ALH Jeep XJ Swap

xjjeeper · Jun 19, 2019

Been picking away at finishing up the charge air piping and airbox mounting. The big Donaldson air filter assembly fits well! Just power steering hoses, fill with coolant, bleed brakes, exhaust then it's driving!

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xerootg · Jun 25, 2019

What did you use for your lower radiator hose?

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xjjeeper · Jun 25, 2019

xerootg said:
What did you use for your lower radiator hose?

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A napa 8698 hose. With about 6" cut off the smaller diameter end. Im not happy with how it fits though. Its being forced a bit in a way it doesnt really want to go. I may end up just doing silicone and aluminum tube

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xjjeeper · Sep 21, 2019

Well.. update time! its basically finished and been on a couple trips around the block! Dang its fast! still needs a tune tweak and timing and iq adjusted. Exhaust is finished with a 304 ss downpipe that a welder buddy tigged together for me and an MBRP catback for the xj. Sounds pretty good!

xjjeeper · Sep 21, 2019

Some pics Pardon the mess...

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jmodge · Sep 22, 2019

Looking good

dutch.mafia · Sep 23, 2019

Looks awesome. Good work! Got any videos of it driving around?

xjjeeper · Sep 23, 2019

I do but its at night and without exhaust hahaha

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xjjeeper · Sep 25, 2019

Its been insured for 2 days now! Its pretty quick! I will be taking it to Malone for them to tweak the tune for some smoke control (its pretty bad). Other than that it's great so far!
A colt stage 2 cam will most likely be in my future to bring down the egts a bit. I can get past 1200f really easy on the highway.

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xjjeeper · Oct 5, 2019

Went to Malone tuning the other night for some tune tweaks! Great crew! I think the xj is officially finished now[emoji14]

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smokesletsgo · Jun 18, 2023

Fellow BC resident here hailing from Pemberton. How has your swap been? I'm in the process of pulling my 02 alh to go into my 95 xj. I'm wanting to keep the aw4 and found some write ups with some success so I will try that before I seek out an ax15 to swap in. What did you do for motor mounts? Did you use the stock one up front and build a support for it? Did you make new ones for each wheel well?

Thanks

TDICherokee · Oct 31, 2023

smokesletsgo said:
Fellow BC resident here hailing from Pemberton. How has your swap been? I'm in the process of pulling my 02 alh to go into my 95 xj. I'm wanting to keep the aw4 and found some write ups with some success so I will try that before I seek out an ax15 to swap in. What did you do for motor mounts? Did you use the stock one up front and build a support for it? Did you make new ones for each wheel well?

Thanks

TD conversions Sells XJ specific mount kits, might be cheaper than Fabbing your own. I’m also doing an ALH with the Auto trans

Rrusse11 · Oct 31, 2023

Innerestin'! Here's my conundrum, I've got a Liberty "05 CRD. Already got the turbo diesel, what I want
to do is get rid of the dang auto tranny and install a manual transmission.
Hints? Tips? Thoughts?

PickleRick · Nov 1, 2023

Rrusse11 said:
Innerestin'! Here's my conundrum, I've got a Liberty "05 CRD. Already got the turbo diesel, what I want
to do is get rid of the dang auto tranny and install a manual transmission.
Hints? Tips? Thoughts?

Pretty sure it's a standard dodge V8 bell. This makes the ax-15 and nv3550 an easy cheap swap other than sourcing the crd flywheel. Those are 5 speeds. I don't know crap about jeep 6 speeds.

If you're lucky jeep matched the 2.8 to manuals here and you can find a new or even scrap yard flywheel. If not you're in the same boat I am with the VM 4.2 I have in my boat (no pun intended) and everything other than filters and glow plugs has to ship from Europe where VM is more readily available.

Not sure on what clutch set up you're going to need. Hopefully someone has done it before and you can find documentation on a forum.

Rob Mayercik · Nov 7, 2023

PickleRick said:
Pretty sure it's a standard dodge V8 bell. This makes the ax-15 and nv3550 an easy cheap swap other than sourcing the crd flywheel. Those are 5 speeds. I don't know crap about jeep 6 speeds.

