaft, and the bearing is right on it.

Click to expand...

gradon said:

I called it a fork--it's the bracket that pivots that the throw-out bearing(donut) is connected to and the slave(plunger, not donut) pushes. I'm on my 3rd ax15 XJ, btw.

Click to expand...

Hmmm...

Mine is an internal slave unit, and the slave and throw out are all one piece, that are a doughnut wraped around the input shaft.

I understand that in 94 they went to an external slave with a fork - perhaps this is the linkage system you are fermiliar with?

Gotcha--I've been moving on to newer xjs: 88 w/ba10, 92 w/ax15, 94 w/ax15, and now 96 w/ax15. It's been at least 10yrs since the 92 and so I forgot what the internal slave/throw-out combo looks like(sorry).