I lost 5th gear

i have a 93 yj 4cyl. with the 5sp. tranny. it was shifting fine in all gear`s.i down shifted to 4th,went along for about 5 mile`s up a 4% grade. shifted back to 5th and nothing. there was know noice,clunks,nothing. like i was in nuetral.any idea`s out there.thanks  

probably some pin or something fell out. I bet it wouldn't be too tough to fix once it was out and apart.  

Hey, ddi you get your tranny problem figured out?  

Same thing happened to me in my 94YJ found the 5th gear bearing popped out. fixxed it simple enough but happened twice more. ditched and upgraded good luck  

pretty much the same thing happened to me in my '91 4 cyl YJ 3 times now. the first 2 times i kept it in 5th and let off the gas to exit the highway. when i gave it gas again, there was no more 5th gear, it acted like it was in neutral. this last time i was going down the highway in 5th and it popped real loud, revved up and there was no more 5th. the first 2 times the snap ring that holds 5th gear on snapped, but i haven't pulled it out this last time b/c it just happened again 3 days ago. it's a pretty complicated tranny, so good luck. i've already got over $500 in mine, so you might be better off upgrading to an ax15 or slapping in a rebuilt ax5 b/c if it's like mine, it will just cost you a bunch of money and you'll still have a busted tranny. good luck though.  

Yeah, I'm on my third one in 80K miles thanks to that issue.

The clip that holds 5th on is a horseshoe shape, and a things wear, it comes loose.  The trans wasn't a OD trans originally, that 5th gear was added on later.  I think it started life as an AX-4 or something and then the AX-5 came about with the 5th gear.

Anyway, if you are good, you could pull it apart, tack weld that stupid clip on, and put it back together.  I doubt the 4-popper would break the slightly weakened shaft.

Me?  I just kept on going and buying other people's used ones...

Advance adapters has a conversion now that you can put an AX-15 on the 4-popper... and, since the AX-15 is the least desirable manual from the last 15-20 years, they can be found pretty cheaply.

Word has it they are working on a NV3550 conversion too, but were having some problems with it.  
- Pete Trasborg, Associate Editor, JP Magazine

i know this is a really old thread, but i forgot i posted on it and thought my info might help. the last time 5th gear popped the snap ring, it took a chunk out of the shaft so i had to replace it too. finally, after mic'ing EVERYTHING i figured out what kept breaking the snap ring holding 5th on. there's a washer on the shaft in there(they call it a spacer) that had very very little wear, but it was enough. the shaft would slide one way under acceleration, then when you let off the gas the shaft would slam against the snapring(because the teeth on the gears are angled). this was due to the slack generated from the wear on the washer. paid about $2 for one from quadratec, along with the other $800-900 i spent on other parts and slapped it back together. it's been going strong for about 20k miles now, no issues. like i said i know this is an old thread, sorry to bring it up but i thought it might help some people. if i had to do it again i would buy one that's been rebuilt with a warranty. in my case i thought i had fixed it on the cheap but ended up with no hair left on my head and i spent just as much. hope this helps someone. CLAY  

Yeah, I'm on my third one in 80K miles thanks to that issue.

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