Hey all, having issues with this little 98 Cherokee my sister picked up. It's a 4.0 / AX15 and the jeep will not go into gear. It is evident to me that the clutch is dragging, all gears are rejected at the gate, and reverse sits there grinding away. I assumed the clutch master or slave was culprit and installed a full pre bled assembly, but no luck. It is still just as bad, if not worse lol. However it has always shifted fine when turned off.

So clearly something else is going on. Could the pressure plate fingers be worn down enough to make a difference? Maybe oil on the clutch disks? It does leak quite a bit. It is higher mileage (190k miles) so it may be due for a new clutch anyway.

Anyone have an idea what may be going on?

 

Did this problem come on abruptly or little by little ?

I have had a couple of masters and several slaves fail on my
98 and it usually happens abruptly. Check the ones you just
installed to be sure they aren't leaking (out the back of the
master onto the driver's floor is the typical place).

When the pressure plate fingers get weak, the disc won't
disengage like it should. If there is oil on the clutch disc,
the usual symptoms are slippage and chatter.

190,000 miles is plenty if it is the original clutch.

Have you checked the oil level in the AX15? Low oil level or
degraded oil can cause hard shifting. If you don't know the
service history of the Jeep, you'll want to change that oil anyway,
as well as all other fluids in the drivetrain.

 

It's never functioned?
incorrect throw-out bearing

 

Pardon the very long reply. I've been restoring my 99 and didnt get a change to look into this issue more.

As for the 98, its been doing it as long as we have had it. I will changing the fluid in it first to see if it makes any difference at all.

What makes this whole scenario more interesting is that my 99 (also ax15) has started to have clutch shifting issues as well, very similar, just not as bad, as what this 98 is doing. However, i replaced my pilot bearing, clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, and trans oil (Mobil synth 10w30) about 50,000km (30k miles) ago. has been working fine, but is starting to get *****y when warm as of recently. I never resurfaced my flywheel, so its strange that my issues are creeping in slowly. Maybe I'm the one that needed the master/slave, not her lol. Also the master and slave both show no signs of leakage from anywhere.

 

Well in case anyone reads this in the future..

I went out and ordered (20 bucks a Quart ) some redline MT90 since it seems to be the all hailed trans fluid for the AX15. I was going to use synth motor oil since thats what i was running in mine, but figured this ailing jeep could use something nicer.

Anyway i'm beyond impressed. No longer locked at each gate. It's still too stiff compared to my trans and the clutch is still evidently dragging (as seen by the infinitely grinding reverse), but you can actually get it into gear easily from a full stop now!! I didnt really think it could make such a difference, but it did, so at this point i'm totally sold on redline. Probably will never use another fluid in all my AX15's even if it is so damn pricey.

Needless to say, i'm going back tomorrow to pick up some more for my own jeep. I have a feeling that all the years of bashing around with mine may have overheated and broken down the motor oil, and caused me to develop problems. Sisters still needs a clutch job, but for now, its fully driveable again. Jeep on!

 

I'm running a 95 w/ AX15 and used MT85 for my fluid change. Hated spending that kind of money but from what I read leading up to it the AX15 doesn't like GL-5 gear lube and the redline MT is GL-4. From what I remember reading the GL-5 is hard on the syncs and softer metals used in places on the AX15. A co-worker running a wrangler AX15 told me I was nuts, that all I needed was some SAE30 like he was running.... a few weeks later he switched too
I've been putting off the needed clutch change for a while, I could tell the difference with the new fluid immediately.
One more thing, I'm sure my flywheel is the same as yours and for mine the Shop Manual states it as 'Non-Serviceable'. lol not like the old chevys I ran when I was a kid. That concerned me at first until I saw the Luk flywheel on rockauto for 50 and amazon for 55. just saying!

 

Yeah the redline definitely is properly designed to do the job it claims to do. Can't beat it

Awesome! for 50 bucks I would definitely pick up a new flywheel since im gonna be in there. hopefully its jeep specific, i know they're supposed to have a convex shape to them that machining them destroys.

 

It's application specific for sure.
That's what I think the culprit is to my jeeps shutter/hard shift/stiff pedal, the previous owner told me he had a clutch job done and it never shifted as well there after. My thought is either the serviced it and shouldn't have, or they should have replaced it and didn't.