auto shift column not working

[garycmiller]

My 1999 Ranger 3.0 4x4 with auto transmission has a column mounted shifter. About a year ago it started becoming difficult to start the truck without first putting the truck into "neutral" instead of "park". Later it began to be difficult to place into "park" and be sure the parking pawl in the transmission engaged. Even though the indicator showed it being in "park", obviously the transmission wasn't always going all the way into "park".

Today, I got the truck started but could not get the truck to go into "drive", "reverse", or "park". I think something in the steering column linkage to the transmission is broken. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, how did you fix it? The linkage on the side of the transmission seems to be okay.

Please answer on this forum or feel free to e-mail me at: garymiller101@charter.net.

Thanks!

 

[cocoasranger]

The motion of the gear selector on a Ranger column shift setup is transmitted to the selector lever on the trans by a cable. The end of the cable by the trans is attached to a bracket with a plastic clip that tends to snap resulting in faulty gear selection.

This is easy to see by checking underneath the truck. You can temporarily secure the cable end, then operate the shift lever to check if this is the problem.

 

[wally]

I'm having issues currently too. The neutral safety switch swells up and restricts the cable movement and needs replaced, but I'm still having problems getting it into the proper gear now. its probably the clip that was talked about.

 

[wally]

I did finally get mine fixed. It was the neutral safety switch and the bolts at the bottom of the column. The neutral safety switch was swollen so much that it was restricting the cable movement. After that fix I found that the bottom bolts were loose on the column causing it not want to hold in the proper gear and it was not starting in park. After tightening them, all was good again.