The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post

James McClure · 02-28-2011, 10:25 AM

Brawley, first question I have is was it doing this before you took the lever out? Second, does the lever feel like it has spring pressure holding it down like it should. I'm an old Chevy mechanic and I have made the same mistake more than once, same one you may have made. There is a spring in there you MUST get the lever on top of. If you don't the upper first coil of the spring gets stuck on the first cut out on the lever making it impossible to pull it up enough to make it past the park detent. Pull the lever out again and remove the spring (it WON'T be easy) Look at it. It's probably bent. Straighten it out (best to replace it with the one from another auto colunm) and then reinstall spring and CAREFULLY reinstall the lever by sliding it in with the end tang scraping the uppermost face of the lever bore and the pin boss scraping the lower face of the lever bore. Hold it in place with the pin half way in and GENTLY pull up on the lever to see if it gets full travel. If you feel ANY resistance before full travel is attained, IT'S IN WRONG, DON'T PULL IT UP ANY HIGHER!! Pull it out and try again. If you get full travel the first time, try to shift it, it should work now. jim

02-28-2011, 10:25 AM	#4
James McClure One shot, one kill. Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Saratoga Springs NY Posts: 859	Re: Steering column wont go into park??? Brawley, first question I have is was it doing this before you took the lever out? Second, does the lever feel like it has spring pressure holding it down like it should. I'm an old Chevy mechanic and I have made the same mistake more than once, same one you may have made. There is a spring in there you MUST get the lever on top of. If you don't the upper first coil of the spring gets stuck on the first cut out on the lever making it impossible to pull it up enough to make it past the park detent. Pull the lever out again and remove the spring (it WON'T be easy) Look at it. It's probably bent. Straighten it out (best to replace it with the one from another auto colunm) and then reinstall spring and CAREFULLY reinstall the lever by sliding it in with the end tang scraping the uppermost face of the lever bore and the pin boss scraping the lower face of the lever bore. Hold it in place with the pin half way in and GENTLY pull up on the lever to see if it gets full travel. If you feel ANY resistance before full travel is attained, IT'S IN WRONG, DON'T PULL IT UP ANY HIGHER!! Pull it out and try again. If you get full travel the first time, try to shift it, it should work now. jim __________________ 1984 K20 350M engine with 465,000 miles. Well, it's finally done!! Almost 2 years of work, but it was really worth the effort. Little stuff left to do is mount winch, wet sand & buff out and build belly pan\running boards. Body work takes lots and LOTS of beer!!!! God, Guts and Guns made America and God, Guts and Guns will preserve it! The worst thing you could do is get into my sights, but that don't matter, you'll never know it, cause you'll never hear the shotJim or Paladin whichever you choose.