L8_Apex

Yep - that was the one. Seller sent me a text yesterday saying both sedan and wagon were sold. Think he sold both for $1000. I was only interested in the 505 Wagon. Looking in the Classifieds, there is a 505 Diesel Sedan in Texas - but he wants $5500 - way too rich for me. And it's Auto...

Thanks for the reply, Brian. Turns out the 86 505 Wagon I was chasing was already sold. Anybody know of any 85-86 Turbo Diesel Sedans or Wagons for sale? Strongly prefer a 5 speed vs an Auto. I'm in Texas - and there aren't many around... Jim

Thanks Rabin Is there an online link to an FSM for an 86 TD Wagon ? I agree - the Jeep version of the BA 10/5 might very well be geared differently than a mid-80s Diesel Station wagon... Larger rear tires are certainly an option - any idea what tire size came stock on the 86 TD wagon? Were they 14s or 15s? The front strut mods kinda scare me - only because I imagine myself doing some kind of redneck "tire clearancing" with an angle grinder on the spring/strut... Jim

Thanks Dave - I think I read in your restoration thread that you get about 28-30 mpg on the highway? Does 3000 RPM seem too fast for the XD3T? Another way of asking the same thing - does it seem like you could still pull hills OK in 5th gear if the rear axle was a lower numerical ratio? Not sure there any other axle ratios available for the wagon solid axle anyway - unless you can somehow put the Sedan independent rear under a wagon... thanks

If I did the correct research - I've answered my own question, but my answer doesn't offer any explanation for usually high engine RPMs (for a diesel) after a 5 speed swap. The 4th gear (overdrive) in a ZF Automatic should be 0.73 The 5th gear (OD) in a BA 10/5 should be 0.79. The BA 10/5 info came from a Jeep website - as AMC used that trans behind the 256 cu in Inline 6 from 87 to 89. (And the Jeep guys hate it BTW - so they might be a source for cheap BA 10/5s) if all the splines and everything match up to the 505... seems doubtful. So the ZF Auto would give you a tad lower RPMs at 70MPH but not a lot lower. I did see a post about rear end gearing that said the Wagons have a 4.22/1 rear gear in them vs the Sedans with 4.11/1 gear - so the Wagons would turn a bit more RPM on the highway, but that would be true with either the ZF Auto or the 5 Speed. Anybody know what RPM a 5 speed Turbo Diesel wagon turns at 70MPH - assuming stock wheels & tires?

Not to get this thread off track - but I was talking to an 86 Wagon 2.5L Diesel owner who had done the 5 speed swap. He said the RPMs were now 3000 just to do 70MPH on the highway - and the diesel would have been happy with much lower RPM. This would imply that the 5th gear in his manual was not as much of an overdrive as the 4th gear in his auto. He was thinking that he needed to find a lower numerical gear set for the wagon solid rear axle - since that axle is unique to the wagon - I bet those would be hard parts to find. I assume all the turbo fours and V6s used a higher numerical gear set than his wagon currently has - and those would all be independent rears - so the parts probably don't interchange. Any thoughts on this?