Taddraughn's 1989 Comanche Progress Thread

[89 MJ]

On 8/9/2025 at 1:15 PM, taddraughn said:

Is it worth swapping over to an AX15?

I think that this really depends on how you plan on using the truck. If the truck is going to stay stock and see minimal towing or hauling heavy loads, I think that the Peugeot will be fine. Now if you're a person that likes dumping the clutch on occasion or getting rubber when you shift or you plan on towing and hauling a lot with the truck, I'd swap to an AX-15. 

 

Having put a few thousand miles on both transmissions, I can tell you that the Peugeot feels like a car transmission and that the AX-15 feels like a truck transmission. The Peugeot is very smooth and I think it would be very fun in a weekend cruiser type of truck. I also don't think that I've ever heard of anyone blowing up a Peugeot either. I've heard they're weak, but in my years here, I don't recall seeing anyone post that they actually blew the trans up. The AX-15 is comparatively not very smooth. You cannot shift it quickly at all when its cold and it still is not a transmission that wants to be shifted quickly when it gets up to temp. All three of my AX-15 MJs were like this. That said, my truck is on bigger tires, has deeper gears, and a larger rear axle than stuck, plus it tows and hauls on occasion, so the AX-15 was the right way for me to go and I would do it again.

 

Another thing to consider is the long term value. If you fix the truck and then decide to sell it down the road, I think keeping the Peugeot will actually hurt the value, even though it is the factory transmission. The AX-15, especially an external slave AX-15, will add value to the truck. 

 

Now if you do decide to swap in an AX-15, now is the time. I think its far easier to have the transmission connected to the engine and swing them in together than it is to pull the transmission under the truck. Keep in mind, the AX-15 had a different crossmember and the XJ and MJ AX-15s had difference transfer case clocking than the YJ and TJ ones. I believe that the external slave AX-15 came out in 1994 and that is the one that you really want. The new internal slave cylinders are prone to failure.