Parking gear (pawl) won't engage

[SUX2BU99]

Whoa......that's a whole lotta parts there!

I measured the free play when in Park and the column locked. It moves 3/8". Is that about normal?

[SUX2BU99]

I've been tossing around the idea of putting a console in from an 80's Iroc and using a B&M Megashifter.  Is it any big deal on coverting the rod-actuated column shifter to a cable-operated B&M?

[ccz145a]

Other than the steering column. I dont know of a good way to hide the unused shifter on the column short of getting one without it.

[SUX2BU99]

I've seen trucks that have the shifter on the column itself removed, leaving only the 'stub' portion on the column itself. Doesn't look too bad really.  I gotta find a few things out first. Namely:

1) Will a Camaro console fit relatively okay (with modifying) or just not work at all
2) Is connecting a cable shifter any big deal at the tranny
3) What kind of a job is it going to be to possibly change out my column for another if I broke something in mine that's not allowing the shifter to work properly, which is the problem I'm having now.
4) How much a replacement column is going to be.

[Captkaos]

1)Camaro console is designed to mount on the trans tunnel that goes the length of the floorpan on the F-body, you would have to build something for it to mount to.
2) Not a big deal at all.  Jeff (bigblock73)has one on his
3) It is an undertaking and would probably take a couple hours to get it out.  If everything is in there functional (AC, Wiring, etc) anything under the column would have to be removed.
4) ccz145a got one recently I can't remember how much it was, everything was rebuilt.

For the column, you could cut the "stub" off and epoxy the hole over....

[SUX2BU99]

Yeah I would have to heavily modify the lower portion of the console to fit my floor. That's okay, I'm not worried about that portion. I looked on B&M's site and it looks more like I should buy a universal shifter rather than the F-body console shifter. That's becuse the F-body stock shifter is cable-operated and the universal gives you the parts needed to convert a linkage shifter to a cable one. The only thing I wonder is if the B&M shifter cover plates are the same between the universal and the F-body. I wouldn't doubt it if they are which means getting the universal one is the way to go since the only thing I wouldn't use is the plastic base. That would work out awesome if the cover plates were the same size.

But before all that happens, I gotta for sure find out if my column is working as it should or not. Not having access to first in order to having a positively-working Park really sucks since my shiftpoints are totally lame right now 

[ccz145a]

Because I can only work on my truck a few weekends a month, I bit the bullet and got a completely refreshed column from these guys: http://www.gmtiltsteeringcolumn.com/

[SUX2BU99]

^ Nice. Columns aren't cheap though, eh?

So got back under there tonight again. This rattling that appeared at the track (before I raced it) had me rather concerned. I was worried it was the pawl sorta engaging, but it's not. I'll create a new post about my findings on the clunk. Anyway, I adjusted it again so I could have positive Park again, but now I think all I got is Drive at the bottom of the shifter travel. I'm going to have to read back through Viles notes to see what I can check. Like I said above, I have about 3/8" of play when I rotate the column back and forth (when the column is locked) from inside the cab. I don't know if that's excessive or not.

[VileZambonie]

If you can move the lever in the engine compartment that attaches your linkage while the shifter is in park then your shift tube is broken. Just throw in a junkyard column.

[ccz145a]

Salvage columns aren't that expensive... I wanted a tilt 84 up column and couldn't find one salvage. Plus mine was trashed and broken so I bought one that was rebuilt and spent some quality time with the truck doing other stuff.

Just incase your basing your decsion to put it in the floor on the price I said I got my column at... I wanted you to know my situation.

[SUX2BU99]

Thanks guys. When I was under the truck, I remember looking high up to see where the rod goes and saw an attachment point to what would be the column shifter. I'll try what Vile said. I do know that when I have it adjusted to where I can get Park to work properly, and the column is locked, I can move the linkage just a little bit. Just feels like usual play though. It's not enough to pop it out of park. But, if I slide the rod through the swivel hole enough, I can make it pop into reverse. That's how I'm trying adjust it: trying to make it stay in park while the column is locked and not being able to pop into reverse, while being able to access all drive gears after I turn the key to unlock the column. I sure would hate to spend the time and money to swap the columns only to find I have the same problem, which just ends up being having to find the extremely narrow sweet spot. Should it be this hard?

[SUX2BU99]

Well I got this one fixed too   The price of buying a Haynes manual was worth it for this. It had a section on adjusting the shifter and their method was to use Neutral as the reference point. So I loosened the nut attached to the shifter rod at the tranny, put the trans in neutral and then got up into the cab and put the shifter into the neutral position. Crawl back under, tighten and the nut and voila! Proper shifting!! Woohoo! I don't know why I could not get it adjusted using Park as the reference but using Neutral as the reference was a winner. It took like 10 min. and I had spent a LOT longer messing around with it previously.

[Captkaos]

Good to hear!