so eng light is off and truck is running strong. I stop for fuel and its snowy/slushy. I put truck in 4hi to get around parking lot with loaded trailer and when I pull out onto hwy it jerks me to the right. Not once but continously and violently. I thought I had a flat..checked..all good..drove a little more..same. After doing this DRIVE/INSPECT/DRIVE/INSPECT I pulled over again and put it in 2hi and shut truck off. It seemed to fix the problem. I called a friend who is pretty savvy to these front ends and he thought if anything the left should grab..???We had no idea what was wrong..Of course the hwy is closed right where Im at..4wd or chains only. I chanced it and was fine in2wd. Came to a jacknife and had to wait..tried again with 4wd..same, only this time right front wouldnt "disengage" until I hit a huge pot-hole which made everything right.Im at a loss..gonna take to Dodge next week but if you guys could school me on this I would appreciate it. BTW, the 4wd worked fine the day before when I was moving campers around in the mud..easily though no romping

The axles are set up very much like a old full time 4x4 truck. There is no disconnect/auto hub/manual hub as you have noticed. Only mechanisms are inside the transfer case.

Perhaps. Since the "hub" is basically a drive flange, you would be hard pressed to break it. I have to assume if you break it, the wheel would fall off? The stub is splined to the wheel stud flange. If that breaks, your wheel goes rolling away (caliper probably hold it on for a short while), but there is so much steel there, other parts would give first.

I understand mine is slightly different with it's inboard rotors, but you understand the concept:






If the axle breaks, I suspect you would simply have a "cad-like" operation assuming you have an open differential. I would guess it would act like CAD with a hose missing where neither wheel really pulls.

Same if a spider gear destroyed, except I assume you would have hellacious noise, and an explosion quickly? The ring and pinion and driveshaft is always turning even in 2wd.