Lordmonk3y

I have a 94 with an ax15 5-speed. It has the external slave if it matters. While driving home the other day, I lost the ability to shift into 3rd gear. It felt like it was being blocked by something inside the tranny. I tried with and without clutch and it didn't seem to matter what the revs were. So I tried to limp home skipping 3rd, and then just on a whim I tried it again and it shifted in fine. But then five minutes later again it was gone. Any ideas?

Also happy Thanksgiving you guys!

Lordmonk3y

Anyone have experience with this issue?

BlueRidgeMark

Bye bye transmission. Time for a replacement or rebuild.

The good news about the AX15 is that it's bulletproof. The bad news is, if it's gone, it's gone. It's not like the automatic where a simple solenoid replacement can often cure what seems to be a major problem.

third coast

It seems that if there are problems going into reverse or first gear then the clutch, master cylinder, slave cylinder or air in the system is the issue. Not going into 3rd sounds like an internal problem. Not sure if a linkage issue could cause this symptom.

Lordmonk3y

Got it. Well I guess 230k miles isn't too bad of a life for a tranny. I saw a rebuilt ax15 online.
https://spprecision.com/products/ax1...BoC16gQAvD_BwE
To me it seems they're fluffing it up a bit with marketing terms but I wonder if anyone here has any experience buying rebuilds. I haven't check local shops here in San Antonio for how much the rebuild will cost me yet. What do you think?

TrailerTrash

I would say it's pretty bad inside. A buddy of mine had a Wrangler with an AX15 and it did the exact same thing. Just stopped going into 3rd one day and made horrible noises.

He ended up getting it rebuilt for somewhere around $1200 at a local transmission shop. That was just the rebuild because he pulled it, dropped it off, picked it up, and reinstalled it himself.

I would check around locally

Lordmonk3y

Found someone who will rebuild it for $8-900. I'm jumping at it cuz I know their work is good. To remove the tranny do I need to take the bell housing out at the same time or can I separate it on the car? It'd be really convenient if I could.

BlueRidgeMark

That is a deal!

97grand4.0

Wait, is this an automatic or manual? You say clutch, slave cylinder ,....If you have a clutch it's not an automatic transmission,
Try bleeding the clutch and adjusting it.

TrailerTrash

it's a manual ax15. Did you read the thread?

97grand4.0

Got it.