Eagle_SX4

After cutting the shifter lever down 4.5" it is now as tall as the original shifter. It will work great at this height. The throw between 1st and 2nd is 4.5" which works great.

The AX15 Hurst shifter was discontinued long ago. I am going to make the shifter I have work for now, especially because I need new driveshafts more than a perfect shifter.

The Dakota shifter lands behind the steering wheelin 1st gear. Tomorrow I am going to shorten it about 4.5 inches and see how it works.

The transmission and transfer case are in and the rear axle is in place. Driveshafts have been measured and both will need to be about 2 inches longer. I started on a custom transmission mount that will use the factory cross member. I need to make some feet that will bolt to the cross member.

The swap has begun. AX15 next to the T5 I pulled out. The shifter is in the same spot on both which is nice and makes the swap easier.

Sounds like you are at 1 inch of lift front and rear.

Yes, if it is an external slave setup and it doesn't need to be rebuilt. If it needs to be rebuilt the most I would pay is $100.

I found this on Novak's website while looking at some other parts. They are offering a 4.31:1 first gear for the AX15. https://www.novak-adapt.com/forum/d/56-new-product-ax15-4311-low-first-gear-conversion https://www.novak-adapt.com/catalog/transmission/transmission-parts/ax15-low-first-gear.html Probably not worth it to most at $530, but it is good to see more parts becoming available.

I will also say I have 3.55's with my T5 in my Eagle with 215/75r15 and it feels great and would never want 3.07s. I never understood why that was the standard gear ratio with the manual transmission.

My tires are Toyo Open Country AT3's 285/70r17. They are spec'd at 634 revs/mile. So they are smaller than what you will be running. I would definitely go with 4.56 gears based on that alone. I got better gas milage with my old 31's and 4.10 gears. So don't be afraid of the RPM while cruising it could actually help with better gas milage.

I have 4.10's and 33's with an AX15. Sometimes I wish I had 4.56's. My vote with 35's is go to 4.56's. Also keep in mind that bigger tires means more weight to move so lower gears will help there as well.

I had a similar issue when I did my rear main seal. I had to loosen all the main bearing caps and pull down on the crank slightly to get the upper half of the rear main seal to move and rotate out. You just need to make sure to retorque any bearing cap bolts you loosen. They are supposed to be torqued to 80 ft/lbs. Torque them gradually, first to 40 then 60 then 80.

You can get an AX15 rebuild kit with synchros and bearings for less than $130. They also have lots of other parts should you need anything else. I just finished rebuilding an AX15 2 weeks ago and used a bunch of parts from them. https://www.allstategear.com/AX15-Jeep-Bearing-Kit-with-Synchro-Rings-p/bk163jws.htm

Neither the transmission nor engine needs to be removed to replace the engine rear main seal. The only thing that has to be removed is the oil pan. Which you can remove if you unbolt the shocks and let the front suspension drop out of the way.