I'm having an issue with getting my '96 Ram 2500 4x4 to go into 4WD . The shifter is pretty rusty and hard to operate, since the truck is a former snow plow truck. When I try to shift it into 4 Hi, the 4WD light doesn't come on and after driving for a few moments, I hear a grinding sound coming from the transfer case like its trying to go into 4 Hi, but can't. When I hear the noise, I put the truck back in 2WD. I have also tried to put it into 4 Lo, but I can't find neutral to get it into 4 Lo. The linkage connected to the shifter looks fine. All of the vacuum lines are new. Luckily, I do have a used spare shifter that appears to be in great shape. Thoughts?

 

Think I would be tempted to start by thoroughly cleaner and lubing the shifter itself.

How many miles on the truck?

 

The truck shows 145,000 miles, however, I've only put the last 15,000 miles on it. The spare shifter I have is already in really good shape, well lubricated and appears to be in much better condition than my original shifter. The process to swap them out appears to be removing the shifter ****, disconnect the linkage from the shifter and remove the 2 bolts holding the shifter to the transmission. I was curious to determine if anyone has ever seen shifter issues with 4WD engagement.

 

Not really..... They are pretty basic in what they do, but, given the age, and if you live in the rust belt, (salt on the roads?) I could see how that might be a possibility.

On my 96, the shifter and cad worked fine, but, the chain was stretched pretty good, so, in 4wd, even going in a straight line, it would make some interesting noises....... But, that truck had 200K miles on it.

 

The truck was likely in a rust belt area prior to my purchase of it several years ago. I'll swap the shifter and see if it has any affect on my issue. If nothing else, I can hopefully rule the shifter out of the issue with the swap...

 

Clean and lube the replacement anyway. Just for grins.

 

Will do. Its a much better starting point than the original.

 

A lot easier to get to as well.

 

Finally found some time to work with my 4WD shifter today and it looks like the 4WD shifter on my truck is at least part of my 4WD engagement issue. The plastic gate that clips to the top of the metal plate on the shifter popped off and allows the shifter to move straight front to back. The shifter is also pretty well seized up and can't be shifter into 4Lo, as it won't move over into a neutral position and then over, as the shifter is seized up so bad at the neutral pivot point. Attached is the photo of the rusted original shifter and the spare shifter I had in storage.


Original 4WD shifter, heavily rusted and seized up at the two pivot points. Also, note the plastic shifter gate is bent and out of position.

This is my spare 4WD shifter. You'd think this would fit my truck/transmission, but when I tried to install it, the bolt spacing of the bracket is different than the original (found out that the spare shifter is a 52079181, which fits the 8.0 gas or 5.9 diesel transmission), so I'll have to refurbish the original 4WD shifter (fits the 46RE transmission & 241 transfer case) and get it working properly again.

 

I can see why you would rather use the spare.... MUCH Better condition.

Wonder why the bolt patter is different.... not like the shift patterns between trucks is different.... (yes, the pattern did change in 98..... but, they ALL changed.....) Auto manufacturers do some truly bizarre stuff....