Hey Guys,
I just a bought a 94 wrangler and now it grinds when shifitng into
4th. What should I check before I refinance my house to pay a professional to fix it. Any and all help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. This is my first Jeep. ThanksKap
Make sure you have the proper gear lube in the tranny. Flush and bleed the clutch hydraulic system.
If those are OK, you have a problem with the clutch or the tranny. Quick test: put tranny in neutral, clutch out, rev to 1500 rpnm or so. Push the clutch in, wait for 5 seconds, try to put it in reverse (no synchros here). If it goes in quietly, good chance you have bad synchros on 4th gear. $$$$$$ for tranny work. If it grinds the gears going into reverse, the clutch is not disengaging fully. Look at bad master, slave, or clutch plate.
Mileage and eng> Hey Guys,
Odometer reads 108k. I'll try that tonight. If it acts like the bad Synchros scenario you described, is something an average guy could do with a manual in his gerage?
You either have a AX5 if it is a 4 cyl or a AX15 if it is a 6 cyl. If syncros are going bad I would opt for a complete rebuilt or swap out. While they are not terrible trannies that are not great ones either. The AX15 is the stronger of the two but still a MD tranny at best. Starting around 2001 Jeep switched over to a NV3550 to replace AX15. The only deferrence between the NV3500 and 3550 is that the 3550 is designed as a direct bolt in replacement for the AX15 while the 3500 is not. If you whant to go the swap route you should look into finding a used NV3550 as it is a better tranny than the AX15.
----------------- TheSnoMan.com
Well, depending on which way you go and what you need.....how about a brand new AX-15 & Clutch Kit, sounds like a good price and is ship- able:
Can you do it in your garage? Yes, sorta, maybe, well, hmmmm, guess I would not reccomend it. You need the factory service manual, not Hayes or Chilton. There are enough shims, detent balls, spring clips, and other nasty little parts to make it a bit iffy for a novice.
And an update on the 5 second spin down test: 5 seconds is the target,
10 seconds or less is certainly in the reasonable range.Kapper94 wrote:
I have the 4cyl. Will the NV3550 be a direct bolt replacement for the AX5? I'm beginning to have some buyers remorse. Thanks for the help.
Hey Roy,
When you say Synchros, are you talking about the synchro rings that come in a rebuild kit? Sorry I'm just unfamiliar with the terminology.
As for doing it myself in my gerage, I have ordered a repair manual that comes on CD and I repair automated equipment for a living, with that said are there any special tools or "wish I would have known that" issues I would need to know? I am a cheepskate and if I can do it myself to save $$$$ then I can't go without trying. Thanks again for the help
Nope, no one makes a puny 9" clutch disk to fit the NV3550 nor AX15:
You should have an AX-5 in your buggy, not a bad tranny, should be plenty of used ones out there. It's the smaller of the two used in the Wranglers. I've not rebuilt one, so can't comment on any 'gotcha's
If you do get > Hey Roy,
Kapper94 proclaimed:
Not rocket science. You'll want a good jack or some really strong buddies. If you swap the transmission, might as well redo the clutch while it is apart. Probably need a pilot tool, some places rent them but not hard to buy--used to align everything when you put it together to avoid vibration.
If it is the tranny, see if you can identify the model transmission and ask here if the old Redline trick might keep it running for a while.
No, it is quite doable to install a AX15 in place of a AX5. Check out link below
Correction:
They are extremely picky about the correct transmission fluid in them, even for a top up.
If someone even topped it up with the wrong grade fluid, the syncros will act like they are dying. If it is a little low in fluid, same thing.
The cheapest and easiest thing to do would be a fluid change, then you know for sure that isn't the issue.
It is 'very' unusual for the tranny to go out on a 4 banger, but can happen. It 'sure' isn't worth jury rigging something else to fit when there are tons of them on the road so the wreckers should have good used one if you aren't up to a rebuild.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
It is not that rare especail if you play hard off road with it
Someone with your limited grasp would say something like this. The AX5 to AX15 upgrade swap is fairly popular and well knows to anyone that REALLY knows Jeeps and how to build them (unlike yourself).
----------------- TheSnoMan.com
They only people that would say that are one with limited vision and understanding like you and Mike Romain. the AMC 2.5 does a fine job if it has propergearing for the load on it and it has good low speed torque for its size and is a sturdy engine. If you install big tires and a lift with stock gears it will no do well but if you take the time to regear it is will do a fine job. IWe have a 2000 cherokee with a 2.5 and a 5 speed we bought new and it has 81K miles on it now and it has stock tires and 4.10 gears and it does not lack at all in traffic. (it has even pulled a 2K trailer a few times around town without busting a gut) We drove a few 4.0 cheokee with 5 speeds before we bought the 2.5 one and I was not impressed by the overall performance on the 4.0 one with its stock factory 3.07 gears that requires a lot more clutch action to get rolling and uninspiring OD performance while the 2.5 one with 4.10 gear was more "fun" to drive in town where it sees most of its life. That little 2.5 will pull OD strongly from 30 MPH if you want it too. I never regreted getting a
2.5 in it and would do it over. It also get pretty good MPG for what it is with consistant very high teens to low 20's in urban/city traffic using A/C too. On highway it will do about 25 MPG and once got----------------- TheSnoMan.com
Well fortunately for stupid people like you, you don't have any mountains like California:
You mean people like you do not know what real mountains are. I spent a lot of time in rockies and I lived at about 7000 ft MSL and that was in a valley too. I have been above 12000 feet in a vehicle a lot and driven up peaks peak 4 times and there is NOTHING that you can tell me about high altitude driving. Also one of the quickest trips up and down the "peak" was in a 4 cyl Toyota. (high tesh 4 valve per cylinder engine seem to far better in thin air because of increased induction effecency) There was actually a time before exhaust emission days that vehicle bound for high elevation sales came with deeper axle ratios. All naturally aspiried engines loss power with altitude and deeper gears can help more than a air filter or dual exhaust. There are those like you and Mike though that think gears do not matter at all. How did the Jeep ever rise to fame in WW2 with its 60 HP engine? Gears that made good use of availble power.
----------------- TheSnoMan.com
TOTAL BULLSH*T! And the WWII Jeep was made to carry, and was lifted by one soldier before the Contract was OK'd. God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O mailto: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
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