Have a 16' 2500 HD 4x4 that I am going to be towing some behind another vehicle - just moving trucks around back and forth from place to place never more than 5 miles at a time. I have the manual transfer case that has a neutral position so thats not an issue, but the owners manual goes in to a detailed procedure of unhooking the battery cables and a lengthy set of steps before turning the vehicle off after shifting the transfer case to neutral. Apparently from what I have been researching that may be just to make sure the battery doesn't run down?

I guess I am wondering if anyone knows if that is necessary for these short trips? I assume they are describing the procedure for towing distances behind an rv or something - I would think that I could just make sure the truck is in neutral gear, and the transfer case is in neutral and leave the truck running and go my five miles or so and be done with it. Thats what I have always done on my older trucks but these new ones I know are highly complex and would hate to ruin something.

I don't think you need to disconnect the battery. The first step in almost every by the book service is to disconnect the battery.