Hello all I have a 97 ram 1500 4x4 with the 5.2L
The 4WD light is on on my dash but my selector is in 2H position.

when the truck moves I can see the transfer case spin the front drive shaft so it’s for sure in 4wd

ive tried putting it into 4H then back into 2H and the light stays in and it’s just stuck in 4H

i never use the 4x4 so I don’t know how this happened....

how do I fix this? What could be wrong?

any help is greatly appreciated!

 

That actuator on the aaxle is stuck or the vacuum switch on the transfer case is stuck. A quick fix would be switch the vacuum lines on the actuator

 

Have a look here how the system works. See if you are getting vacuum at the actuator on the front axle. If you are, just switching which port that line goes to, as MoparFanatic suggested, will unlock the front axle.

 

thanks! Do I need to switch them at the axle or can I switch them at the crossmember?

 

Try at the axle.

 

As HeyYou mentioned the axle is the easiest

 

ok I’ll try that not and report back. Thanks so much for the quick replies!

 

WHOO HOO!

i think that worked! No light and the driveshaft didn’t move after pulling forward several feet.

ok NOW, can y’all explain to me what I actually did and what it means?

also, is it safe to leave it like this? What steps should I take next to actually fix it properly??

thanks so much for the help!!!

 

Yes it's safe until you need 4wd and then you have to switch the lines.
Here is how it works and this is very basic:
You have a white vacuum line coming from the intake down to a switch on the transfer case. You also have a green line running up by the distributor and that's a breather and comes from the same switch. When you pull the 4wd lever that switch has a ball on it and there lever (inside the case) pushes that in which sends vacuum to either the red vacuum line (4wd) or the black one (2wd). This switch gets stuck and doesn't send the vacuum to the other line (red or black). So you either get stuck in 4wd or 2wd

 

ahh okay, Makes total sense! Ok so I imagine the switch is bad? Or is it common for them to get stuck like this? .... I noticed a hairline crack going across the top of my rear extension housing on the transfer case the other day when I was inspecting my u joints. I was going to only replace the rear extension housing but if this is symptomatic of bigger issues maybe I’ll just look into getting a new transfer case. What do you think?