AX-15 gurus, help me out

[5-90]

I know a guy (as in, actually was there when he pulled the bellhousing and have wheeled with the jeep it went into) that put an AX15 behind a 2.5 by using a 2.5/5speed Dakota bellhousing. It does work.

You will need an uncommon front driveshaft - you want the one from a 2.5/ax5/4wd donor, I'm not entirely sure it'll be the same as a 2.5/ax15/4wd needs but it's your best bet. Hell, I have one sitting on my porch that I haven't managed to get rid of yet, if I can find a cheap way to get it to you it is yours. Also remember you're going to need 4.10s in that d30 probably - check the rear diff ratio before buying one...

I have also heard tell that the 3.9/5speed Dakota on some years had the AX15 in it, with a different bellhousing. I haven't managed to verify this info anywhere but the transmissions in those trucks do superficially resemble an AX15... going to be investigating further tomorrow at the JY.

Why? One of my buddies wheels a Toyota with a 3VZE (turd motor) and an R150 trans, and is pretty sure his motor is on the way out... and the R150 trans is very very very similar to the AX15 (built by Aisin Warner, most gear ratios are the same, many internal parts shared, etc), to the point that the bellhousing to transmission bolt pattern is the same. So it looks like if we pull a 3.9, harness, clutch, clutch slave, bellhousing, pressure plate, and AX15 input shaft + bearing retainer there is a solid chance that it will bolt to the front of his existing transmission, requiring only custom wiring, motor mounts, cooling, exhaust etc. Gonna make a lot of Toyota fans angry with this one :eyes:

Another thing that should be clarified - I've heard a lot of people say you can bolt a 360 V8 to a trans from behind a 4.0. This MAY be (probably is) true of an AMC V8 (gen3 304/360/390/401 and possibly others?) but is certainly NOT true of the Mopar smallblock V8s (318/360) as they use a completely different pattern. You really probably shouldn't put an AX15 behind a smallblock V8 anyways, unless you intend to keep your foot out of it... and then why bother swapping away from a 4.0?

The AX-15 is essentially the same box as the R150 (or whatever the Toyota desi is,) and the 2.5L in the Dakota was usually the AMC 4-150 anyhow (the AMC four lasted a couple more years in the Dakota than it did in Jeep applications, oddly enough.) So, that helps. I'd merely forgotten about it.

Know that the V6-238 uses the same bellhousing pattern as the other Dodge LA V8 and V10 engines - the 238ci is, I want to recall, the 318 less two cylinders (or perhaps the 360? I'd have to look that up.) But, the V60238, V8-318/360, and V10-488/515 all use the same bellhousing pattern - which is different from the AMC pattern.

And, I am informed that the bellhousing and associated parts are identical between the AX-15e (external slave) and the NV3550. The AX-15i (internal slave) may be converted to the AX-15e simply by swapping the bellhousing, installing the clutch fork and pivot, and installing the AX-15e front bearing retainer. (this last step is commonly forgotten, which is why I stressed it. If you don't do it, your clutch will not work.

 

[kastein]

I know you are 100% correct on ax15e/I, but not sure on the nv3550 sharing a bellhousing pattern. That would certainly simplify this swap though, as that is the other transmission people say came behind the 3.9!

 

[5-90]

I know you are 100% correct on ax15e/I, but not sure on the nv3550 sharing a bellhousing pattern. That would certainly simplify this swap though, as that is the other transmission people say came behind the 3.9!

As I said, it's based on reports from the field - I haven't had the parts on hand to check. However, the sources from which I'd gotten the information haven't given me any reason to distrust them (beyond the lack of direct physical verification, which is why the information is always qualified...)

 

[kastein]

As I said, it's based on reports from the field - I haven't had the parts on hand to check. However, the sources from which I'd gotten the information haven't given me any reason to distrust them (beyond the lack of direct physical verification, which is why the information is always qualified...)

Well, some good news. I think I can verify this.

2000s had the NV3550 on the XJ right? I am pretty sure they did.

Both 99 and 00 use the same bellhousing part number (5210 7552) for the 5 speed 6 cylinder package, the 99 used the AX15 and the 00 (I think) used the NV3550 so clearly the same bellhousing will bolt to either.

edit: just checked and 97, 98, and 01 also use the same part number bellhousing. I think that's solid enough info for my purposes.

 

[5-90]

Well, some good news. I think I can verify this.

2000s had the NV3550 on the XJ right? I am pretty sure they did.

Both 99 and 00 use the same bellhousing part number (5210 7552) for the 5 speed 6 cylinder package, the 99 used the AX15 and the 00 (I think) used the NV3550 so clearly the same bellhousing will bolt to either.

edit: just checked and 97, 98, and 01 also use the same part number bellhousing. I think that's solid enough info for my purposes.

Sounds good to me.

Correct - the TJ got the NV3550 for 1999, the XJ for 2000 (both with the 6-242.)

I've got OEMR catalogues, I just haven't gotten a chance to go through them properly...

 

[kastein]

Holy hell. Read this if you're interested in strange, unnatural engine or trans swaps: http://www.jeeps-offroad.com/showthread.php?t=4740

Apparently you can put damn near any chevy, dodge/mopar/chrysler/amc/jeep, some isuzu, many toyota, etc motors in front of damn near any manual trans in the ax4, ax5, ax15, nv3550, and any toyota variant of those transmissions. This is straight up mindblowing.

There's some limitations on what fits what due to input shaft gear cuts and pilot lengths, but that's about it.

Crank centerline to conrod bearing centerline dimensions (and thus oil pan minimum depth, etc) between the 3.0L Toy 3VZE and the 3.9L Mopar Magnum look mostly similar, so there's a damn good chance this will fit with a custom oil pan. I can't wait to see how this works out.