'How To' help! shift cable '83 Ciera

[ladymech62]

One of my Dad's and my customers called and said her car wouldn't go! It wouldn't roll and AAA put soap under the wheels to move it SIDEWAYS to get it out of the driveway at her apartment complex. She talked about it wouldn't roll so we (dad and I) were talking contaminated brake fluid because only the brakes could be wrong with the back axle (not the emergency brake because their conversation mentioned all four wheels not able to roll). Some of Dad's little ole ladies still call for help and shop has been closed since 1996!
I go over to her apartment and she mentions that she can't get her keys out of the ignition . . . ( ) Duh! I go look under the hood. Cable is still attached to shift lever. Follow cable to firewall. I get inside and sure enough I can't shift, using the shift lever, up far enough to get to 'park'. I have her try to shift as I watch under the hood. The cable doesn't move the arm. Uh huh. I remove the covers under the dash and feel for the end of the cable where it attaches to the arm on the shift tube in the steering collumn. It's popped off the end so I work the cable in and out of the housing. No resistance so I pull 6 inches of the cable out of the housing. Without the cable catching inside the bend of the housing, I was able to put the lever into 'park' and pull the keys.
She had tried to back out of the parking spot and the cable, being partially busted, was hanging up inside the housing and not letting her shift all the way into reverse so she moved the lever up and down and that was when the car quit moving. The cable had broke, jumped off the pin at the arm and as she shifted up, it gave the cable enough length to put the car into park and stop her in her tracks. Now she can only put it into gear out under the hood until the cable is replaced. She said that the rear wheels would rool but the wrecker driver hadn't picked it up from the front so it was ASUMED the rear wheels wouldn't turn.
[color=dark orange]Now here is the question: I've checked Dad's MOTOR manuals (both the red and blue) and all I can find is how to adjust the silly thing. I know they wind it around and put a few bends in it but how bad a problem is it to change out? [/color]

(I don't bend as well as I used to and the knees are shot . . .)