Finally hauled my boat out of its seasonal slip. It was the first time I have used my 94 F350/7.3 diesel to pull it. I was not impressed with the power performance. I pulled my boat a year ago with my E-250/300-6 and it had just about the same performance. Handling/stopping was significantly better than the van.

Got back to my house and went through the job of backing my boat into its spot beside my house. When I shifted into reverse, I noticed something was real sloppy in the shifter. It is an automatic. The place I park the boat, I must pull out onto a busy highway and back the rig straight back. I was on my last line up to back straight back. When I went to shift into reverse, the shifter became so sloppy, it wouldn't go into any gear at all.

So to get the truck out of the middle of the road, I chained my service van to the back of the boat and pulled both of them back to get them out of the highway.

Crawlled under the truck and the cable was fine. Looked under the dash and the cable was fine. I pulled out the dash panel and lowered the steering column and found the piece that goes from the shifter lever to the bellcrank that the shifter cable is hooked to broken in half. Even the steel push rod inside that locks the lever into park was broken in half.

My question is what would cause this part to break? I was driving it, didn't force it or nothing. The part is made from potmetal and can't be welded. What is this part called and where would I find one? Thanks, your help is appreaciated...D-N-B

 

Hi D-N-B,

You're complaint is relatively common. Check this thread out, reading the entire content:

http://forums.ford-trucks.com/ubbthr...ue#Post1135148

Ought to give you a place to start. R.A.

 

Thanks Dieselzen, Appreaciate the help. I'm just curious why I'm not getting the kinda power out of the engine as I should. While getting to the top of the hills, my truck would shift clear down into 1st after my speed would drop down to about 15mph. I think this is normal.

It doesn't smoke except when it is bogged down, and then the smoke is black. The engine has only 106K on it. It could be I am just overloaded. Boat and trailer weighs about 8500#, the truck weighs 11000#. It is a bucket truck with a Versalift unit. Thanks again. D-N-B