just curiuos, search option doesn't seem to be working to well. anyway...
last nite my truck wouln't go into park and i ended up tracking it down to the cable from the "shift lever to the tranny".
when i disconnect the cable at the tranny it goes into park "manually" no problem and everything under the column is there.
so, just curious about the cable and the cost, i assume its a dealer item...

 

Well glad to hear it wasn't worse, I thought it could be like a parking pawl or something having fallen out! What does the cable look like, any chance to free it from bindage?

Seems they are fairly substantial. Only thing I can think of is one or more of the steel strands has broken and is now jabbing into the cable jacket. That would more than likely be toward one of the ends, if you could find the offending strands, you could just snip them... could last a week, could last years, you just never know.

Probably stealer, Rockauto doesn't have them.

 

hey "CPU", thanks for responding to my thread last nite, i was in "freak out mode ", last nite.
i spent the whole day doing maintenance on the truck, and right when i was about to put on my plow and park it for the nite and go in for dinner to relax, it won't go in park!
but i think your right, somewhere inside the cable its broken, so i think i'll just suck it up, go to the dealer and hopefully never have to worry about it.
by the time it goes again i'll be in a new truck.

 

This sounds like something that could be avoided by the rest of us with something so insignificant as a drop or two of oil in the right place.

Since you've looked at the upper end, is it accessible, and can it be oiled or greased there?

Pop

 

Maybe the cable just needs to be adjusted. Look at post 13 in this link: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ng-column.html

 

Before you spend money try adjusting the linkage. LINK Great post by Roland in this thread. Thanks Roland.

Edit : Grant, we were thinking the same thing but I was a minute slower.

 

Up under the dash is a lever that the cable goes into. That lever can work loose and you have a hard time getting into park. I think there are three screws holding that lever to the column. You can check them. Also if the shifter is hard to shift it can be the safety neutral switch on the side of the tranny. Thought my cable was bad Replaced the switch and fixed my problem. A Curtis

 

i actually ended up making the adjustment at the tranny.
i was going thru some threads this morning an came across the one Roland had posted and it got me thinking
what i did was just take the "yellow" clip off and moved the "bracket from the cable, well call it", back. it has teeth on it that let it lock in, put the clip back in...
i got in the truck and was "freakin amazed", the truck shifted normal and started in park.
now i still don't know how this happend in the first place, what originally "moved" and i don't know how permenant this fix is but for today i'm happy!!!!

 

Glad you got it fixed. Do you have a lot of slop in the gear shifter? Maybe that has something to do with it.

 

Well that's a good "nugget" to file away for a later day, glad it's fixed... Now if someone only know where I could get that tiny bushing where the shift lever enters the column. I LOST mine doing something, and my dang shifter feels more like a 3 on the tree now!

 

The cable can actually stretch just enough that it needs to be re-adjusted. The adjustment should last quite awhile since the cable most likely won't stretch much more. If it does you know what to do.

 

do i have to raise the truck to do this, or was this written by someone with a 2wd? great write up though, i am going to get on it tonight.

thanks

 

No need to raise the truck if you can get under it.

 

thanks for the response! im sure i will mess something up doing it, but its worth a try.

 

Think positive.

Beware self fullfilling prophecies. If you think you will screw it up you probably will.