I'm sorry for the duplicate posting, from an older thread (12-05-2006, by DaddyMouse). I need some advice. In response to his posting, I added the following:
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Hi- I have a '92 aerostar that this just happened to (broken gear shift)- methinks it is the same problem. I loosened and dropped down the steering column, and the cast aluminum "collar" for the gear shifter is sheared. Also, the little plastic do-hickey that is used to adjust the gear indicator is broken as well. To compound the problem, I can't get the shifter back into park manually, and my key is stuck in the ignition switch. Fortunately, it is in my driveway, so no real harm done.

I called my local autoparts dealer, and he said to go to the junkyard and get a replacement there- they didn't have this part in stock (he called it a "shift linkage collar", after I described the problem- but he didn't think that was the correct term).

QUESTION: is this a hard fix? I can see a couple of screws that I believe I can access, but what else is there that I cannot see? Is this a simple case of unscrew, slide out the bad part, slide in the new part and reattach?

I would classify myself as a enthusiastic novice. Not quite a rookie, but I've never done anything with the steering/instrument cluster before. I *did* disconnect the batter so I wouldn't get a facefull of airbag before I started...

Thanks in advance for any help. Step through (with pictures) would earn HUGE karma points!