Have not used the 4wd untill i tried it today, truck was fine yesterday and now brake pedal goes to the floor and the 4wd will not engage and truck is in a snow bank blocking neighbors driveway???
any ideas?
can i engage 4wd another way?
need help- thank you

 

Sounds like a vaccume problem with the CAD on the front axle, can't look at that while its in a snow bank!

 

cad on front axel?
can you elaborate on this some
thank you

 

CAD info:
http://dodgeram.org/tech/repair/4X4/4x4_engagment.htm

I cant recall if brakes are vac assisted or not. They must be if both occured at the same time, maybe a vac line just came off.

 

thank you copenhagen- i found the link and as soon as i get my truck out of the snowbank i will get under it and trace the vacum lines

thank you,
Patrick

 

started digging out at 10 a.m. this morning, took about 4 hours to clear the driveway and walkways and annother 6 hours to get my truck out of the snowbank it slid into, i could not even park at home as i am on a hill and town did not bother to plow or sand- tomorow i will get under the truck and get a look at the vac lines- i am hoping that the deep snow knocked the two vac lines off the front cad unit causing the vac leak and no 4wd- keeping my fingers crossed its been a tough month for us and i am hoping for an easy repair
thank you coppenhagen for the linkyou sent me to

 

on my 99 the brakes are hydroboost not vaccuum operated

 

Brakes were vacuum assist in 96 and earlier. Even if yours were vacuum assist the pedal wouldn't go to the floor if a vacuum hose came off. You have two problems. If you have a bad vacuum leak for the cad quite possibly the heat select will not work either and it will default to defrost. Pedal to the floor tells me of a broken hose or other major leak.

 

i am hoping that the belts were sliping due to snow and yes i have defrost only so this leads me to believe there is a vac leak somewhere

 

do all my vac lines originate from the power brake vac pump?
any diagrams on routing of vac lines?

 

Yes, the vacuum pump is the only source of vacuum on the truck. The routing is fairly simple. From the vacuum pump it goes back to the firewall, with a little check valve just before it gets there. At the firewall, it crosses over to the passenger side to go into the cab to move the assorted vacuum actuated doors. There is a "T" in the line to pick off vacuum for the cruise control, and I think another one for the 4WD acutation. There's also a vacuum connector on top of the transmission (kinda toward the rear) that has some lines (I think 4) and from there it makes its way along the passenger side frame rail to the front differential. On my '01, many of the plastic bits of tubing (and 'T' sections) were brittle and cracked. I replaced all of them with rubber vacuum line, and the 'T's with metal, and haven't had any problems since. I think if I lived somewhere cold, like you obviously do, I'd get rid of the vacuum 4WD stuff and go with the cable acutated units some of the vendors sell.

 

found a cracked hose at the first check valve at the first tee at firewal on drivers side, still no vac, so there must be more cracked hoses, the tee at the firewall closest to the valve covers[ tied up at some elec connectors- is tht the tee that feeds down to the front axel cad- the vac lines seem to end at firewall on pass side

thank you all for the help and information
someone needs to make an upgrade kit with new hoses and metal tee's and fittings to replace all this plastic that cracks-one stop shoping- it seems to be a common repair for second gens

 

There is a recall kit with all the hoses, etc but it's only for '94 and '95s.
Still has plastic tees though.

 

how would vinyl tubing hold up in the engine bay?
i see some people are using ruber, but i thought ruber does not hold up well to oil and fuel?
slowly replacing the lines and making progress- but no garage and still an inch of snow it is slow going
anyone installed the 4x4 posilock cable system- looks like a good system?
I definately also have a leak in the brake lines as well- one problem at a time
thanks for all the information- you people are a great resource

 

No need to spend $200 plus when you can do it yourself for $30.
Amount of labor for the install is about the same.
Instructions> http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=595515