ghetdjc320 Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Has anyone here down an ax15 tear down? How far into it do you have to go to get to the thrust bearing? Wanting to upgrade mine due to the extra torque and HP with the Marlin Crawler upgrade bearing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Yup, quite a few times. Which thrust bearing are you looking to replace? 5th will take no time at all, 1st will take a bit longer but can be removed and pressed back on without removing 3rd, but can be tough. To get the 1st, you have to remove both shafts from the plate. Honestly though, if you're in there it doesn't take much time to press off everything and replace your bearings and synchros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 47 minutes ago, howeitsdone said: Yup, quite a few times. Which thrust bearing are you looking to replace? 5th will take no time at all, 1st will take a bit longer but can be removed and pressed back on without removing 3rd, but can be tough. To get the 1st, you have to remove both shafts from the plate. Honestly though, if you're in there it doesn't take much time to press off everything and replace your bearings and synchros. . Was wanting to upgrade the thrust bearing for first and the rear bearing plate. Haven’t disassembled one before. The unit I have has 90k miles on it and was shifting great but can’t say how long it will last behind the LS engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 Are you building up the LS? Fortunately these things are pretty simple to work on. Just gotta keep track of the little pieces. And 100% you need a mounted vice to hold it. The absolutely most difficult part is hoisting it up on that vise and securing the jaws by yourself. Things that will come in handy are a steering wheel puller for 5th and bearing separator kit for the rest. Technically could get away with the bearing separator kit for install too, I think, but a press is ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 9, 2023 Author Share Posted February 9, 2023 Upon further research, it looks like it should handle quite a bit of torque. I’ve been toying with the idea of heads, cam, lifter and maybe bumping into the low 400’s range on HP but I think I’ll keep it stock for now and have Marlin build be a tranny down the road when I decide to do the engine upgrades. I don’t think it should have any problem handling the torque of my current engine build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSch88L Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 Can anybody chime in on what's the difference is between the AX5 and AX15 besides the all-aluminum case on the 15? Because I've got a shop rebuild manual in PDF but it's for the AX5, if that could help the OP... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 On 2/8/2023 at 11:43 PM, ghetdjc320 said: Upon further research, it looks like it should handle quite a bit of torque. I’ve been toying with the idea of heads, cam, lifter and maybe bumping into the low 400’s range on HP but I think I’ll keep it stock for now and have Marlin build be a tranny down the road when I decide to do the engine upgrades. I don’t think it should have any problem handling the torque of my current engine build. The AX15 HD will handle 300hp and around 300 lb of torque. So more than that any you are on the ragged edge. 400hp probably wouldn't end well. Any higher and I would swap in a Tremec TKX that can handle a lot of torque and horsepower (600+), 70barracuda swapped one into his LS MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 3 hours ago, Limeyjeeper said: The AX15 HD will handle 300hp and around 300 lb of torque. So more than that any you are on the ragged edge. 400hp probably wouldn't end well. Any higher and I would swap in a Tremec TKX that can handle a lot of torque and horsepower (600+), 70barracuda swapped one into his LS MJ. Have you seen what Marlin does with these tranny’s? They’ve been pounding 550 lbft of torque through their builds through KOH, Baja and the drag strip. The ax15 gearset is quite impressive across all the years but the 1st gear thrust washer and the rear bearing retainer plate upgrade really increase the torque ratings apparently. The Marin crawler board has a ton of tech in these trannys in their Japanese model numbers: R150/151f and the R154 in the Supra. https://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=103716.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 Interesting. I got my AX15 from Novak maybe they do the same thing. If I was at 500hp I would probably still use a trans build for that hp from the factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 14 hours ago, Limeyjeeper said: Interesting. I got my AX15 from Novak maybe they do the same thing. If I was at 500hp I would probably still use a trans build for that hp from the factory. The novak or any other new ax15 for that matter is just a new tranny from Aisin. There’s no real upgrade aside from some minor tweak of the gear material which never were a strength issue. The parts Marlin manufactures for these are substantial upgrades but require a complete tear down as listed above. Here are the parts from Marlin Crawler: https://www.marlincrawler.com/transmission/parts-upgrade The “R” series parts are applicable to the AX15. The bearing retainer and thrust washer are the key strength upgrades but the shift forks are a nice complement for a built tranny also. Been thinking of sending them an ax15 core for a rebuild and have them add those components. Just not sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 It is an interesting option for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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