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Old June 3rd, 2016, 01:19 AM
Chuck78 Chuck78 is offline
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Default Re: 5 speed/o.d. swap - Aisin AX15 Jeep/Dakota trans


I was turned on more and more to the Jeep AX15 transmission + $319 Novak GM bell adapter kit from a sole post from a 60-66 GMC Club member who mentioned in his thread abandoning either the NV4500 swap or A833 swap in favor of the Aisin AX15 + Novak Adapter kit.

Lots of info here:
https://www.novak-adapt.com/catalog/...x15/kit-gmax15



This is not to be confused with the weaker AX5 Jeep 5 speeds that look nearly identical (they have a steel mid plate vs ax15=aluminum, & were not found behind 4.0&4.2L engines), nor the garbage 2-year-only Peugeot 5 speed Jeep trans, nor the 2 years following the ax15 where jeeps used an nv3550 (90-91/92?).

These ax15's hold up very well in modified jeeps including tons of them that see heavy trail rig 4 x 4 use and abuse. There are some modifications you can do to make them withstand even more power. These are almost identical to the same Aisin transmissions used behind the very powerful turbocharged Toyota Supra, Chevy Colorado trucks, and I believe Pontiac Solstice, as well as an Isuzu application (these go by ar5, am5, & ma5 or mr5 or something like that, NOT ax15, but they are very similar and you can swap guts of some of those to get a 4.02 1st gear ax15 even). Those have different input shaft lengths but I believe the bellhousing patterns are all the same. The tail-shaft housings are all different as well.

Being in Ohio, we get quite a bit of snow some winters, and I have had zero luck finding a 2 wheel drive jeep from 87 through 99 in the junkyards. I was becoming discouraged and was going to look into and old Tremec TKO3550 or figuring out how to afford a TKO500, and read a mention of Richmond Gear aftermarket transmissions, and another company that sells modified refurbished T45 Transmissions, which I have yet to look into.

Then I struck it big! Jeep being Mopar, they also stuck this trans into Dodge Dakota trucks behind the 238ci V6! Due to the fact that Dodge Dakota trucks do not have a massive cult following as Jeeps do, I was not able to find as much info on the Dakota variant, but I believe they were available 1992 through 2004, or 2006, and the only difference was the bellhousing.

The only thing to avoid is the input shaft on 3 years of the Dakota version 1996-1998 that were put behind the 2.5L 4 cyl were 14 splines vs 10. I am not sure if the 2.5L 4 cylinder version had any other differences aside from the 14 spline input shaft.
All of the Dodge Dakota 6 cylinder applications, as well as Jeep 4.0 & Jeep 4.2 liter engine applications will have the proper 10 spline input shaft that we are looking for to work with the Novak adapter plate.

Funny, it seems the plate was made for the opposite reason as why we are intetested in it. I would venture to say that Novak made this plate so that one could swap a GM engine (small block Chevy) onto the Jeep trans. We want it to swap a nice truck ratio o.d. 5 speed into a GM vehicle...

Last edited by Chuck78; June 3rd, 2016 at 02:50 AM.
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