Help with nanny features

[Down2Ride]

Took my 75A off road for the first time. I am not use to so many features on an off road vehicle so I have a few questions. I'm sure you guys can educate me and this is operator error on my part. The first thing I wanted to do was pre tension the winch rope before I actually needed to use it in a situation where I was stuck, or needed to help someone who was. I unspooled the rope and attached it to a big ass tractor to pull the truck to the tractor. The road was at a slight incline which I figured would be perfect to put some tension on the winch rope using the weight of the truck. I put a couple clicks on the E brake and put the beast in neutral. I exited the vehicle to operate the winch and pull the truck to the tractor. Truck put itself in auto park. WTF? I know I must be doing something wrong. Is it not possible to exit the truck in neutral?

Second was to test the front and rear lockers. I have to say I was disappointed. Is it normal to sit there without the lockers engaging and just have the locker lights flashing forever? I did get them to engage eventually after slowly driving for a pretty good distance. In a real world situation they would have been useless to me. Same went for the sway bar disconnect. Must we have a crystal ball to determine when these features will be needed? If I was in a situation where I needed to engage them immediately it would be a no go.

Just as annoying was with the rear axle locked in 2WD. Traction control was disabled. I was unable to drift this truck around a turn. Is the stability control feature unable to be disabled in anything other than 4LO?

One more complaint. As I have stated this has to be from my lack of knowledge pertaining to this vehicle. Where I work, as a courtesy, we dim our headlights while pulling into our facility to avoid blinding coworkers working morning watch hours. I can not turn the headlamps off while in drive. This has to be me not knowing WTF I'm doing.

Just to be honest I have not cracked open the manual yet. I am sure this is operator error and the engineers designing a vehicle with such extreme off-road capabilities are smarter than me. Anyone with any quick tips to overcome these annoyances would be appreciated. Any help would be appreciated fellas.

 

[BowerPower]

Auto park didn't function for me in 4lo but I have read that if you have the seat belt buckled it will allow you to over ride it but I haven't tried. If that doesn't work, out the transfer case in neutral, that will complete negate anything the transmission is doing. It's that tiny little button in the middle of 4wd buttons.
I have read that you have to hold down down the traction control buttone for a period of time to more disable the functions.
My rear locker locks up instantly, the front needs some time. From my understanding, you need to different wheel speed left to right to allow the locker mechanism is align properly. I don't know how many miles your truck has but by the 5,000 mile mark you need to open up the diffs and clean of the locker magnets.
The headlight switch is down by your left knee. Turn the dial all the way to the left for off and all the way right for auto.

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[crash68]

To stop the transmission from putting itself into park, plug in the seatbelt.
You can buy a 3" seatbelt extender and leave it plugged in so you don't have to sit on the seatbelt. https://www.seatbeltextenderpros.com/ram-pickup-seat-belt-extender/

 

[Down2Ride]

Will give the seatbelt trick a try. As for the lights, when the truck is in drive the switch position makes no difference.

 

[Down2Ride]

Auto park didn't function for me in 4lo but I have read that if you have the seat belt buckled it will allow you to over ride it but I haven't tried. If that doesn't work, out the transfer case in neutral, that will complete negate anything the transmission is doing. It's that tiny little button in the middle of 4wd buttons.
I have read that you have to hold down down the traction control buttone for a period of time to more disable the functions.
My rear locker locks up instantly, the front needs some time. From my understanding, you need to different wheel speed left to right to allow the locker mechanism is align properly. I don't know how many miles your truck has but by the 5,000 mile mark you need to open up the diffs and clean of the locker magnets.
The headlight switch is down by your left knee. Turn the dial all the way to the left for off and all the way right for auto.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

Holding down the traction control works to disable the stability control but not in 2WD. Headlights will not turn off in drive regardless of the dial position.

 

[BowerPower]

What about turning off running lights in the uconnect settings?

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[crash68]

Headlights will not turn off in drive regardless of the dial position.

