So I'm having to make a tight right turn out of a driveway that is uphill and sloped badly left last night and lose rear traction on wet leaves.

I go to pop it in 4 lo and remember I have an auto now so I have to put that in neutral first.

Get up and out of the driveway just fine and since I'm now turning on wet pavement I can feel a little driveline bind so I decide to go back to 2 wd.

So tranny back in netual and back to 2 hi but I don't realize I'm letting it roll backward while I'm doing this and I get a nice ker-chunk when I shift to 2 hi.

Put her in drive and pull on around to the front driveway without issue.

When I put it in park I hear this sound like something caught in a fan. I assume it was gears grinding. But why in Park?

So I put it in neutral. Pull the t-case shifter all the way to 4 hi and then back to 2 hi and then tried both drive and reverse to make sure I heard no odd sounds. Put her in park and shut her off.

Then as we're leaving and I'm coasting downhill to a stop sign I notice a very hard gear change. Other than that no problems.

I've never had a 4X4 with an automatic. Did I do something wrong while changing modes (other than the bad shift back to 2 hi).

Also, does the 4X4 system in my Ram require any backing up to unlock the front driveline or anything like that when going from 4wd to 2wd?

 

You didn't say what year your truck was, but most of the new ones are shift on the fly, even to 4-lo. To shift to 4hi, you have to be under 50MPH (maybe 55, can't quite recall), to shift to 4lo, you have to be under 3 or 5 MPH (can't recall here either, I know, it's sad <grin&gt. Though I never tried changing into or out of 4lo while rolling backwards.

You shouldn't have to back up to unlock. I never have.

 

I think the "roll back" scenario, is to un-lock hub locks, not transfer cases.
I could be wrong................
The manual 4wd hi/lo engagement on manual shift transfer boxes are a little tricky and at times if not timed correctly, noisey.
I don't think you've done any damage.
At least you quickly recognised the "binding" and changed out early.
Al.

 

happens sometimes to any vehicle with a manual lever. try moving at a slight clip like a few mph just coasting to help get it out of 4 low into 4hi then into 2hi

 

hmmm. i have an 04 1500 and from 2 to 4hi just pull back. and 4lo i always put the tran in neutral. i dont know if you need to or not. just habit for me from my dads old ford

 

yea 4 lo you gotta use neutral or park.... 4 hi should just slide in....

 

Just to add - 4 high would have been fine in that situation and is much easier to operate [8D]

 

i was also trying to figure out why he went to 4-lo.

 

Thanks for all the responses. I have a 2002 4.7 for those who asked.

The klunks changing t-case mode didn't bother me. What seemed so odd was that it worked fine until I put it in park and it made the racket.

I asked about the unlocking because I had to back up my 1990 Bronco for its auto hubs (until I ditched them for Warn Premiums). Wasn't sure if there was some sort of central disconnect for my Ram.

 

^^^ I almost always do the back up just because old truck had it that you needed to do that. Uhh my main guess at the griding was becase you were in park and the gears in the t case couldn't move really at all to mesh a ok. happens in my jeep if I put the e brake on and try to go into or out of 4 lo. just need to let it be able to roll free or let it coast at a very slow speed and you'll be ok. Were you by chance on a hill in park when you tried and got the noise.