I recently purchased a very used but good running 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 diesel 5speed extended cab truck. It had a few issues that I knew about when I bought it. The left front axle was broken at the U joint. The Transfercase would not stay in hi range with out holding it in manually.

First thing I did was remove the transfercase and went through it. I found the range shift fork worn and damaged and the snap ring that holds the shift dogs on the 4 wheel drive syncro to be broken. I cleaned and installed a new snap ring. I replaced the shift fork and input shaft due to some wear on the teeth. I put it all back together and it now stays in high range just fine.

I replaced the left front axle today and was anctious to try out the 4 wheel drive. I took it out to a dirt road with some ditches I can climb in and out of and tried out the 4 wheel drive. 4wheel drive worked perfect in hi range. I then shifted it to low range and it seemed to work perfect also......at first.

I started playing around with it in 1st gear in low range and enjoyed the very low crawl ratio. I dropped down into this ditch and climbed out of it it very easily. I then took off down a dirt road in low range shifting through the gears.. After about 1/8 of a mile and in 5 gear low range the transfer case shifted to neutral. The lever didnt move. I just lost forward drive. I stopped and pulled it into neutral and put it back in to 4 low. It re engaged and then popped out again. I put it back into 4 hi and 2 hi and it was working with no problems at all. I messed around with it for a few minutes then put it back in hi range and drove it home. I then drove it down my street to a friends house in 2 hi. Just to mess around when I left I dropped it in 4 low and it engaged in low range and took off. I stayed in a strait line but once I got to 4th and 5th gears it popped out again. It makes a slight grinding noise in 4th and 5th gear when this happens but not in 1st 2nd or 3rd. Once again I put in 2 hi and drove it home.

It did not seem to do this before I fixed the transfer case popping out of hi range problem I did not drive it but a couple of blocks in low range before because of the broken axle. I did use low range to move it though because of the damage to high range.

Here is a list of things I did to the transfer case. New input shaft, new syncro snap ring, new range shift fork, and case saver snap ring replacement on the output shaft. Any ideas?

 

It might have something to do with being in the higher gears, and the T-case not liking that... Low range isn't meant for sustained driving at speed. I am purely speculating, and have no facts whatsoever, just thinking out loud.

 

Thinking the same thing. I'm not going to test it on mine, but there is no reason to run the TC is low gear at high speeds, other than pulling or crawling. I've been told if it hurts when I do that, "don't do that" LOL

 

I have been racking my brain trying to think of what may have happened. As I mentioned earlier. When I first shifted to 4 low it worked properly. Picturing it in my head I can really only come up with 1 or 2 things that could have happened.

The most likely thing that could have happened is the snap ring that holds the input shaft onto the front support bearing may have not fully engaged in the groove and the input shaft is sliding backwards into the transfercase. When you have it in 2 or 4 hi the sliding range slider pushes forward and engages positively into the input shaft. When you are in 4 low, the range slider slides back and engages into the cage that supports the planetary gears. If the snap ring has popped out the entire input shaft and planetary cage would slide backwards and the shift collar would not engage or they would partially engage. That or the snap ring that holds the input shaft into the planetary cage came loose and basically allows the same thing. I am just burnt that I will have to take it back out of the truck.

 

I have ran several transfer cases at high speeds in low range. Typically this was in trucks and jeeps playing around in the dunes. The jeeps didnt have the power to run in 4 hi in deep sand so you had to run them in 4 low. My wranger never had transfer case issues and it regularly saw 45 mph plus in low range. In my deference. I was not really going fast when this happened. The diesel torque has you in 5th gear in low range at 15 to 20 mph. It was not under load. Actually it seemed to pop out when I let off.

 

Maybe you still have range fork issues? Not sure. And the fork has shoes on it like the CAD fork IIRC. Did you replace them as well? Just a thought.

 

It's not a Ram, but I never have my Yota in Low range other than 1st or 2nd. By the time I need 3rd, High Range hs always been good. I'm with 2x1972 - low range in xfer case does not like higer rpm probably. Maybe cheking owners manual to be sure....would be a good starting point.

 

The range fork has pads on it but they are not replaceable. The come attached to the new fork. The Fork I ordered has the same stampings as the old one did.
We are celebrating my oldest daughters birthday tonight otherwise i would be out there right now pulling it back out.

 

I found the problem. The input ring snap ring apparently was bent and it did not sit completely in the groove. I tried to get the snap ring to sit in the groove but I could not get it to drop completely. I am going to try and get a new snap ring tomorrow.

As far as driving it low range in higher gears in low range. I have done this many times with no issues. This particular issue was caused by an oversight by the guy who had the transfer case apart last time. AKA me. I drove the truck a total of maybe 300 feet in 4th gear at extremely light throttle. If the transfer case can not handle that, then it is not fit for duty behind a Prius.

 

Ok the transfer case is put back together and reinstalled in the truck. The snap ring was definitely the culprit. I found a new snap ring locally at a Chevy dealership of all places. I went to transmission shop I have had good experiences with in the past and he looked up the part number in Mitchel on demand. He is Ken at Kern Transmission in Bakersfield CA. He will definitely treat you right. He called Dodge with the Dodge Part number and they didnt have it so he looked up the same part for a NP241 for Chevy and called a couple of Chevy dealerships. He found one in the next town over at Richland Chevrolet in Shafter California. I paid a grand total of $1.57 for the snap ring.

Comparing it to my original snap ring, it is oviouse that the one I had was spread out to far. I had a 1/4 inch gap on the new one and almost 7/16 inch gap on the old one.

The transfer case works perfect now. I crawled with it and I did run it through the gears which brought me to super high speed of 20 mph. In 4 wheel low 4th gear idles right along at less than 10 mph.

I am happy now that it is working properly. I really like the super low crawl ratio in 4low and the granny 1st gear. You can put in gear get walk around and come back and jump in and the truck only rolls about 6feet. I would never actually do that LOL.