Difficult to shift.

Hello to the forum, this is my first post (although I’ve been lurking in the shadows for quite some time), so be kind :-) I’ve got a 1997 Chevy C/K 1500 Automatic with about 75k mi. The shifting arm is on the steering column.

The problem that I’ve been having is that when I attempt to shift from park into gear, the shifting arm is EXTREMELY difficult to put into gear. I’m almost afraid that the amount of force that I’m exerting is going to bend something. After I do get it into gear, shifting through the gears is somewhat easier.

Several months back, the entire shifting apparatus (on the steering column) was replaced; this was done because it had broken, leaving my truck in park permanently (towed it to the shop). Since then I’ve been having these problems. I assumed that the new part just needed to get broken-in, as I was accustomed to the looseness of my old shifter. So far however it hasn't gotten any better. I’ve already replaced the shifting arm, (the shop had re-used my badly worn one :mad:), and in doing so, it's a lot tighter in its socket, unfortunately this did not improve ease of shifting at all.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks and have a great day.

-Mark

Every once in a while my '98 will do that. I know what you mean by it feels like something might break from the force needed to get it into gear. I haven't given it too much thought or worried about it enough to figure it out. I think its because when it does this, all I do is let of the brake and then firmly press it again and it seems to be fine then. Never noticed I did this until you asked this question! Try doing that and if that doesn't help I would suggest taking it back to where you got the column fixed and have them fix it (at no add'l cost of course)

Sounds like a problem with the mechanism that requires you to put a foot on the brake to move shifter lever. I would guess that it's out of adjustment, or maybe has a loose fastener.

When I read your reply Cadillakin'98, I was a bit hesitant to believe that the problem was originating from the "Apply break to shift from park" requirement. Much to my amazement however, releasing and reapplying the break does indeed make shifting much easier. And here I was convinced that the problem was in the shifting mechanism.

As far as I know, the locking of the shifting arm is a safety issue, intended to prevent the driver from throwing the vehicle into drive and immediately taking off (hence the break must be applied). As such, it seems to me that an electronic sensor (which detects that the break peddle is applied, thereby releasing the shifting arm to allow movement), rather then a mechanical process, would control the shifting lock. All of this is assumption however, as I'm not too terribly familiar with the inner workings of the shifting mechanism.

I’m going to bring this issue up at my local shop to see if they have any ideas, but if possible I’d like to do the fix myself. If anyone is familiar with how this system operates, or what actually controls the releasing of the shifting arm, please feel free to add some input here. Thanks.

-Mark