Warthog Posted December 4, 2022 Share Posted December 4, 2022 Hello all! New here and fairly new to jeeps period. I am building both a Cherokee and a Comanche from the ground up. Both will have 4.0’s built by me with edelbrock carbs and a Clifford intake. Rebuilding both front and rear axles. New gears, 4:10 with moly axles and lockers on the Cherokee and 4:56 moly axles and lockers on the Comanche. Currently lookin for a hp d30 for the Comanche as it was a 2wd. I’m good in the Cherokee. My issue is with the tranny tcase. From what I’ve gathered the tranny of choice is the ax15. If I’m wrong please advise. I’m wanting to install an ax15 and the tcase from a yj or tj or anything else per suggestions. Read about clocking issues? Not sure I totally understand this meaning. What is involved in putting this into both vehicles? From what I understand the clocking is mating the tranny with the tcase. If I install both from the same vehical will it be a bolt install? Any suggestions would be appreciated as well as any suggestions with my builds. Oh the Comanche is an 86 2wd and the Cherokee is an 87 4wd. Both are sticks. Toyed with the idea of a 283 install but decided to build the 4.0. Should pull some good numbers when I’m thru. Shooting for 300 but will be happy with 250+. I have an h.o. 4.0 I’m building for the Comanche as it has no motor at all at the moment. Rebuilding the remix 4.0 in the Cherokee for it. Deleting the computer all together and kickin it old school. Much more simple. To me anyway. Many thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 Cool sounding projects! If you are looking for a manual, the AX15 is the transmission of choice. As you read, the tcase is clocked differently on the YJ and probably also TJ. What this means is when you are sitting behind the transmission output looking towards the front the the vehicle, the tcase is rotated relative to where it would be in a Comanche or Cherokee. If I remember correctly the tcase is rotated upwards clockwise more on the Wranglers to give them better ground clearance. The issue is this position may cause fitment issues with the top of the tcase hitting the cab floor. I really don't know the details myself but I tend to remember reading the some people hammer their floor, others drill new mounting holes in the tcase. The easiest thing to do is get a tcase from a Cherokee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gojira94 Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 On 12/6/2022 at 9:13 PM, pizzaman09 said: The easiest thing to do is get a tcase from a Cherokee. The difference is the rear half of the transmission case. I'm going through this right now/ soon. I got a drivetrain from a 93 YJ and have to re-clock it. The transfer case mounting flange on the back of the transmission has enough meat that the 6 holes could be drilled more clockwise for the YJ or more counter-clockwise for the XJ/MJ. That way all the 231s could be the same for either application and the trans could be drilled for whatever was on the production line. XJ/MJ are 10* counter-clockwise from the YJ orientation. I got a jig to do it. It bolts to the transmission flange where the transfer case would bolt up, and has a 2nd set of holes 10* to the left that guide drilling the new holes. One way of thinking about the difference between YJ/TJ holes vs XJ/MJ holes is like ignition timing. YJ/TJ is clocked 13* BTDC; XJ/MJ is clocked 23* BTDC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSch88L Posted December 18, 2022 Share Posted December 18, 2022 Here you go!!! ax15_np231tcasereclocktemplate.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 18, 2022 Share Posted December 18, 2022 I've got a TJ trans in my 88 and appreciate the bit of extra t-case ground clearance that the extra clocking gives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandBoost98 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 On 12/17/2022 at 11:08 PM, Pete M said: I've got a TJ trans in my 88 and appreciate the bit of extra t-case ground clearance that the extra clocking gives. Did you have to do anything to make clearance for the tcase being clocked up? Any modifications to the floor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 I didn't, but I've got a custom crossmember. it's very close but has never made contact. from what I've read the only mod needed for an otherwise factory truck is a couple whacks with a big hammer. but now that I think about it, that might be for guys reusing the Peugeot crossmember rather than the AX-15 one. the AX-15 one has a 1" drop in the middle. the TJ ax-15 shifter was a bigger pain, but that can be overcome with heat and a bit of a re-bend. (or finding an XJ/MJ shifter) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandBoost98 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Pete M said: I didn't, but I've got a custom crossmember. it's very close but has never made contact. from what I've read the only mod needed for an otherwise factory truck is a couple whacks with a big hammer. but now that I think about it, that might be for guys reusing the Peugeot crossmember rather than the AX-15 one. the AX-15 one has a 1" drop in the middle. the TJ ax-15 shifter was a bigger pain, but that can be overcome with heat and a bit of a re-bend. (or finding an XJ/MJ shifter) Good to know. I wonder if its the same for an AX5. Id much rather beat the floor with a hammer than re clock it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 33 minutes ago, GrandBoost98 said: Good to know. I wonder if its the same for an AX5. good question. in XJs the 4.0 is far more likely to be paired with an auto (making the AX-15 kinda scarce), but the 2.5 is far more likely to be paired with a manual. so I guess diving into the TJ/YJ realm is just less common for 2.5L MJ/XJ owners? but if I had to wager a guess, the wranglers will likely all be clocked in a similar fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gojira94 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 56 minutes ago, Pete M said: good question. in XJs the 4.0 is far more likely to be paired with an auto (making the AX-15 kinda scarce), but the 2.5 is far more likely to be paired with a manual. so I guess diving into the TJ/YJ realm is just less common for 2.5L MJ/XJ owners? but if I had to wager a guess, the wranglers will likely all be clocked in a similar fashion. I'm looking at making what appears to be a crossmember for an AX-4 or AX-5 work with a YJ AX-15. My 87 MJ was originally 2.5/ AX4, but has been swapped to 4.0 and back to 2.5 before I got it. I'm pretty sure the trans behind the 4cyl was an AX-5. From all I can tell, crossmember 52002328 seems to fit everything offered behind a 2.5 through the end of 1987. 