New member, thanks in advance for the help.

I've got a 2004 F450 that I'm loving, but suddenly having an issue getting it into gear. To get it out of park and into another gear I've got to turn the key a little father towards start (somewhere in between normal after start position and actually engaging the starter) and then the column shifter will actually let me get out of park and into another gear. Once I've done this there is no problem moving between gears. Last, this has to be related since it started at the same time - when I'm in cruise control it takes a greater amount of force on the brake to get the cruise control to shut off. When it finally does, it makes a loud click, almost a bang. If I only lightly push on the brake it won't kick off the cruise control and the engine will increase power to keep the speed and fight me on the brake.

Any ideas?

 

Get on your back and look under the steering column. There are some torx screws holding the shift mechanism to the column bracket. I loosened the column, if I remember correctly, for access to the shifter bracket screws.

Works great now that the fasteners are tight.

Looks somewhat intimidating at first, but the column is a modular sub assembly, so it's really pretty simple.