Dodge Ram TC help needed

[stewie]

Im posting this up for my brother in law.

1997 dodge ram 1500, auto, 231 TC.

the veh owner had some work done on his rams tc about a month ago. couple of weeks ago he goes from phoenix to rocky point mexico. on a dirt road he gets stuck in 2H so he shifts to 4H, gets unstuck and tries to get back out of 4wd. cant. it'll go to 4L then wont go to 4H or 2H. he tried shifting into neutral then out of 4 and still no luck. he sat there and fought with it for a while and bent the TC shift lever. he ended up driving back to phoenix in 4L at 30mph. i cant imagine that was a fun drive.

we are wondering what the possible causes of the tc being stuck in 4low are and the fixes, and how much it would cost.

the place where the work was just done at doesnt want to even hear of the word "warranty." they are saying that since it was so short of a time since the repair, that it has to be failure for the operator to properly maintain. i think bs.

you help is greatly appreciated

 

[j99xj]

Transfer cases like to be shifted when the vehicle is rolling slowly forward or backward. If he was stopped, shifting the transfer case would be difficult. If he was "stuck" in 4 low, he should have put the tranny in gear and roll forward to about 2 or 3 mph, then shift the tranny to neutral, and while still rolling forward, shift the transfer case to 2 wheel drive. Transfer cases don't behave like a transmission would, they take a little finesse.

 

[87manche]

if it's "stuck" in 4 lo then I would check the linkage first, as it's easiest. After that I would suspect the shift fork in the case, either bent or it's lost it's little teflon pads.