Newly Bought 1997 Windstar

I just traded my old 91 aerostar XLT for a used van. This 1997 Windstar GL 3.8L V6 is what we got. I am having problems with the transmission. My drive way has an incline I have to jerk the gear shift to get it in reverse. It makes a slamming noise and goes in reverse. When I'm on level ground it shifts fine to drive, but when I accelerate it makes a high pitched whinning. I was wondering if anyone elsee has this problem. If there's any answer to my porblem it would greatly be apreciated!

Suggestion: engage the emergency brake fully BEFORE you put the vehicle in PARK when parking on an incline. This will take the stress off the parking gear pawls, thereby alowing easy disengagement from PARK. Parking on an incline, using only the park pawls to keep the car from rolling, places enormous stress on the park gear and associated mechanisms. This is true for all automatics. It seems to be especially true with the Winstar.

Hope this helps,
Ted