Ram Heavy Duty Pickups Recalled for Broken Transfer Cases

By Chris Chase

Jul 6, 2016

Summary

Faulty output shafts could leave trucks immobile.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Ram pickup division is recalling a few of its heavy-duty chassis cab models to replace 4WD transfer cases with faulty output shafts.

In 29 examples of the 3500-, 4500- and 5500-series trucks, the shaft that takes power to the rear axle could fracture, leaving the truck with no drive in 2WD mode, and would also allow the truck to roll away even when shifted into "park". Ram says that even with a broken rear output, the trucks would remain driveable (and, we assume, "park-able") in 4WD mode.

Ram is instructing its dealers to replace the transfer case units in the trucks affected by this recall.

Meet the Author

As a child, Chris spent most of his time playing with toy cars in his parents’ basement or making car sounds while riding his bicycle. Now he's an award-winning Algonquin College Journalism grad who has been playing with real cars that make their own noises since the early 2000s.