95 YJ 2.5L
97 AX5 tranny

I was driving at 65mph for a about 30 minutes when all of a sudden the rpms shot way up. I put it in fourth and everything was fine. There was no clunk or vibes or anything when 5th gear went out. If I put it in 5th gear, it's just like it's in neutral.

I don't know how many miles the TJ tranny has on it... the guy who sold it to me (after my first ax5 went out) told me that it had 70,000, but it grinds between shifts 1-2 and 2-3... so i don't really believe him. Any ideas?

no grinding. It should just be a clip that needs replaced to keep 5th gear in place. Mine did the same thing last year.

The AX5 is a ticking bomb. It may just be a snap ring, now but it WILL break again.
Check out the 2.5L AX-15 thread
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181361

jrb4x4: thanks, I was going to pull the tranny to replace the rear main seal, so now I guess I'll take it apart to see if it is a snap ring. Is the snap ring just a standard size or is it a special order thing?

I know the AX5 is a ticking time bomb, I'm on my second one. The 2.5L ax-15 swap seems interesting, but kind of worthless. I would get rid of my 2.5L and replace it with a 4.0L with the ax-15.

AX5's, T5's, BA10/5's........they all make great boat anchors:rolleyes: :D

jrb4x4: thanks, I was going to pull the tranny to replace the rear main seal, so now I guess I'll take it apart to see if it is a snap ring. Is the snap ring just a standard size or is it a special order thing?

I know the AX5 is a ticking time bomb, I'm on my second one. The 2.5L ax-15 swap seems interesting, but kind of worthless. I would get rid of my 2.5L and replace it with a 4.0L with the ax-15.

You probably have a spare one laying around in that extra ax-5. Guess that means no badlands next sunday?

yeah, i probably do have one from the last transmission.

i'm still planning on going to the badlands next Sunday, I was going to replace the RMS on Monday, so I'll spend Tuesday working on the transmission.

The only reason why I won't go to the Badlands on Sunday is if it's raining... I got really far up those rocks on my grandpa's property yesterday. I didn't want to go any farther in case I got stuck because the fork lift was in the shop. I love my locker.

well i pulled the tranny and took it apart. Sure enough that clip was broken chillin at the bottom of the tranny housing. I replaced it with an extra one I had from a previous transmission and everything is back to normal. good call Jrb4x4!

A friend of mine had the same thing happen fixed it once then it happened again, finally he decided if it wanted to be a 4 speed he would let it!!

He ran it that way for a few years then sold it with a 4 speed shift knob. :)

hahaha, a 4 speed!

the person never wondered why the shifter would shift into what would be fifth gear?!?!? that's funny. I had to replace my rear main, so it wasn't much of an inconvenience. But I can't justify pulling the transmission just to spend a few minutes punching in a new clip.

The last one I rebuilt the parts supplier came a cross a new "fix" that they were told about. It's basically a large split shaft collar that replaces the snap ring. So far I haven't heard of him having any trouble out of it.

That sounds like a good idea. Do you have a link or any further info on the split shaft collar?

lost my 5th gear on the interstate 5 + years ago. Now i have a 4 speed pos

I lost my fawkin suit jacket on Wednesday. I had the back plastic windows off, and I had to drive like 35 miles to this job interview. Having no A/C and not wanting to wrinkle my jacket, I hung it over the passenger seat (like a chair). A gust of wind blew it out the back of my jeep. Sucked right out back. Any chance of survival was dashed by the line of cars following my slow ass Jeep. Sad. now I only have one suit. Bummer about the AX5, mine's ticking away.

Sucks about the suit jacket... my hat flew off while driving with the top/doors off, but I turned around and got it.
Ali: dude, it's not that hard to get 5th gear back. The biggest pain in the ass is getting the transmission out, but once that's out all you have to do it move the rear part of the housing away from the intermediate plate about 3 inches. Using a hammer and punch, pop in the new clip and reinstall the tranny. It took me about 15 minutes to fix the transmission, but a few hours to put it back in the heep.

Sorry i don't have any links for the collar, I'll do some digging and see what I can come up with.

Dammit, I drove the Jeep for 6 days after I fixed the "no 5th gear situation" and I lost 5th gear again today! Amazing. Obviously something has to be causing the clip to break. When I installed the replacement clip last week, I inspected 5th gear for any signs of significant wear, and there was nothing, it looked good.

I'm taking the shaft and gear over to Motion Industries tomorrow to see what they have to fix this mofo.

FYI: I figured out why my AX5, and many other's keeps breaking c-clips. I noticed that the fifth gear had a some play in it. I spoke with a guy from one of the local transmission shops, and he said that the splines on the fifth gear and on the main shaft wear out after a while. This causes the fifth gear to wobble at all times, putting a lot of stress on the c-clip. You have two choices: you can get rid of that piece of shit and get something better, or you can buy a new clip, main shaft, and fifth gear.

Bondobob: Where did you get your split shaft collar? I couldn't find any that were narrow enough to fit in that 2.2mm groove where the c-clip normally seats. My only solution was to turn the extra splines down on a lathe. I just bought a 4.0 and a AX15 instead of polishing that turd.