52002329 is for AX-15 89-90. What's going into it now is a 93 YJ setup, as mentioned above. Is there an obvious visual tell between the two crossmembers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 the AX-15 has a 1" dip in the middle. all others are straight across the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZLAJeep Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Guess we've lucked out. Have two XJs with factory AX-15 and was lucky enough to find a 3rd manual XJ in a junkyard to swap into the MJ. Apparently we skipped many of the issues mentioned above by taking the AX-15 from a XJ. With that said, we are still working out the kinks on the MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandBoost98 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 14 hours ago, Pete M said: good question. in XJs the 4.0 is far more likely to be paired with an auto (making the AX-15 kinda scarce), but the 2.5 is far more likely to be paired with a manual. so I guess diving into the TJ/YJ realm is just less common for 2.5L MJ/XJ owners? but if I had to wager a guess, the wranglers will likely all be clocked in a similar fashion. They are. I'm just hoping I can get away with not clocking it to the MJ/XJ position. I actually have an AX15 from a XJ in my garage but don't think itll be worth putting in this jeep after sourcing all the parts to run it behind the 2.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gojira94 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 Aha. So this is a flat-topper, no additional drop in the center section. Which means re-clocking is an absolute must. But I shouldn’t have to beat up the floor, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 that seems logical, but I would try it before reclocking. or find an AX-15 crossmember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gojira94 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Pete M said: that seems logical, but I would try it before reclocking. or find an AX-15 crossmember. Cool. I'm not the least bit intimidated by re-clocking the trans case. I'm jealous of JZLAJeep, very few XJs at all come through my local yards and all of them have been AW4-equipped and 96 and later, so AX-15 crossmembers are really hard to come by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 car-part.com might be able to help find the crossmember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Instead of hammering the floor or reclocking it, what I did (for context mine was a 89 BA/10 2wd and I got the ax-15 and np231 from a 92 YJ) was I made 1 inch spacers from 1/4 inch square tubing to drop the whole crossmember down low enough. TC fits with no problems. I did this after getting frustrated not being able to find a ax15 crossmember. You could do this and when u find an ax15 cross member just swap it over. I'm no longer running mine like that because I have a new crossmember for long arms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 On 12/19/2022 at 5:51 PM, JZLAJeep said: Guess we've lucked out. Have two XJs with factory AX-15 and was lucky enough to find a 3rd manual XJ in a junkyard to swap into the MJ. Apparently we skipped many of the issues mentioned above by taking the AX-15 from a XJ. With that said, we are still working out the kinks on the MJ. I'm still using the YJ 4wd shifter in my truck but will soon be swapping in a console and therefore need the AX-15 4wd shifter bracket assembly, do u have any or would u be willing to sell the shifter from one of those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gojira94 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 8 minutes ago, Warren99 said: Instead of hammering the floor or reclocking it, what I did (for context mine was a 89 BA/10 2wd and I got the ax-15 and np231 from a 92 YJ) was I made 1 inch spacers from 1/4 inch square tubing to drop the whole crossmember down low enough. TC fits with no problems. I did this after getting frustrated not being able to find a ax15 crossmember. You could do this and when u find an ax15 cross member just swap it over. I'm no longer running mine like that because I have a new crossmember for long arms. Excellent idea. Now why didn't I think of that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 I thought I had pictures on my phone, but I couldn't find any Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 19 minutes ago, Gojira94 said: Excellent idea. Now why didn't I think of that? aside from losing that inch of ground clearance? all depends what you're doing with the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Yea, but as long as your not immediately doing some hard offroading it would work until u find the right crossmember, plus it's basically free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gojira94 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Not to yet again hijack the OP's thread and wander further off-topic, I myself don't ever intend to do any hard offroading with an MJ. Mine took far too long to find and buy in the first place to beat it too much. Besides, any hard offroading could easily be done in something I'd care far less about, and would have a frame rather than a hybrid unibody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 the MJ unibody is plenty strong for anything you can throw at it. (non rusty of course) high-centering happens way more often than you might think with mild trails. but then the real question is: will that extra inch make a difference? probably not. I'm not actually stuck, I just parked for a photo. but it was the most relevant pic I could find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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