The swap was finished on my LJ recently, sorry on video and post quality I have a Kentucky public education....
To start off: I am so happy with this swap, AX15 feels amazing. (i have 35's, 4.88 gearing, it drives great)
42RLE died October 2023 overheating while crawling in the armpit of South Texas, being broke and busy military I garaged the Jeep and casually dug around on forums for a few years gathering a parts list. At first I saw some posts where a user retained the Auto PCM with the shift solenoid and sprocket from inside the transmission attached to the neutral safety switch. In my opinion, that method is very sloppy and dangerous as its leaving the ability for your vehicle to be able to start based off you pinning some metal together with zip ties and letting the harness dangle.... I also noticed most times where a user would ask for help with doing the swap a few of the common users would simply shill that an auto is better, to "sell the jeep" or to give up as it was too hard. Finally I saw @freedom_in_4low 's for his manual to manual swap and one of @mrblaine 's responses and my thinking changed. Thanks a lot to you two by the way.
For the sake of documenting my steps in case anyone else wants to recreate this swap I'll type out my steps here.
Why did I choose the AX15? Very simply because I found one for $200 and I loved the last vehicle I had with one in it.
@mrblaine at some point stated the way to approach this is to simply build the jeep as if it came from the factory as a manual. That is the easiest way to approach this.
I broke out the part diagrams from the pinned tech manuals and build a list of parts to acquire.
For the CPS issue I did choose to buy the Advance Adapters bell housing, for PCM I chose to just buy a new one from @Wranglerfix instead of guessing about condition and SKIM from ebay PCM's. Thank you Mark.
points to consider as i saw people arguing online.
Problems you might run into
To start off: I am so happy with this swap, AX15 feels amazing. (i have 35's, 4.88 gearing, it drives great)
42RLE died October 2023 overheating while crawling in the armpit of South Texas, being broke and busy military I garaged the Jeep and casually dug around on forums for a few years gathering a parts list. At first I saw some posts where a user retained the Auto PCM with the shift solenoid and sprocket from inside the transmission attached to the neutral safety switch. In my opinion, that method is very sloppy and dangerous as its leaving the ability for your vehicle to be able to start based off you pinning some metal together with zip ties and letting the harness dangle.... I also noticed most times where a user would ask for help with doing the swap a few of the common users would simply shill that an auto is better, to "sell the jeep" or to give up as it was too hard. Finally I saw @freedom_in_4low 's for his manual to manual swap and one of @mrblaine 's responses and my thinking changed. Thanks a lot to you two by the way.
For the sake of documenting my steps in case anyone else wants to recreate this swap I'll type out my steps here.
Why did I choose the AX15? Very simply because I found one for $200 and I loved the last vehicle I had with one in it.
@mrblaine at some point stated the way to approach this is to simply build the jeep as if it came from the factory as a manual. That is the easiest way to approach this.
I broke out the part diagrams from the pinned tech manuals and build a list of parts to acquire.
For the CPS issue I did choose to buy the Advance Adapters bell housing, for PCM I chose to just buy a new one from @Wranglerfix instead of guessing about condition and SKIM from ebay PCM's. Thank you Mark.
points to consider as i saw people arguing online.
- you do not need new driveshafts, the ax15 and the 42rle might be an 1/4 inch off in length but the tcase mates and the transmission mounted just fine onto a skid plate
- you do not need an entirely new center console
- If jeep is a 2005 or 2006 i know for a fact there is a pressed sleeve into the rear output of engine that needs to be cut out to insert the pilot bushing from your clutch kit
- you WILL need a new PCM or send your existing PCM to Mark @Wranglerfix if they are able to remove the auto nonsense from the PCM.
- input shaft on the unknown 90s ax15 was the exact length as the shaft on 42RLE
- brake pedal assembly
- the master cylinder plate on firewall
- the harness running from computer to transfer case
- the 42rle and associated linkages
- the cooling lines from 42rle
- shift plate
- shifter
- Park/Neutral cable that runs from shifter to ignition cylinder (jeep will ding as if there is a key in the ignition, or you remove DOOR DEFEAT fuse to kill the ding)
- starter (you need a new manual starter)
- flex plate
- i have a UCF belly up skid that has multiple mounting locations on it. I have no idea if the OEM shovel skid plate can be maintained
- my jeep is a 2006 with a 1.5inch body lift
- once harness is off this is a good time to do stuff like O2 sensors and injectors
- PCM
- Harness
- Flywheel of your year jeep
- Clutch + pressure plate that matches year of transmission
- Bellhousing onto transmission (OEM CPS location is very important)
- ax15 transmission mount onto transmission
- pedal assembly
- new starter
- transmission mated to engine
- skidplate to jeep
Problems you might run into
- Doesn't start after swapping everything... check your grounds you just replaced an entire harness
- before install of new harness check for any exposed wire, and there is never a better time to reloom than holding that new harness
- reverse light : its two wire to two wire, just cut the connectors off and splice in a Male and Female two prong combo from parts store
- 712590L | BELLHOUSING 2005 & 06 Advance Adapters
- AX15
- 52128017 | Pedal assembly
- CC649061 | Clutch Master + Slave Cylinder
- LFW484 | LUK NSG370 Flywheel
- 05-065 | Luk: AX15 Clutch + Pressure Plate
- 56041012AE | 2006 TJ MT Starter
- PCM WranglerFix.com (Manual PCM for 2006 + my auto VIN)
- 52128017 | Wiring-Engine harness (goes to Tcase)
- 52058546 | TJ Manual Transmission mount
- UNK | Jeep TJ Wrangler 4.0L to Manual Transmission Inspection Cover
- 52059661AC MOPAR Floor pan cover
- Clutch safety switch
- New hardware
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Alot easier to initiate drifts/burnouts etc. ,It may suck for crawling but I may do a 4spd atlas or doubler at some point in my build
