Shifter removed while possibly still in gear?

[1990RangerS]

While in the process of replacing my rear main seal, when I removed the shifter assembly from the top of the transmission I think that I may not have shifted it into neutral first. It was up on ramps so I had it in reverse to hold it, and it now appears that it may be stuck in reverse. While the shifter goes into the neutral position, I'm unable to shift into any gear. Is there some way to shift the transmission into neutral without having the shifter inside the transmission? Anybody got any ideas?

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Using a long flat screw driver, pry the left shift rail towards the rear. That will put it back in neutral.

Just curious... You are putting a new clutch in it too right? Make sure you also replace the slave cylinder. You'll regret it later if you don't.

 

[1990RangerS]

OK I'll have to try that. Just looking inside of the top, it looked like that might be something like what I should do, but I didn't wanna start ramming random stuff around and do something I would regret. Oh and about the clutch, it was replaced not very long ago and it's in good shape so I just re-installed it.

Update: Thanks for the help, it worked just fine. However, I found out that I got really familiar with the underside of my truck and rolled around in a lot of oil and tranny fluid to fix something that wasn't broke. My truck still leaks quite a bit of oil from someplace. Now I have to figure out where. Hopefully it's not something that is gonna take so long again. Oh the joys of used vehicles!

 

[snoopdoggie]

If it is motor oil Valve Covers are a likely source.