If you're lucky jeep matched the 2.8 to manuals here and you can find a new or even scrap yard flywheel. If not you're in the same boat I am with the VM 4.2 I have in my boat (no pun intended) and everything other than filters and glow plugs has to ship from Europe where VM is more readily available.

Not sure on what clutch set up you're going to need. Hopefully someone has done it before and you can find documentation on a forum.

Are we sure the gear ratios on the AX15/NV3550 would be appropriate for the diesel? Not sure how the powerband/rpm range of the 4.0L compares to the 2.8, but it may be "close enough for government work".

I'm pretty sure a guy I know through work (in a field office in Colorado Springs) has/had a 5-spd diesel KJ, so fairly sure they offered manuals here, in which case I'd just go with the stock clutch parts.

If you do get a factory manual trans, make double-sure to get the transfer case and both driveshafts from the donor too - there's a small chance the input shaft spline count on the t-case could be different between manual and auto, and very likely the transmission itself is a different length (this is a known thing in the older XJ line, where swapping the AW-4 automatic for either the AX15 or the NV3550 shifted the position of the t-case slightly due to overall driveline length, requiring the manual donor's driveshafts.

PickleRick · Nov 7, 2023

Rob Mayercik said:
Are we sure the gear ratios on the AX15/NV3550 would be appropriate for the diesel? Not sure how the powerband/rpm range of the 4.0L compares to the 2.8, but it may be "close enough for government work".

I'm pretty sure a guy I know through work (in a field office in Colorado Springs) has/had a 5-spd diesel KJ, so fairly sure they offered manuals here, in which case I'd just go with the stock clutch parts.

If you do get a factory manual trans, make double-sure to get the transfer case and both driveshafts from the donor too - there's a small chance the input shaft spline count on the t-case could be different between manual and auto, and very likely the transmission itself is a different length (this is a known thing in the older XJ line, where swapping the AW-4 automatic for either the AX15 or the NV3550 shifted the position of the t-case slightly due to overall driveline length, requiring the manual donor's driveshafts.

I'm not familiar with the 2.8 but after daily driving an r150 (same internal trans as an ax-15 minus 5th an iirc 2nd gear) is perfect for the TDI torque range so long as you choose the right gear ratio and tire size. More gears are always better, I'd love my 75 mph rpms to be @2500 rather than 3000 but with the r150 in the 4runner wouldn't be fun in city traffic. I went from 4.10 to 4.3 gears and it was a day and night difference, much happier on the daily commute at the expense of a few highway rpms.

TDICherokee · Nov 7, 2023

I’m planning 4.88 gears to go in my Cherokee if I was going manual it would be 4.56 for sure keep rpm’s happy on the highway.

Rrusse11 · Nov 7, 2023

Thanks gents!

PickleRick · Nov 8, 2023

TDICherokee said:
I’m planning 4.88 gears to go in my Cherokee if I was going manual it would be 4.56 for sure keep rpm’s happy on the highway.

Grimjeeper.com/gears has a great catalog of pre inserted transmission and transfer case ratios you can choose from. Even let's you select tire size and axle ratios to see what speed/rpm/crawl ratios you have for each gear.

TDICherokee · Nov 8, 2023

PickleRick said:
Grimjeeper.com/gears has a great catalog of pre inserted transmission and transfer case ratios you can choose from. Even let's you select tire size and axle ratios to see what speed/rpm/crawl ratios you have for each gear.

Yep that’s what I used to determine my options! I’ve been in the 4 wheeling scene a long time, but VW diesel swaps are new to me!

Rob Mayercik · Nov 8, 2023

Good info on the ratios, PickleRick. I suspected the 4.0 and the TDI would be close enough for the swap to work, appreciate the confirmation.

As to the axles, the KJ would have the Chrysler 8.25 rear like my XJ has, and the ratios I'm aware of available are 3.07, 3.55, 3.73, 4.10, and 4.56. Don't know off-hand whether 4.88 is offered or not, but accounting for tire size is important.

Also, if you regear, you'll need to recalibrate the speedometer, which should be done the same way I would - swapping the gear that drives the speed sensor on the transfer case rear output. Just have to find an appropriate chart to see what tooth count you need for the gears/tire size you end up with, here's one example: https://www.quadratec.com/c/reference/jeep-speedometer-gear-tooth-chart

ALH Jeep XJ Swap

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