well it's in.

here's the new mount i made:


it was a tight fit. here is the clearance between the skid and trans.


and at that height here is where the shifter sits in relation to the tunnel:


so with the successful test fitting, the skid plate comes back out for reinforcement.
i start with quarter inch plate for the lowest point under the front out put of the transfer case.

then i just box the rest of it in with 3/16.



and here it is done.


here's what i did to the shifter handle.

the boot will cover that. no worries. lol.

here's where it sits in neutral:



and here it is in 3rd gear with plenty of dash clearance.



other things of note: the bell housing on the 4500 sits just a tad lower than the 46re so i had to cut apart and reweld up my down pipes to clear it. but the good news is that with the new position of the transfer cae, there's plenty of room to run true duals if exhaust clearance becomes an issue.

also, bleeding a non-bleeder slave cylinder is a HUGE pita. especially when you don't realize your master cylinder is broken and you pull your hair out trying to figure out why it's not working. lol

initial driving was sweet. but i do have a pretty bad syncro problem in 3rd gear. so it'll have to come back out soon to repair that. but that's not a big deal. just a lot of sweat and blood again. :P

and there it is.

 

Congratulations! It looks good in there. I am glad you ended up going with the NV4500 instead of something lighter duty. This is much cooler. That shifter looks good and comfortable. Does it feel the way you want it to? Must feel good to finally have that 46re out of there.

 

Fun fact... This is a toyota w55/58 transmission, same that is in my Lexus.

EDIT: Okay it could be an r154. But they look the same.

 

well, it's my first granny gear transmission and i now know what "wide ratio" means. lol.
i can easily and comfortably start out in 2nd gear with no worries now. so that's going to take some getting used to.

the shifter feel really good. it's about 2-3 inches higher than where the factory put it. (i remember smashing my fingers on the CB) but i may still take another inch out of it. i haven't decided yet.

and yes. it feels like heaven to actually feel the power moving down the driveline instead of sloshing around getting lost in the torque converter. i hated that 46re.

damn things is, now i need a traction bar again. lol

 

Does the shifter move further forward in first, since it is a granny gear, than it does for third? (gonna be bangin' knuckles for 1st?)

 

it's also the same transmission as the ax15 that came in 4.0 jeeps from 1990 to 1999.
my old 5 speed was an ax 15.

seen here from when i took out the I6 for the v8 swap.

 

no, it clears in all 3 top gears. i drove it to work this morning. no bloody knuckles at all.

 

Well that's wierd. Am I retarded? Or do they really share a case? And are you telling me that your jeep was 2wd?

EDIT: I see now that the ax-15 was built by Aisin. Interesting. So my lexus has a truck transmission haha

 

they have the same front case half, but it's different behind the mid plate. the one i just posted up with the inline 6 and transfer case on it was my actual one. the one next to the ford tailgate was something i found on a lexus site just to show what i planned on doing with the shifter.

the wranglers never came in 2wd until the 2007 abomination came out.

here's a better picture of it.

 

Gotcha. Didn't see the pic before. Cool beans. Learn somethin' every day around here.