TJ AX15 Shifter

Hey fellas,

I'm starting to doubt my knowledge of XJ Tech but I have yet another of my countless questions for this tranny swap I'm doing. I picked up an AX15 out of a '97 TJ for fairly cheap. My question is, will the shift lever work with the XJ?? The PM says they are two different parts and I haven't got an XJ shifter to compare it to. Anyone know if it'll work?

As far as the trans is concerned, it should work fine. The shift lever may have a different bend to it, but otherwise, they both attach to the trans the same way. Another thing to know is the holes on the back of the trans for the t-case are clocked differently, raising the frt. output of the t-case higher. Possibly a good thing, but could also cause other problems.

Are you talking about the t-case shifter or the tranny shifter? The tranny shifters are similar enough and you could always swap in an XJ shifter or aftermaket if you'd like. As to the t-case shifter, they are quite different, but the XJ shifter can be made to work. I used a simple bar of steel and pieces from linkages of both a TJ and MJ, but I had the TJ t-case so your's will be different. I imagine that the XJ linkage will work fine, you might need to create a pivot point on the tranny like I did (that is if you have this style of linkage, I've seen XJs with a completely different style but I think they had 242s).
Jeep on!
--Pete



This is a comparison of the t-case in my sis's TJ to the 207 in my 86 MJ (same tilt as the 231/242).



And while we're on the topic, this is how I adapted the MJ master clutch line to the TJ's plastic slave line. It's a $2 adapter compression fitting from the hardware store. 1/4" to 5/16" I think.

Yeah, I was curious about the actual tranny shifter but the t-case shifter would have been my next question. I'm going from an AW4 and 231 and the TJ AX15 and an XJ 231. I got part numbers for factory t-case linkages for the XJ with an AX15 but in the end it'll cost me about $200 so if I can do it cheaper, I'd much rather do that.

The AW4 and ax15 are very close in length. I swapped an AW4 into a friends TJ that had the 3spd. auto and I was able to take the two brackets for the t-case shifter and cut and splice them together to get the correct length. If you got the new trans and t-case with the brackets, they may work just fine as is. The clocking issue was a problem on the TJ, as the t-case ended up hitting the skidplate at the frt. output. I added some more shim under the left side engine mount to fix that. In your case, the clocking will go the opposite way, and may cause interference with the floorpan.

xjguy98 said:

Hey fellas,

I'm starting to doubt my knowledge of XJ Tech but I have yet another of my countless questions for this tranny swap I'm doing. I picked up an AX15 out of a '97 TJ for fairly cheap. My question is, will the shift lever work with the XJ?? The PM says they are two different parts and I haven't got an XJ shifter to compare it to. Anyone know if it'll work?

Click to expand...

I swapped a 98 TJ tranny into my 93 XJ and the stick shift from the TJ is the ONLY one that worked. The XJ shifter was too short to reach the tranny from inside the Jeep. I currently have the TJ shifter in my XJ and I think it sucks. It is way to long, kinda like driving a semi-truck with a long throw shifter. If there is a way to swap the mounting hardware between the 2 sticks, that would be the thing to do. Also, you will have problems with the clocking of the t-case at the tranny. I am told that if you swap out the tail portion of the TJ tranny with one from a like tranny XJ, you can solve this problem, but I have yet to try it. Currently I have a large t-case drop on to address the clocking problems, otherwise when I would go over the littlest bump, my tranny felt like it was going to come thru the floor. Good Luck!!

As an aside I asked B&M what the differences were between their aftermarket TJ and XJ shifters was. They told me the TJ shifter was shorter than the XJ and that the bend was different. Since then they have come out with an XJ shfter. I was trying to find a solution so that I could plug my cell phone charger into the aux power outlet and still be able to put it in 5th which the stock setup won't allow, the charger sticks out too far. I'm solving my problem by putting in a hard wiring kit that connects to my stereo and uses an external antenna for my moto 815 and using a bluetooth headset but I would still like to get one of those B&M shifters.

JBFried67 said:

I swapped a 98 TJ tranny into my 93 XJ and the stick shift from the TJ is the ONLY one that worked. The XJ shifter was too short to reach the tranny from inside the Jeep. I currently have the TJ shifter in my XJ and I think it sucks. It is way to long, kinda like driving a semi-truck with a long throw shifter. If there is a way to swap the mounting hardware between the 2 sticks, that would be the thing to do. Also, you will have problems with the clocking of the t-case at the tranny. I am told that if you swap out the tail portion of the TJ tranny with one from a like tranny XJ, you can solve this problem, but I have yet to try it. Currently I have a large t-case drop on to address the clocking problems, otherwise when I would go over the littlest bump, my tranny felt like it was going to come thru the floor. Good Luck!!

Click to expand...

Why not just cut it down, heat it and rebend it, rethread it for say a hurst T handle that comes with like 4 or 5 adapters ?

RichP said:

Why not just cut it down, heat it and rebend it, rethread it for say a hurst T handle that comes with like 4 or 5 adapters ?

Click to expand...

Eventually, I will fix it, but at the present, I have to many other projects to complete that take priority.

hmmmm...all of a sudden this swap seems to be a bit more complicated than I once thought it would be. If it makes any difference, I'm not changing transfer cases, so I'll be mating a TJ tranny to an XJ 231. They only differ by 1 year so the spline count won't be a problem but I never thought about the clocking issue, I just thought that a late model AX15 was a late model AX15......silly me

Personally I like the extra ground clearance and the extra leverage of the tall shifter handle. The TJ AX-15 may not be a true "bolt-in", but it's not that bad either.
Jeep on!
--Pete

just a thought that crossed my mind which no one has addressed...if your clocking of the t-case is off, won't that affect how much fluid you can put in the case, causing it to hold too little or too much? maybe its a small enough change that it won't matter or maybe i'm looking at it all wrong and its not an issue at all but i just thought i'd bring it up.