Don’t post much because I usually can find answers by searching but I’m a little stumped on this one. Sorry for the long post but it takes some explaining. Got a 96 xj country a while ago. 2 previous owners ago did a Ax15 manual swap. It had a rough country 3 inch lift. SYE with Adam’s driveshaft. I’ve changed a bunch of suspension etc but along the way I noticed it had an automatic cross member and a trans drop kit on it. Dice it had SYE I figured it didn’t need the drop kit. Took it off and found the left side of the transfer case would hit the floor. That’s when I found out about the manual crossmember having a built in drop. So I found a manual crossmember member and installed it with a NOS mopar transmission mount.
Now it clears but barely. It actually contacts the floor when cranking but barely it’s that extra part that sticks out the side of the case where the front output is. I could grind or cut that off or clearance my floor which I’m not against because it’s mainly a Offroad rig with a little street time it should clear. Only thing I can figure is maybe they used a ax15 from a yj or tJ and it’s clocked up higher than stock? Could someone post a pic of their transfer case position and check their clearance with their manual trans? I’ll post pics of mine tomorrow. In the daytime.

 

Don't have a picture to share but a question to ask instead.

Have you measured for the offset OR flipped the crossmember and tried mounting it "backwards" from how you have it now?

 

No I haven’t intentionally turned it the crossmember the wrong way. I thought about it but it would be very difficult to get it to work. I did double check on which way it goes according to multiple sources. It’s the most common offset style and everything went together very easily. I did measure the offset and it’s about 3/4 of an inch closer to the drivers side and from what I have read and seen that is the correct orientation. It clears the side of the tunnel at rest but barely. On startup you can hear it bump the floor and see the marks where it does. It’s close.

 

I had this same problem when doing an ax15 swap in my 85. The ax15 housing you currently have is for a Tj and has the transfer case clocked slightly higher. You have a few options when it comes to fixing this, the one that I did was drill new holes into the housing using a template I found online. There are also a few clocking adapters on eBay, or you can try to find a Cherokee ax15 housing.

 

Thanks for confirming what I thought. I figured after finally getting a look at another stock manual Xj’s transfer case position that it’s a tJ transmission. I’ve actually been able to get it clear and with a good mopar trans mount and good motor mounts it no longer bumps the floor when starting or any other time. My close area is the extra casting that sticks out the side of the front output. I like the clearance so just to have a little extra room I’m going to cut that part off. I read where someone else did it with their xj when they clocked theirs up. It’s definitely up out of harms way now. I hear it’s a tighter fit to clock an autos transfer case I’m guessing due to the little extra length. But I think I’m going to be good to leave it with my setup.

 

If you're using your xj as a trail rig or not driving it on the highway, you're probably fine with how the transfer case is clocked. I originally was going to leave mine the way it was, but I would get horribly vibrations from the front drive shaft due to the angle it was sitting at. Also, if I'm reading your response correctly, all np231,242, etc transfer cases have the same bolt pattern. It doesn't matter if they are from a manual or auto, what determines how their clocked is based on applications they came out of.

 

Yeah strangely enough I don’t get bad vibes. Even though my front u joints are near needing replacing and my slip yoke has a little play. Lucky I guess. I guess wasn’t clear. I know the transfer case are the same just clocking is determined by the transmission I just meant I think and I don’t know for sure just what I gather from reading about people clocking xj cases that there might be a little tighter to clock a automatic xj up due to the transmission being slightly longer but I could be wrong.

 

If you're wheeling, that's a desirable setup IMO. If you don't have vibes from the front and you can tweak some stuff to get it to work, I'd say rock it with it clocked up a bit. Mo' clearance, mo' bettah.

 

I’m getting a new Adams front driveshaft since mines about toast. I’m going to try to run it the way it is. I don’t put that many miles on it mainly driving local on weekends and sometimes driving to go off-roading but sometimes we trailer it. So even if it wears u joints faster not a big deal to me as long as I don’t get bad vibes. If it turns into an issue I’ll clock it back down. But I hope to leave it as is. We shall see.

 

Id probly use a floor jack and long 2x4 cut on angle to slightly clearance the floor to move it out of the way of the transfercase.

My second thought but is harder fix is maybe change motor mounts if they are old rubber