I recently purchased a 95 Cherokee with a 5 speed ax15 manual transmission. One of the things I noticed when I picked up my XJ was warm foul smelling air blowing into cab through e-brake opening when the windows were down, as well as a lot of cabin noise. I took the center console off and found that the inner shifter boot was ripped.

There are three "shifter boots" on the xj, the one that is visible, the secondary (aka inner shift boot, lower shift boot, or transmission tunnel seal), and the small one that attaches directly to the transmission. The third seal happened to be torn on mine as well.

I searched everywhere and could not find the OEM inner shift boot, even searched through about 25 cherokees at a junkyard but came home empty handed. I ordered a couple other boots for other various vehicles and found one that is almost an exact match. The shift boot for a 97-04 TJ fits nicely, just requires some new holes drilled for the screws.

While I was at it, I found that the "oil seal", the round rubber piece that the lower shift lever pivots on was hardened, broken, and half missing so I replaced this as well as the bushing that goes on the end of the shift lever. It cost about $50 in the end, but for me the improved smoothness in shifting and quiet cab was well worth it! Not to mention the fact that mud will not be entering my transmission or interior next trip
Here are the parts I found if you need to do this yourself:



A. Lower shift lever
B. Retainer Ring
C. Spring
D. Upper shift lever
E. Inner boot
- http://www.quadratec.com/products/52106_03.htm
- $24.99 #52078970AC
3. Boot
- http://www.quadratec.com/products/52109_02.htm
- $8.99 #83500520
4. oil Seal
- http://www.quadratec.com/products/52118_022.htm
- $5.99 #4864226X
5. Bushing
- http://www.quadratec.com/products/52111_02.htm
- $2.99 #83500519
6. Housing

http://www.quadratec.com/advisor/jee...ssion/ax15.php

How to do it:
1. Detach outer shifter boot and rectangular plastic retainer from center console
2. Remove black piece of center console (two screws on top under armrest, and two screws inside the shifter opening)
3. Remove transfer case shifter cover to expose screw
4. Remove Center console (two screws inside compartment, two screws below e-brake and one next to the transfer case shift lever)
5. Remove old inner shift boot (4 screws)
6. Remove transmission shift boot [3]
7. Remove Retaining Ring [B] (Push down from the top and then twist counterclockwise. I pushed down evenly with two fingers and turned it with a screwdriver)





8. Remove Shifter lever assembly
9. Remove oil seal [4]
10. Split shifter lever by placing lower lever in a vice and hitting the outside edge of the upper shifter with a punch and hammer to drive it away from the lower piece.



11. Remove inner shift boot [E], transmission boot [3], Retainer Ring [B], Spring [C], and bushing [5] from lower shift lever
12. Clean the Housing [6], lower shift lever [A], Retainer Ring [B], and spring [C]
13. Coat the end of the lower shift lever [A] with grease and install the new bushing [5] (set bushing on bench and push down on lever)
14. Install the spring [C] and Retainer Ring [B] onto the lower shift lever [A]
15. Coat square end of lower shift lever with grease and slip on transmission boot [3] followed by the inner shift boot [E] being careful not to damage them



16. Coat Housing [6] with grease and insert oil seal [4]
17. Insert lower shift lever assembly being sure to get the bushing inside the shift forks.
18. Push down on the Retainer ring and twist clockwise to lock into place.



19. Attach transmission boot to transmission.



20. Align Inner shift boot as shown in picture and drill new holes
21. Secure inner shift boot with four sheet metal screws



22. Clean inside of upper shift lever and press it back onto the lower piece. (I used a hammer to tap it back on, but it didn't take much)



23. Reinstall center console
24. Reinstall Outer shifter boot

Wish I had some more pictures of the center console, but I hope this helps someone anyway!

-Brad

 

Staff update...
Found the OEM inner boot covers... Says 2.5ltr but should be the same with any manual transmission

Edit: its not the same... was not the same as my 90 comanche I6 5 speed... it works but its a lot larger and the 4x4 shift bracket is in the way... not sure its going to seal up good enough...

Edit: 3 years later and still fine

http://www.teamcherokee.com/Transmission/index.html