I'm guessing they're set as Daytime Running Lights, while in gear try pushing the parking brake down just enough to turn the dash Brake light on (or the DRLs off).
Is there a setting in the radio or dash to turn the DRLs off? If there isn't I believe Tazer can make the the DRLs selectable or possibly even AlfaOBD
Tazer also offers other features for the PowerWagon so it might be worth the investment.

 

[BowerPower]

I'm guessing they're set as Daytime Running Lights, while in gear try pushing the parking brake down just enough to turn the dash Brake light on (or the DRLs off).
Is there a setting in the radio or dash to turn the DRLs off? If there isn't I believe Tazer can make the the DRLs selectable or possibly even AlfaOBD
Tazer also offers other features for the PowerWagon so it might be worth the investment.

I can 100% confirm there is a setting in the radio. I have seen it and toggled it myself

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[Down2Ride]

I can 100% confirm there is a setting in the radio. I have seen it and toggled it myself

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Going to give that a try. Thank you.

 

[Down2Ride]

You guys are the best. I disabled the headlamps while truck is in drive and the seat belt buckled prevents auto park.

It's my opinion the fact I have to do this is FKN annoying. The Power Wagon is marketed as a badass off-road truck. I want a button that is for off-road use, disables all the safety nets and allows me to have control of my vehicle at all times.

 

[BowerPower]

You guys are the best. I disabled the headlamps while truck is in drive and the seat belt buckled prevents auto park.

It's my opinion the fact I have to do this is FKN annoying. The Power Wagon is marketed as a badass off-road truck. I want a button that is for off-road use, disables all the safety nets and allows me to have control of my vehicle at all times.

I agree. I would imagine some of it is US regulations and some liability. People nowadays sue over everything. I remember reading about Paul Walkers daughter suing Porsche over her father's accident. Obviously once the car is sold the automaker can't be held reliable for how you use it. This stuff saved them from a lawsuit.
I think I read that the auto park feature came from someone running over themselves with their own jeep that had a rolory shift. Makes no sense since cars have been sold for over 100 years without auto park and suddenly its need.

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[olyelr]

You guys are the best. I disabled the headlamps while truck is in drive and the seat belt buckled prevents auto park.

It's my opinion the fact I have to do this is FKN annoying. The Power Wagon is marketed as a badass off-road truck. I want a button that is for off-road use, disables all the safety nets and allows me to have control of my vehicle at all times.

Well i wanted something like that too…so i had a guy rig me up a switch to do just that…kill ALL the nannies. He now sells them all the time.

https://forum.powerwagonregistry.org/viewtopic.ph?f=47&t=5798

 

[Travelin Ram]

I'm no fan of the nannies either. They should all come with a 100% shut off feature from the factory. Ram, are you listening?

With respect to the locker and swaybar, though, Ram has actually done something right. All the selectable lockers require some amount of movement to engage, whether it's to ramp up the locking pawls or to align the gears. ARB, Ford, GM, Toyota, they all need to move unless you're very lucky with something like an ARB and the gears just happen to be in alignment when you throw the switch. So switch it and roll on.

Where RAM has done the others one better is it has a sensor in the diff to tell you when the mechanism has actually moved into place. Most designs just fire up the light as soon as the diff is powered up. But that's not the same as actually locked. Ram will flash to tell you the action you requested is not yet completed.

And ditto for the swaybar. You don't want to uncouple that thing under a lot of spring tension. It waits to move until the pressure is off the coupling; and it's informing you what's happening.

If I may, I'll get on my off-road soapbox for a moment. Yes, we should all be watching the trail ahead and switching on traction aids BEFORE the tire slippage starts. Waiting until you can't move in 2wd to engage 4wd is doing it wrong. Ditto for lockers. Why? Because the show-offs who dig through an obstacle with unnecessarily spinning tires are just tearing up the trails. There's no downside to engaging traction aids early, unless you're on a tight turn where a locker will impede you.

Those "content creators" on YouTube are the worst. Digging up inclines in 2wd unlocked. Splashing though mud puddles at 20 mph because it looks cool on video, not giving a damn that they just made the ruts worse by tossing all the bottom material out to the sides of the trail.

/rant.

