2018 ram 5500 stuck in 4wd neutral

[Nwpez]

First time posting. I have several rams but my 2018 was stuck in 4wd neutral today. Red light stuck on couldnt disengage. Dead in the water! I found a post from 2018 that walked me through disengaging but no one had an answer to what caused it to go into 4wd neutral in the first place. Has anyone experienced this issue and or found out why it happened? Just don’t want to be stuck loaded down somewhere with this problem or an eventual worse! Thanks for any thought. Quick fix for problem from previous post is below :


1. Bring the vehicle to a complete stop, leaving it connected
to the tow vehicle.
2. Firmly apply the parking brake.
3. Insert the key fob into the ignition switch and turn it to
the ON position, but do not start the engine.
4. Press and hold the brake pedal.
5. Shift the transmission into NEUTRAL.
6. Press and hold the transfer case switch NEUTRAL
button for one second.
7. After the NEUTRAL indicator light turns off, release
the NEUTRAL button.
8. After the NEUTRAL button has been released, the
transfer case will shift to the position identified by the
selector switch.
9. Shift the transmission into PARK.
10. Release the brake pedal.
11. Disconnect vehicle from the tow vehicle.
12. Start the engine.
13. Press and hold the brake pedal.
14. Release the parking brake.
15. Shift the transmission into DRIVE, release the brake
pedal, and check that the vehicle operates normally.

 

[crazy jerry]

dude you gotta give way more details. were those trucks manual floor shifter or did some have electric shift ? i know they had magna steyr front axle with no cad.
are you saying it shifted to nuetral on its own or you shifted it to nuetral and now it just wont go out of nuetral ?

 

[Nwpez]

@crazy jerry. Sorry man I thought after 2016 there were no more manuals made but could be wrong.

Automatic 2018 5500. There is an electronic neutral button under the 4wd dial on instrument panel. Evidently when engaged your transmission is put into neutral, potentially between 2wd and 4wd. But you can shift through gears but you’re in neutral. Manual says it’s for towing or switching between modes safely or some bs. But long story short I never engaged it and had to do the procedure mentioned to get my truck to move and go into gear. Trying to see if anyone has a reason this could have happened on its own? Prevent future failure.

 

[Grams]

Someone “bumped” the button (made the selection) inadvertently. This did not occur “on it’s own”. I promise.

Don’t panic. Take your time and perform the “dance” as you posted. You’ll be fine.

 

[Nwpez]

I’m the only one that drives it and from what I read you have to do the same procedure in reverse as mentioned to engage the 4wd neutral. But not saying an accidental bump isn’t possible and do hope it is just something silly and unrelated to a bigger issue. But it is a dodge. Haaa

 

[Grams]

Read your Owner Manual. It gives the specific instructs.

The 4wd Neutral selection is only when you wish to Tow the truck…so it takes the driveline out of rotation during towing…so the tranny/etc doesn’t suffer from lack of lubrication since the pump is not being powered by the engine.

That’s the Only Time you need to use it. I’ve owned 3 of these trucks for 15+ years and a half-million-miles and never needed it …and never had Any Kind of malfunction from it.