Jeep-ota in Africa

[RLE]

Hello,

I'm a Baptist missionary in Ivory Coast (west Africa).  I do church planting in villages mostly in the forest.

My 98 Jeep Cherokee XJ has a 2.4l Toyota diesel engine out of a wrecked mid-80s pickup.  I am using a Jeep AX5 with a Toyota input shaft, along with the Jeep NP231 transfer case.  The conversion was done in 2009 and it has been driven 80,000km (50,000 miles) since.

Last week I got a clicking clattering noise in first, second (loudest) and third gear.   I am thinking the transmission has something broken.  AX5s are rare here anymore, so I was wondering if I could get a Toyota transmission (abundant) and use it with the AX5's rear adapter and the NP231.  Or maybe rebuild the AX5.

[H8PVMNT]

Man I don't know the answer.  I would lean towards using stuff available in your region if you can do it though.  Could you possible just set up the jeep to use the trans/tcase from one of these more common Toyotas down there? 

Maybe someone will chime in here who knows the AX5 stuff.

Interesting work you have down there I'll bet.  My wife and I have been acquiring this odd skill set of off grid living, growing food, building houses from leftovers and keeping old Toyotas running while working on them in 3rd world conditions.  We have been really blessed but God has really been working on us big time changing our priorities and attitudes.  We have been nervous that we might be sent overseas to do something good.

What is your life like over there?  Could you post up some pics of Africa and your engine swap?

[helipilot77]

If I had to guess I would say you have a failing input bearing. I would recommend replacing it before it takes out any gears. I did some research and found that the AX5 is basically the same as the toyota G52 as they are both built by AISIN. The input bearing can be replaced without taking the transmission apart, you just need to remove the front bearing cover then the snap ring on the input shaft then slide out the shaft. Of course you would need to take the shaft to a shop to have the bearing pressed off and a new one installed.
This very thing happened to LittleSteves truck after we got back from our road trip to California for the Marlin Crawler Round up last year. It was a G52 transmission and unfortunately we didn't catch it in time. If you let it go to far the bearing will grenade and take out the input and counter shaft drive gears.

[RLE]

Thanks for the replies.  Sorry I didn't get back.  We went right to
work on it and I didn't look at this forum.

Just to follow up so this isn't hanging.  The clicking problem was
a bad input gear.  Three or four teeth were damaged and when
under load it would slip.  We found another Toy input gear/shaft
and that fixed it.

I have some pictures over at    http://www.cherokeeforum.com/g/album/5712082