AX5 Clutch Overhaul

[YJeXtreme]

I will be replacing Clutch, flywheel & trans for Mike in his YJ... Plan is to pick it up via trailer this Friday. I will be getting pics & do a write-up when completed, as clutch jobs are fairly easy & straight forward although they can be time consuming.

[MikeB78]

I guess since its been sitting in my driveway since November of 2011 it's about time!! Thanks again man!

[YJeXtreme]

Subject: 1993 Jeep Wrangler Clutch Overhaul

Time: Apprx 3-4hrs

Difficulty: Moderate

Tools: Requires both Metric and Standard: Ratchet/Socket sets, Wrenches, Torque Wrench, Transmission Jack, Floor Jack, Jack Stands

Steps: Start with jacking the vehicle up, or if lifted enough, make sure tires are blocked off to prevent rolling. I start at the interior. Remove the shift knobs from both the trans and tcase shifters, remove the front carpet, then the boots around the shifters. Begin to remove the nuts/bolts from the tcase shifter assembly and the trans shifter. (both will be removed in a later step)

 

From this point, open the hood and disconnect the Negative Battery Terminal and Crank Position Sensor (CPS). From under the jeep, disconnect the Backuplight switch (on passenger side) the speedometer speensor wire, and the vacuum lines from the T-case.

 

Then move onto disconnecting the front and rear driveshafts (again be sure to have the tires blocked off, or the vehicle on jackstands to prevent rolling over you!)

Once both driveshafts are removed, drain fluids from trans and tcase. Also disconnect the linkage from t-case to the t-case shifter (will require small prybar). Next remove the bolt and nut from t-case shifter bracket (on the AX5 will have one bolt through the side into the trans, the nut also serves to hold the t-case to the trans)

From this point remove the T-case shifter, and pull the trans shifter out. It is a good idea to take a clean rag and some tap to close up the hole in the trans to prevent any dirt from falling into it.

 

Next, remove the 2 nuts from the exhaust manifold-to-exhaust flange, and position your trans-jack under the transmission. At this point begin removing the bolts from the bottom of the belly pan/skid plate to the trans-mount, then remove the 6 bolts that hold the bellypan to the frame.

 

With the belly pan out of the way, I begin to lower the transmission to get a better angle on the bellhousing bolts (do not go too far, to prevent undue stress on the motor mounts I use a small piece of 2x4" wooden block behind the back of the head, or you can place a jackstand w/ block under the bottom of the oil pan) Now you can begin to remove the bellhousing bolts (The 2.5L w/ AX5 does not require the starter to be removed, as it bolts through the bottom into the engine block) With all bolts removed, begin to pull the transmission back until the input splines are removed from the clutch body. Lower the transmission and set aside.

 

Next remove the 6 bolts that hold the clutch to the flywheel, remove clutch disc. Next remove the flywheel (be sure to index where it was mounted as it will only go on 1 way)

Either take your flywheel to a local machine shop to be resurface, or replace. In this instance the flywheel was replaced.

 

Also on this particular install, the transmission was replaced due to failing syncros, the donor trans was from a 94+ which used an external slave cylinder, due to this the Front Bearing retainer had to be swapped between the original transmission and the donor (see differences in pic below)

 

Once bearing retainers were swapped, the bell housing was mounted to the donor transmission, internal slave cylinder was installed.

Install new Pilot Bearing before mounting flywheel to the motor, much easier to do on a workbench vs under the Jeep. Install new/resurfaced flywheel to motor. Make sure to use Loc-tite or equivalent on the flywheel bolts, torque to manufacturer's specs (55 ft lbs for 2.5L w/ AX5)

 

Next using the alignment tool supplied in the clutch kit, install the clutch, make sure the alignment tool is seated into the pilot bearing, install the 6 retaining bolts to the flywheel, torque to proper specs (24 ft lbs) Now we can begin to reinstall trans, which is the reverse of removal, I won't bore you with the details it's straight forward.

