98 Cherokee 5spd swap

[WagoneerXJ]

Just wondering if anyone has done this before? Any tips or advice would be appreciated. I have a complete running and driving 99 Cherokee 4.0/5spd for parts to use, so I have everything I need. My main concern is with the pedals and wiring underneath to the trans.

[cLAY]

I went the other way on an '89 XJ, manual to 5spd. You defiantly need a complete donor vehicle. Here is what I found to be different, yours may vary being that its the 4.0ho system and mine was renix.

Shift interlock/clutch safety- on my swap I didn't bother swapping columns to get the shift interlock, you will have look to see if you can just remove the cable. Some wiring may need to be jumpered so it doesn't think its in gear. If you swap over the ECMs you will need to figure out if the new(manual tranny ECM) needs a clutch safety signal to start and if so deal with it.

Drive shafts were different lengths.

Engine ECM and under hood wiring harness was different.

I needed a rad with tranny cooling. You should just be able to abandon yours.

Auto trannys have a different spline output than manuals so you will need a t-case to match the manual trans or swap t-case input shafts.

My cross member mounted in a different spot(further back). The holes were there in the unibody frame but I had to run a tap thru them.

I can't remember if I changed just the clutch pedal mount or the entire cluster. I do remember working under there was a pain. So was figuring out the wiring/vacuum lines to for the cruise control kick out. There is a sensor on the autos so that when you push the clutch the cruise control kicks out. I just jumpered my switch and abandoned it. No sure what you will do. For the hole in the firewall I just put a plate over it with some rtv and sheet metal screws. Hopefully you have a knock plate for the master clutch cylinder to pass thru.

Thats all I can remember right now. I pulled the engine, tranny and t-case from both units then swapped the wiring over. The wiring as pretty much plug and play but a lot of work.

Why do you want to swap? I had the old crappy peugot tranny and was on m third one. The AW4 I put in was WAY better. Especially once I did the "2nd gear please" tranny mod.

[WagoneerXJ]

Main reason I want to swap is that I absolutely hate driving it with the auto. AW4's are plenty strong for sure, but I prefer a manual. I have 285/75/16's on my XJ with 3.55's and the auto, my gf's 97 TJ has 33X12.50's with 3.73 gears and a 4.0/5 spd. It's got WAY more jam it feels like. My drive to work is about 10 km, most of it uphill. I have to keep it in 3rd gear otherwise with the shifter in overdrive it will spin at 2500+ RPM until about 80 km/h when it slips into OD. Then it loses speed LOL

 My XJ is getting regeared over the winter to 4.10. I expect the 5spd will help me at least feel like I got some power back. Mostly it's just personal preference.

 For the most part this swap seems pretty straight forward to me, it's just messing with the wiring from the AW4 (NSS and shift interlock) The pedals I'm not sure of yet, but I've removed a couple pedal assemblies from Mustangs so I have an idea at least.

[cLAY]

Personally I found autos with over sized tires to do better than manuals due to the torque multiplication of the of the torque converter. I'm guessing that with TJ what you are feeling is a combination of less weight and better gearing. However I do know that some just HAVE to have a manual. Its a personal preference.

Good luck with the swap. Also you may need to swap ECMs to prevent a check engine light.

[WagoneerXJ]

Yes, the TJ is definetly a little lighter than an XJ. I just enjoy a manual more. And all the parts are virtually free ( paid $500 for the whole 5spd jeep)

Yes I will be putting in the 5spd ECM

[BrokenAxle]

I agree with prefering the manual trans to the auto.  The swaps that I have done are all in vehicle that never came equipped with a manual trans or parts are hard to come by.  one being my wj, so the pedal assembly was a one off unit using an xj assembly/hydraulics to start.  The one I'm doing right now is into an 82 amc eagle which a pedal/hydraulic assembly is hard to come by so again used the xj pedals/hydraulics to go from.

I imagine that swapping a 5spd into something that you could buy from the factory with a 5spd should be a walk in the park fabricating wise anyways.  It's nice too that you can can a ecm that supports the 5spd.  in my wj i just live with a CEL and about 10 codes saying "YOUR TRANS IS F'ED! PULL OVER!!"

good luck!

[cLAY]

If you get a chance post some pics of the Eagle project and what trans you are putting into it. I've owned a couple of Eagle wagons years ago and had to swap the tranny in my wife's SX/4. It was an SR4 and I couldn't find another one anywhere. Ended up buying an  AMC Spirit just for its trans. As it was a 2wd I had to swap all the guts from the Spirit case into the SX/4 case. Fotuntaly back when I owned them there were lots of them at the junkyard. Good thing too cause I always seemed to need a door handle.

Always thought a cool project would be an SX/4 with an XJ drive train, maybe a stroked 4.0.

[binare]

I did it to my 90 2dr sport the easy way. I bought a manual, swapped my goodies over and sold the auto ;-) Took me a weekend and I made 150 bucks when I sold my auto a week later.

[BrokenAxle]

thats too funny, thats exactly what we are doing.  XJ drivetrain (4.0 stroked to 4.6) ax15 and 242 t-case.
but i'll stop hyjacking now.  I'll start a new thread a little closer to completion...

Anyways, if you like the jeep, keep the jeep and make it the way you want it!