I just came inside from doing the last of my rear brakes, and now I have a very peculiar problem I need some input on.

I parked the car with the front wheels against the curb and jacked the rear tires off the ground by the differential housing. I proceeded to finish up the brake job and upon putting the drums back into place, I put the shifter into Neutral so I could spin the rear tires and listen for shoe to drum contact. I then lowered the car, tightened the lugnuts and attempted to go to the store. When I move the shifter, nothing happens. R, N, 4, 3, 2, 1 do NOTHING! It's as if the transmission never came back out of neutral from when I put the shifter in that position so I could rotate the rear tires.

I checked everything. The linkage at the shifter is good as well as down at the trans and the lever at the transmission moves along with the shifter so I know the cable isn't broken. The park pin will still engage and disengage whenever the shifter is put in or out of park, but I CANNOT get it to go into gear. WTF is going on here!?

 

Kind of weird, what were the circumstances when it was parked? was it shifting weird? Fluid level? If all is good check the line pressure. If you don't have any pressure then I suspect the pump might have crapped out.

 

I seriously doubt there was a major internal failure. This transmission only has about 1300 miles on it since the rebuild. Fluid level is spot on and is bright cherry red. I went outside, started the car and drove it out of It's parking space to reverse directions so I could put the front wheels against the curb. Car drove fine with no abnormal indications.

While the rearend was jacked up I got into the car and put the shifter into N as I was finishing up the brakes so I could adjust the star wheels. After I lowered the car I attempted to go to the store and it wouldn't come back out of neutral. Nothing happens when you try to put the shifter into any gear. Park still works as the pawl will engage/disengage with the shifter. Nothing that can be externally examined gives any clues of something awry.

I also noted a decrease in the typical stiffness of a megashifter. It seems much easier to move that it normally does.

 

i say it could be internal, a goof up and the rebuild is very possible. i know this all to well with the 1st schmuck on wheels that rebuilt my 700, 3 trans rebuilds later we find he screwed up the valve body when he added his "shift kit"

and you said you know that the actual shift lever on the trans is moving??

and im sure its not spinning the drive shaft and not the rear end, if it did that it should grind putting it into park

im betting internal where the shift linkage hooks inside internaly, or something serrious broke inside

 

It's been awhile but FYI for anyone who stumbles across this the "S" style hook that connects the linkage to the valvebody broke. Simple fix.

 

KUDOS to you for coming back and posting the fix