2009 ram 1500 quad cab with the 5.7 hemi

Pulled into a parking spot today (or tried to) and completely forgot i was in 4wd🙄 bucked once per the usual, doing its “4wd tight turn” thing, but had an abnormally loud clunk, louder than the usual “please dont turn that tight in 4wd” clunk... didnt really think anything of it. Couldnt make my turn, put it in 2wd, and finished parking. Later on, i was backing up to my trailer in the snow on a slight incline, so i put it in 4wd, would not engauge. The light on the selector know comes on indicating that it is engauged, but its deffinately not. No grinding (indicating splines from the stub shaft are steipped), no other noises.

From my research so far, seems like the two most common issues are a) vacuum leak going to the actuator (passenger side on my truck) or b) the actuator actually going bad. There was also something i read that involved a system update/programming that needs to be done? If this applies here, can someone explain that a bit?

As a side note, i recently put in a new stub axle, axle shaft seal, and cv axle on the passenger side. Could it maybe be that i got a faulty part and it has already failed?

Thank you for your help, and sorry for the long read

 

Does your truck actually have the vacuum actuator on the passenger side axle??? If so, think I would start looking there.

 

honestly i havent looked, all others that have come up when i researched have had it. Is it possibly just electronic?

 

also, would a sharp turn like that actually cause a vacuum leak? Or cause the actuator to fail?

 

Shouldn't cause a vacuum leak, but, if there actually IS an axle disconnect in there, the stress from turning on a high traction surface may have broke something.

 

thats why its odd... say it sheared off one of the axles or something like that, you would think that there would be grinding going on. But its not making any sound at all

 

If the collar broke, or forced something else to bend/break so it could move, those parts would likely just drop to the bottom of the housing, and hang out there. A bump, hard stop, or just bad luck might introduce them to something that's moving, and cause all sorts of hate and discontent though.... Best to check out your 4x4 problem SOON. Easy test to see if that is the problem though. Jack up the front end, start the engine, put it in 4x4, make sure the light comes on, and then try and spin the passenger tire BY HAND. DO NOT put the truck in gear. You really won't care for the results. (unless you raise up the rear end as well.....) The tire shouldn't turn.... or, if it does, the tire on the drivers side should spin the opposite direction. If you can spin the tire easily, and nothing else is moving..... disconnect has a problem, and you want to find out what it is, BEFORE it gets really expensive.

 

Thats good advice, will test that. In the case it is a disconnect issue, i assume simple replacement of the 4wd actuator would be the best bet. Idea of cost? Id do it myself, i understand its fairly simple

 

No clue how much it would cost. I know on the older trucks (2nd gen) it's REAL easy to work on. Just gotta be careful with the bolts. They hang out in one of the worst environments imaginable, so, hit 'em with chems to deal with rust several times before trying to take 'em out. Not sure how much of an ordeal it is on the newer trucks.

 

4th gens do not use vacuum actuators. You are not trying to shift into 4 low correct? The 4wd light blinks and then returns to the 2wd position? What tcase do you have? if you don't know pm me the last eight of the vin.
any 4wd shift faults will set chassis codes...you need a full function scan tool to access them.