 

Side Notes/Mods: 1993 Uses a quick disconnect similar to GM/Ford Fuel lines for the clutch slave cylinder, this is a 1 year only production part, and over the last 20 years it's prone to failure from moisture damage, etc... These can not be replaced anywhere new, unless you find a good one from a junk yard (unlikely) What I had to do with this was modify the slave cylinder with a tube-nut, double flared onto the line. We had Cardinal Rubber (local in Roanoke, VA) make a new stainless steel braided line with the appropriate master cylinder fitting on one end, and a female inverted flaired end on the other side. This was made for under $40. This hose can also be purchased aftermarket from Advance Adapters, but at a higher cost. See pics below for the mods...

New Hose:

 

Master Cylinder End, and Female End:

 

Installed after tube nut double flared onto the slave cylinder:

Edited March 1, 2013 by YJeXtreme

[MikeB78]

5 years later and 1,000 miles away from Roanoke, but still going strong!!

[YJeXtreme]

5 years later and 1,000 miles away from Roanoke, but still going strong!!

Awesome!! How many miles since I did the install?

[MikeB78]

9 hours ago, YJeXtreme said:

 

Not a clue, I couldn’t tell you how many miles it had on it then. Honestly without looking  I couldn’t even tell you how many miles it has on it now! I wish I was still close by I would get you to help me diagnose the latest problem since I’ve had to push it when it broke down the last two mornings in a row! Which let me tell you it’s a blast with snow on the ground!

Awesome!! How many miles since I did the install?

 

 

[YJeXtreme]

 

What’s going on now?

[MikeB78]

Only ran about 5 minutes and then shuts off and won’t restart. Wait about 30 minutes and it will start right back up. Did the same thing last year and put new plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor on and that seemed to fix it until here recently. Pulled the cap yesterday and sanded/cleaned the points and top of rotor and sprayed some WD-40 and all seemed okay but then same thing happened this morning. It seems to run much better when it’s warmer out (which by Wisconsin standards is anything above 32 :-)  ) 

[YJeXtreme]

Only ran about 5 minutes and then shuts off and won’t restart. Wait about 30 minutes and it will start right back up. Did the same thing last year and put new plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor on and that seemed to fix it until here recently. Pulled the cap yesterday and sanded/cleaned the points and top of rotor and sprayed some WD-40 and all seemed okay but then same thing happened this morning. It seems to run much better when it’s warmer out (which by Wisconsin standards is anything above 32 :-)  ) 

Won’t run at any RPM, or just idle?

[MikeB78]

21 minutes ago, YJeXtreme said:

 

Won’t run at any RPM, or just idle?

 

Won’t even start back up, turns over but no start. It stalls out and then won’t restart. But like I said if I wait 20-30 minutes it’ll start up perfect.

[YJeXtreme]

Won’t even start back up, turns over but no start. It stalls out and then won’t restart. But like I said if I wait 20-30 minutes it’ll start up perfect.

While the crank sensors tend to either work or not work, maybe worth a shot... they’re notorious for going bad

[MikeB78]

53 minutes ago, YJeXtreme said:

While the crank sensors tend to either work or not work, maybe worth a shot... they’re notorious for going bad

Yea, I forgot to mention that was replaced last year as well.

 

[YJeXtreme]

39 minutes ago, MikeB78 said:

Yea, I forgot to mention that was replaced last year as well.

 

That really doesn't mean much... Parts store sensors are more notorious for going out than the OEM... haha. Not sure beyond checking out the other sensors. I can't recall much of the OBD I 2.5L, as to which sensors they have. 

[MikeB78]

On 4/6/2018 at 12:44 PM, YJeXtreme said:

That really doesn't mean much... Parts store sensors are more notorious for going out than the OEM... haha. Not sure beyond checking out the other sensors. I can't recall much of the OBD I 2.5L, as to which sensors they have. 

So I was looking back at this thread talking about the clutch repair and saw this discussion. I actually just got it back running and it ended up being the elbow for the vacuum line going to the fuel pressure regulator that was all cracked and corroded.