Three problems related to automatic transmission column shift have been reported for the 1999 Dodge Ram 1500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I own a 1999 Dodge ram extended cab 1500 pick up truck. My wife was driving and when she stopped the truck and placed in park the truck continued to move and we almost ran into the vehicle in front of us. After investigation it was noted that the lever on the stearing column used to change the transmission position was not functining. There was no way to place the transmission in the "park" position and there was no way to determine which position the transmission was in. There is a hinge system that connects the stearing column to the transmission and this hinge point is bolted to the frame of the truck. The bolts appear to be about 1/4" size. Well, both of the bolts were sheared off and the hinge point was just hanging off the frame. This left the entire transmission operating assembly useless. We are very conservative drivers and don't push the vehicle and we feel that this is a safety issue. We basically stopped, placed the transmission in "park" and the truck kept moving toward on-coming traffic until we hit the brakes again. What I'm concerned about is the person that's not soo lucky and puts the truck in park and walks away then the truck starts moving. In our case, we were parking slightly down hill and we noticed the movement right away.
While driving vehicle stalled. Consumer was unable to restart vehicle, and had it towed to the dealer for inspection. Mechanic determined that rear end gear shift sheared off, and needed to be replaced.
Transfer case shattered , driveshaft broke loose while driving.