MontanaYankee

Hi, I could use some help- I have a 91' XJ with a 5 speed ax15, was down shifting and it locked into neutral. Couldn't shift into any gear- clutch seems to be OK (new last winter).
It's worked like a top up till now.
Has anyone else had this type of problem?

Dan4governor

sounds like a bad clutch master cylinder or slave cylinder...check your pressure and make sure you have plenty of fluid in there. Can you get it into gear when the engine is off?

MontanaYankee

Thanks for your reply..... I replaced clutch master and slave cylinders in December 08'. Have a good clutch. Tried to shift with engine stopped and no load on drivetrain. You can feel the shifter passing over the detents where it should shift in, but won't go. can't force it.

Dan4governor

just because you replaced your clutch master/slave last december doesn't really mean anything. I replaced mine in jan, and the new slave failed in march. If you can't get it into gear with the engine off then you probably have a bad tranny. The last thing I would try (and this depends on how strong you are and how willing you are) is get the car rolling at about 5 mph (with the engine idling) and try to get it into first gear at the gears idle speed. if that doesn't work then you definitely need to drop the tranny to inspect it.

MontanaYankee

Thanks for the reply Dan-
Clutch works fine- I've been into a few trannies before (not an ax15), and have never ran across a problem like this before. Worked for Dodge/Jeep/Chrys for 8 years, been in the automotive industry for the majority of my life and never heard about it then either. Figured someone in the Cherokee forum might have ran across this kind of problem. I've seen this trannie become hard to shift, but never no shift before. So, thanks again.

Dan4governor

bummer man, good luck, let us know when you've got it all figured out.

4.3L XJ

I had a similar problem with an AX5, it was locked in reverse, couldn't get it out. I finally had to take the tranny out and throw it away, since you have to operate the shifter to get it apart.

MontanaYankee

Thanks for your reply 4.3- I think I'll toss that tranny for another one. Any thoughts on the cause?

BlueXJ

Before you just discard it pull the shifter off and see if a fork got bent off the shift rails inside. It is only 4 bolts to remove the shifter and may be something simple.

xjbones

x2

4.3L XJ

The tranny I had jumped into gear when the vehicle rolled into a concrete building. I was sure I had it in gear. Whether I did or not, the gear was set without the linkage moving. I took the linkage apart and couldn't get it to budge. It was permanently stuck in reverse

MontanaYankee

Thanks, I'll take a look at that.

JeepCoMJ

don't just toss the tranny.


describe what it's doing...can you move it left/right in neutral? it just won't push into gear?

I had a similar problem with an ax5, it was in reverse and the ball on the case-end of the shifter had it's nylon "bushing" wear off of it then it actually wore down bad enough to hop out of the little "cups" on the shift forks.

disclaimer:
terminology may or may not be correct. that said, I have rebuilt 3 ax5's (kept blowing them due to 265hp, 293ft/lb torque, and keep getting 2wd ones for free as parts) and I have had two ax15's apart for servicing the 5th gear....the ax5 and ax15 are IDENTICAL inside (pretty much) except the ax15 is just bigger and beefier