99 Silverado Shift Lever loose

While on my way to sell my 99 Silverado 5.3 L engine LT to another fella, I stop for gas and the shift lever has no resistance. Truck is stuck in Drive and the shift lever just falls to it's lowest position. This sucks. Any idea what to do?

Sounds like the cable to the tranny became disconnected from the lever. Either under the dash or at the tranny. Or something broke in the column.

I don't believe it's the cable. It's in the shifter mechanism in the column. Inspect the cable anyways just to cover your bases. It is a 2 peice cable, and it joins on the driver side, underneath the cab, it will be prominent.

To put it in Park, you need to physically go underneath and push the lever the cable is on, all the way toward the front until it stops. It will go into Neutral, Reverse, and then Park.

-Be prepaired take apart the dash bezel, knee bolster and column covers. The bezel uses clips, so just pry it off.

-The knee bolster will need a 7mm socket

-The column covers need either a T20 or T25 Torx head (use a torx driver if you have one!)

-Grab a Chiltons or Haynes repair manual and look up the shifter mechanism

-If you can't find anything in either one, PM me and I'll shoot you a message back with pictures and instructions on the repair. I have a subsription to AlldataDIY. Very handy.

HA! Amazing! That's exactly what happened. Crawled under the truck and saw the linkage was simply disconnected. Squeezed it back on with some pliers and I'm good to go. Easiest fix ever. Wonder why those things come apart in the first place?
Here are some picks of my fix.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7X8fc4apNbs/TTDiefqeIvI/AAAAAAAAJCw/w7IOq2FQNX4/s576/photo.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7X8fc4apNbs/TTDiQGoF62I/AAAAAAAAJC4/A4MykROxCHw/s576/photo.JPG

HA! Amazing! That's exactly what happened. Crawled under the truck and saw the linkage was simply disconnected. Squeezed it back on with some pliers and I'm good to go. Easiest fix ever. Wonder why those things come apart in the first place?
Here are some picks of my fix.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7X8fc4apNbs/TTDiefqeIvI/AAAAAAAAJCw/w7IOq2FQNX4/s576/photo.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7X8fc4apNbs/TTDiQGoF62I/AAAAAAAAJC4/A4MykROxCHw/s576/photo.JPG
Well. I guess when it's in drive and it separates like that the shifter will drop down.

It must have been coming off little bit my little bit and finally popped off when the motor and trans torqued just right. I've never had that issue...but I won't experience because I have a B&M Quicksilver ratchet shifter now.

Well. I guess when it's in drive and it separates like that the shifter will drop down.

It must have been coming off little bit my little bit and finally popped off when the motor and trans torqued just right. I've never had that issue...but I won't experience because I have a B&M Quicksilver ratchet shifter now.


that was damaged when they dropped the tranny pan..
that pivot point does not JUST pop off....

that was damaged when they dropped the tranny pan..
that pivot point does not JUST pop off....
Ah yes. I searched the OP's threads and found that he had the fluid flushed and replaced. Could be a possibility that this is what happened.

Ah yes. I searched the OP's threads and found that he had the fluid flushed and replaced. Could be a possibility that this is what happened.

with this set up it is common for the hacks to use force to bend this out of the way for pan removal , instead of removing the torx screws on the bracket mounting hardware..

This just happened to my 99 Silvy. My cable end seems to be worn out it won't stay clipped to the lever even after i bought a new lever. What I ended up doing was taking off the lever grinding down the back side of the pin and hammering out the pin and drilling a 1/4 hole for a bolt and bolted it together. I hope this would be a permanent fix if not i hope it at least gets me thought the rest of winter since it's my plow truck and replace the cable in the spring. I hpoe these picture come out.

[41726

41727

as long as the cable can rotate freely when shifting, & nut does'nt
come loose.. you should be fine for awhile
good luck

Locknut plus thread locker on it so it should stay put...