Enjoy the new wagon, it is without a doubt the most capable off-road machine sold in the States, bar none. At least until you find a small place it won't fit through.

 

[Down2Ride]

I do like the truck for sure. No doubt it is a very capable machine. When I get all the idiot features eliminated it will be as it should have come from the factory for this kind of money. You cant save stupid people from themselves. One guy runs himself over because he did not put his rotary dial in park and apply the E brake...I think that is called natural selection of the human species.

Thanks for the help guys. Very much appreciated!

 

[4xdad]

vou cant fix stoopid

 

[Randy Grant]

You guys are the best. I disabled the headlamps while truck is in drive and the seat belt buckled prevents auto park.

It's my opinion the fact I have to do this is FKN annoying. The Power Wagon is marketed as a badass off-road truck. I want a button that is for off-road use, disables all the safety nets and allows me to have control of my vehicle at all times.

All that safety **** is there to keep ******** people from killing themselves and filling a claim against the manufacturer because "the truck just ran over me ".

 

[Grand Mesa]

No matter how many nanny features are added, the stupid will prevail...

Narrow mountain pass closed after delivery truck gets stuck in Colorado | OutThere Colorado

According to the San Miguel County Sheriff, the notably scenic Ophir Pass has been closed due to a delivery truck getting stuck on the narrow, rocky route.

www.outtherecolorado.com

 

[General Clortho]

Took my 75A off road for the first time. I am not use to so many features on an off road vehicle so I have a few questions. I'm sure you guys can educate me and this is operator error on my part. The first thing I wanted to do was pre tension the winch rope before I actually needed to use it in a situation where I was stuck, or needed to help someone who was. I unspooled the rope and attached it to a big ass tractor to pull the truck to the tractor. The road was at a slight incline which I figured would be perfect to put some tension on the winch rope using the weight of the truck. I put a couple clicks on the E brake and put the beast in neutral. I exited the vehicle to operate the winch and pull the truck to the tractor. Truck put itself in auto park. WTF? I know I must be doing something wrong. Is it not possible to exit the truck in neutral?

Second was to test the front and rear lockers. I have to say I was disappointed. Is it normal to sit there without the lockers engaging and just have the locker lights flashing forever? I did get them to engage eventually after slowly driving for a pretty good distance. In a real world situation they would have been useless to me. Same went for the sway bar disconnect. Must we have a crystal ball to determine when these features will be needed? If I was in a situation where I needed to engage them immediately it would be a no go.

Just as annoying was with the rear axle locked in 2WD. Traction control was disabled. I was unable to drift this truck around a turn. Is the stability control feature unable to be disabled in anything other than 4LO?

One more complaint. As I have stated this has to be from my lack of knowledge pertaining to this vehicle. Where I work, as a courtesy, we dim our headlights while pulling into our facility to avoid blinding coworkers working morning watch hours. I can not turn the headlamps off while in drive. This has to be me not knowing WTF I'm doing.

Just to be honest I have not cracked open the manual yet. I am sure this is operator error and the engineers designing a vehicle with such extreme off-road capabilities are smarter than me. Anyone with any quick tips to overcome these annoyances would be appreciated. Any help would be appreciated fellas.

I understand your frustrations. The first time I played around with the lockers and disco's I thought it was annoying too. Then I unlocked and got stuck in the mud and was afraid to re-lock because the video specifically says not to do that. The winch got me out easy.

I came up with a wheeling plan for this (have not tested it yet). I would go ahead and drop into 4wd HI and disconnect the sway bars right away once off-road. I am not one of those that feels awesome if I can get somewhere in 2wd instead of 4wd and didn't get one so that I could see if I could make it without it. I just drop it in HI right off the bat, especially with this heavy rig. I will leave the sway bars disconnected the whole time. I am not going to be going fast anyway so that takes care of that.

The rear lockers seem to active pretty quick so I feel like I would have time to activate them when I see an obstacle, or I will just lock them to begin with unless it becomes an issue with sharp turns. I feel like it would be fairly rare to need the font locker and it should be pretty oblivious if I want to activate it. I did notice that it helps the front to lock up sooner when moving slowly and steer a little left to right.