Shift lever will not lock in park

[StefanW]

Hi all. I have a 72 GMC. I just put a tilt column in it. I believe it's out of a 72 van? I have all gears, back up lights and the wheels lock (you can't turn them) when trans is in park. It will only start in park or neutral. You can however pull down on the shift lever, without pulling it inward, and the tranny will shift into reverse, neutral, drive, etc. You cannot shift it into park without pulling the shift lever inward. You can shift into any gear using the bracket (where the linkage attaches) on the outside of the trans.
I have tried many things but I can't get the shift lever to stay in park without pulling the lever inward first. Is it something inside the column? Could it be a spring or something inside the tranny? If it was the parking pawl the wheels would spin in park correct?
If anyone knows what the issue is or has any suggestions on how to fix this, please let me know. Thank you in advance.

[Steeveedee]

Do you mean you have to pull it towards you to get it into park? It is operating normally, if so.

[A1971Blazer]

you should have to pull back on the lever to go into Reverse or Park...from Neutral... this prevents accidentally shifting into reverse or park while perhaps moving
Also you should have to pull back on the lever to take it OUT of park...the rest of the way down..you shouldn't have to pull back on it

[Dr Jekyll]

Here is a thread from 2017 about this issue. He "fixed" it with a screw. I used the search function with the "67-72chevytrucks.com" box checked. '70 c10 column shift question

[StefanW]

Thank you for your help Dr. Jekyll. I'm not very well versed in using this forum. I checked out the link you posted. My column doesn't look like the one in that particular thread. I'm going to try attaching a couple pictures of my column. Maybe mine doesn't have a safety feature so the lever locks into park and Steeveedee is correct and it's working as it should be? It just seems like it should because I have to pull the lever towards me to get it into park so why wouldn't the lever need to be pulled towards me to get it out of park?
I'm also attaching a photo of the linkage shaft. Hopefully it shows it has been welded. I'm thinking the previous owner shortened the shaft. (That's too long a story) Is it possible the shaft isn't long enough to move the bracket at the column far enough upwards to lock it in the park position? Also from the thread link posted.. What does the acronym PIA stand for? I'm going to lube the hell out of the inside of the column to see if that does anything.
Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance for help all.

[Boog]

PIA? Pain in the arse.
With the shifter in the park position will it push forward and if so does it then lock? If it does that indicates the lower end of the shift tube may be gummed up and lubricating inside may help.

[StefanW]

Thank you Boog. I'll make sure I work the shift lever around plenty when I lube the column interior. Hopefully that's all it needs. I'd be soooo freakin' happy! The column swap to a tilt has kinda turned into a PIA. Thanks for that too!

[pjmoreland]

By the way, the clamp collar that is installed around your column is also supposed to go around the piece that is above it and attached to the firewall.

Also, the piece that you have attached to the firewall with two Phillips head screws is supposed to be on the inside of the firewall.

[StefanW]

Yeah I know. The collar is off the support bracket so I can lower the column to loosen, adjust, then re-tighten the Neutral Safety Switch.
The cover plate I took a guess on and ended up being wrong. I did have a 50% chance of being right though so there's that. It will most likely stay exactly where it is because I don't think I can get it through the firewall without pulling the column out. Again!!!

[Dr Jekyll]

Having it installed incorrectly could be causing your problem. I’m not familiar enough with tilt steering columns, but perhaps the linkages or springs are already in a pullback state because of the difference in spacing caused by installing on the outside of the firewall.

[StefanW]

You're killing me Doc.

[Steeveedee]

Vehicle design engineers stay up late at night trying to figure out how to make everything work in an easy and safe way, to comply with motor vehicle safety standards (which are there for a reason). When one goes in and changes things to not-designed-together parts, one should expect that they will have difficulties, unless they also have that engineering background.

[Dr Jekyll]

Originally Posted by StefanW

You're killing me Doc.

I laughed... I was trying to help.

Here are some words you never want to hear. "I'm from the government and I'm here, to help."

[rockyrivermark]

Originally Posted by Dr Jekyll

Here is a thread from 2017 about this issue. He "fixed" it with a screw. I used the search function with the "67-72chevytrucks.com" box checked. '70 c10 column shift question

Yep. That was my thread and still working great 3 years later.

[custom10nut]

I was having the same issue, when I put a Blazer tilt column in my truck.
The problem I have is the spring inside at the base of the lever. It doesn’t seem to put enough pressure on the lever.
Is there a source for that spring?
And is there a procedure to install it so that it works properly?

[StefanW]

custom10nut: I arrived at the same place and concluded the same thing. I was fiddling around with the spring and I managed to lose it inside the column collar. I had to pull the column out again to retrieve the spring. I flipped it upside down, shook it around and eventually got it where it was visible in the shift lever opening. While I had the column out on the bench I tried a different shift lever that had a slightly different angle from the anchor pin in the collar to the spring. The lever I was trying was so sloppy I initially thought it had to be the spring. That turned out to be not the case. That spring is pretty heavy duty and I did try stretching it, with no luck, before I tried the other shift lever. The other lever works great. It's not the original shift lever or the one that came with the tilt column I bought. That doesn't make sense to me but it works. I'm going to try sourcing an original lever later on.
Try a different lever. See if that works for you.
All: Thank you very much for your help in figuring out my shift lever lock issue.
Merry Christmas everybody. Hope 2021 gets us all back to some kind of normalcy. Cheers!

[custom10nut]

Stephan, thanks.
I’m about to order another new lever.
The sad thing is that the one I currently have was ordered new, but of course was made in China, to be “within acceptable specs”.
I wonder what a NOS lever would cost me?