Having a bit of a problem with my four-wheel drive. Everything was functioning completely normal up to when I pulled into sheets off of the snow covered highway tried to take it out of four wheel drive and I noticed it was still in four wheel as I made a sharp turn into the gas pump. Whenever you turn the **** to change it to two wheel drive you can hear a clunk so I know the switch is working at least. Switch it back to four wheel it makes a clunk or click or clang or whatever you want to call it nothing louder than normal more like a loud click I guess from under the truck. But no matter what you do it remains in four wheel drive. I am very leery of messing with it because we are in the middle of an Arctic blast here in Western Pennsylvania and if it goes into two wheel and will not return to four wheel I will be in big big trouble. I would not even be able to get in and out of my very slick Private Road. I was thinking about just leaving it in four-wheel drive until spring but I don't want to mess up the transfer case. It is way too cold to work on it now and it's only going to get colder in the next week or two. It had been parked in four-wheel drive overnight but I had it in and out of four wheel drive several times on the way to the gas station. I guess my biggest question is am I going to mess up the transfer case if I leave it in four wheel drive till the weather warms up? I was thinking of also pulling into the quick lube and having them check the fluid in the transfer case. I don't even know if this thing is vacuum operated. I guess I just need some advice from people in the know. Thanks much in advance for any comments
forgot to say what vehicle I'm driving it is a 2011 Ram Dakota

 

Can you shift into 4lo? Leaving it in 4hi shouldn't ruin anything, as long as it stays slippery, it hates dry roads and will wreck stuff.
My first guess would be the transfer case motor isn't working properly.

 

Thanks for the reply. I decided to make sure it was full of fluid. It was about a half a quart low which equates to almost half empty. Once it was topped off it started working again. Not sure how that works but at least it's working.

 

im not understanding how that fixed it, but ok. Makes me want to check mine, its been a while...

 

To answer a few other things in the initial post. All 3rd gen dakotas have electric shift transfer cases, no more vacuum lines to worry about. One known issue is the shift motor going bad and constantly shifting position trying to find a lock. This usually results in it engaging 4wd at random. You will know if this is the problem if you turn the key to the on position without starting and can hear the motor shifting. The quick solution for that would be to put it into 4wd, shift it to 2wd, then pull the fuse once the 4wd is disengaged.

Low fluid may have had something to do with it. Sometimes shifting the transmission into neutral, releasing brakes, going into 4lo, then to 2wd can free it up.

There should be an engineered fail point on the driveshaft to protect the other components. If the driveshaft fails, the y pipe on the exhaust will need to be removed to change it. 2005 - 2006 and some 2007 do not need to do this.

 

I know this thread is a little old, My 2005 is doing just this. Can you tell me what fuse needs to be pulled. Much appreciated.

 

The fuse you are looking for is #42. On the underside of the fuse box lid, there will be a diagram showing the location.

 

Great, thank you. I will check and let you know how it pans out