kuzican

I'm thinking about doing a 5 speed swap to my jeep soon.

I'll be lifting it finally in less than 2 weeks. and then I'll have some other little mods to be doing. Then I think I'll want to do a 5 speed swap. I drove my buddies YJ, and ever since then I want a 5 speed now. I like my Jeep and don't want a new one. so I'm thinking finding a donor vehicle at the junkyard that has all the driveline/trans parts and all that I would need. I believe the price for the whole vehicle is about 500 or so.

park them both and start tearing apart the donor and my Jeep. do the swap. the donor vehicle could be parted out and make some money off of it along with selling my AW4 trans. so it's possible that I could actually make some money out of it which could go towards more jeep parts.

I can drive stick, so daily driving I would be fine. I ride ATVs and dirt bikes offroad so I'm used to driving a manual off-road as well (not a truck or jeep, but the ideal is pretty close) but I'm willing to learn anything, and take to a challenge.

I have another XJ I can drive while the swap is being done.

so what do you guys think about this?

holycaveman

Well its whatever you want. But from my experience automatics are better off road, and especially in technical situations.

I searched long for a 5 speed but ended up with an automatic. Boy I am glad I did. Everyone I wheel with has standards.

kuzican

yeah, I've been wheeling with the automatic, and working 3 pedals is going to be interesting....but I know the solution. hand throttle. Dukie on here has one and wheels the 5 speed. forgot to mention about the hand throttle thing.

another plus to having a 5 speed will be since I have the 3.55 gear ratio, and I'll be on 33s it will help with that a little bit, and my gas mileage.

holycaveman

Yep. I love the 5speed. Its just pretty darn easy with an auto.

But there are advantages to standards also.

Michael952

I would love a 5 speed in my heep.

kuzican

yeah. agreed there. 5 speed is just more fun. especially daily driving. it is my daily driver. at first I wasn't going to have an offroad vehicle being a standard, but after driving that YJ I was hooked.... I drive my dad's (LS1 Camaro with a 6 speed) and Bro's (2012 Speed3 6 speed) cars whenever I can. even my sister has a standard car....I'm the only one who doesn't = ( I shall change that.

kuzican

yeah. now I just gotta save the money and find a good donor. my lift is happening first though.... along with some other things, like durango steering box, new axle, double shear track bar, and actual coils to replace the spacers and ZJ coils I'm going to be using. after that I will save for the donor vehicle.

Michael952

Too bad parts aren't free haha

kuzican

haha yeah...though i think my plan might go well. go to a junkyard buy a whole donor vehicle for $500 (I think that's what they charge for a whole vehicle, and even if it's a little more). I can take what I need from it, and then part out the rest, and sell my AW4 (which is in great condition still) and make some of my money back if not end up making more since I can scrap whatever is left. so I could end up having a 5 speed and more money than when I started, lol. least that's what I'm hoping.

Michael952

I guess it depends how much damage the donor has

kuzican

well all I need is the trans, pedal assembly, and the other parts that I need. parts I could sell could be engine parts, TC, (if it's there and in good condition) and axles since I won't need them. and w/e is left I could just scrap as scrap metal.

it'll be more of a challenge finding an appropriate donor. a 97-99 5 speed. not sure if I could do a 00-01 because of some of the things I'm going to need like some wiring, and the computer.

Michael952

Honestly if it's the same style as your I'd keep as many things as I could just in case. Also if the engine is alright i'd keep it too as a spare

Xj4lyfe

I have a five speed in my jeep. dd and on non tough trails its fun and fine. When your on the rocks and you need that last bit of oomph to get over a rock then it really sucks, jeep wants to roll back whereas you can hold the brake and start giving it gas with the auto. So in the technical parts where it counts I would love an auto. For fun factor I get bored with auto, plus with the short throw in it it's a lot more fun.

Depends on what your looking for. If you going to wheel alot, I'd stay auto. If its the dd weekend warrior then I like the manual.

I do like going down mountains with the manual. Throw it in 4lo first gear it just crawls all the way down.

ta2tony

You'll want to use the TC off the manual, I believe (not certain) that they have a different spline count than the auto.

Keep us up to date on what you do. There's some build threads on this swap, but none seem to cover every detail to make the swap right, things like reverse lights, affects on cruise control, CPU swap, etc.

I've got my old (totalled) 2 door 5spd 4wd in my garage...I spend a lot of time going back'n'forth on whether I want to swap in the 5spd to my new auto or not...

kuzican

it won't be too too soon that i do it. need to save the money for the donor vehicle first. and im about to lift my jeep as well. but i would hope to get this done this summer if possible and i should be able to.