Author Topic: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage  (Read 26794 times)

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« on: August 26, 2008, 11:23:14 AM »
Here's the scoop: I finished getting the 6 new body mounts in my truck last night (4 on the cab, 2 on the rad support) and I wanted to roll my truck out of the garage so I didn't wake my daughter whose bedroom is right above the garage. My driveway is short but steep. So I put it in neutral (engine is off) and let it roll back and out, down the driveway fairly fast to keep up momentum, over the sidewalk and into the street. I then started it up and found that I could not get the park pawl to engage. I could get all my gears but it would just roll when in park. I noticed too that the column shifter range of motion was now tweaked and seemed to be higher up than before. Meaning, neutral was now kinda where reverse was and reverse was now kinda where park was. I had to really put the shifter up high to get park. When I shoved it as high as I could, I could hear the pawl clicking just a little as the truck was rolling. It was trying to engage but not quite enough.

So did something shift around? It seems maybe the column moved or something and now my range of gear selection has moved somewhat. I have the 80-down tilt column in my truck (single button cruise control; not the multi-function stalk). And when I grasped the column I could rotate it back and forth about about an inch.

I really hope this is a quick and easy adjustment to fix this. I want to go to the drags on Friday for the first time with my vehicle in 8 years! If I miss this one, I don't think I'll get an opportunity again this season.
85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline Captkaos

  • OWNER and Administrator
  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18351
    • http://www.73-87chevytrucks.com
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2008, 11:29:46 AM »
Take the linkage off the trans and see if it will engage.

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2008, 12:03:32 PM »
I can try that. Any pics of what I'm looking for? I imagine a cable that comes down to a lever kind of thing on one side of the trans? If it does engage by doing this, then what?
85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline HAULIN IT

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1542
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2008, 12:43:10 PM »
Sux, Most likely all you need to do is loosen the 1/2"-13mm bolt on the linkage going from the column to the frame, it probably will slide on it's own, if not, push up on the rod while holding the linkage going from the frame to the transmission & re tighten the 1/2"-13mm bolt. Hope this helps, if not ask & I'll try to explain it differently. Really once you see how it works, you could have it adjusted in the time it took to read this post. Lorne

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2008, 01:15:31 PM »
Thanks for the detailed reply, Lorne. I'll get under there and check 'er out. So I'm looking for a lever that comes down from the columan and connects at the frame, which then goes to the tranny and the nut that's on that lever. I found this pic on the Autozone website.

85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline HAULIN IT

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1542
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2008, 01:33:09 PM »
Sux, Yes, Screw (A) pinches the rod going from the column, holding the placement. Loosen it & push upward slightly on the rod & retighten. The column doesn't have the "clicks" for each gear as thought by many people, it is the roller in the tranny going over the detents on the paw inside the tranny pan. The part attached from the frame to the tranny will most likely jump into place once you loosen it & take the pressure off. Lorne 

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2008, 02:27:15 PM »
Cool, thanks again! Hopefully it will all make sense once I crawl under there again. Not sure how it got loosened but maybe it was getting loose to begin with and the jostling of it rolling down the driveway combined with the body being moved around was enough. Hm, maybe cuz the body was moved up a couple of inches, and the column along with it, it yanked on the rod maybe?
85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline HAULIN IT

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1542
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2008, 05:21:05 PM »
Exactly, At sometime someone had this apart & put it back together correctly (at that time, with sagged/sagging bushings) & now since you raised the cab up from the frame, the distance needs to be longer by a bit. Try it, Lorne

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2008, 11:11:51 PM »
Thanks for the info, guys. It helped a lot. I got under there tonight and fiddled around with the placement of the rod through the swivel with the nut on it. I was able to get park back which is great. But the 'sweet spot' where you can get all the gears and have Park stay in park without engaging reverse when the key is out and the wheel is locked is very SMALL. I'd have to say less than 1/8" at most. I was able to get all gears but then when I had the key out and would pull on the shifter, it would just barely click into reverse. So now I have where it positively engages Park without going into reverse no matter how I pull on the shifter when the key is out, but it seems I am not getting First. I'll have to take it for a spin and see what I can do. Otherwise I have to get back under there and adjust it by like 1mm to get it where it should be.

(Note to self, push rod up through swivel just a little bit) <-- had to write that while the thoughts were fresh. In order for the shift lever to go up when looking at it in the drivers seat, I had to pull the rod DOWN through the swivel point. Opposite to what I initially thought. And now to get First back, I have to move the shift lever just a touch downward, meaning the rod has to get pushed upwards. Sound right?
85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2008, 01:06:22 PM »
Guys, this thing is really frustrating me  >:( In preparing my truck for taking it to the track, I wanted to be able to access 1st gear. I just cannot seem to get it to engage Park fully and cleanly while getting 1st as well. It's one or the other. I managed to get it to where I could get 1st but it was a hit or miss on whether park would engage or not. And even drive and neutral weren't sitting where they should be.

Before that, I had it where I got park just fine but the shifter wouldn't go down enough to get 1st. I got too low, I don't get park. I go too high, I don't get first. Grrrrrrrr

I can't believe a simple body bushing replacement is causing me this much grief!! I had to jack my body up a fair bit to get the bushings out since they had that metal sleeve with a flange on the top that meant jacking it up high enough to get the bolt out. THe new bushings have a better system. Anyway, did I mess something up or what??

And now there is this intermittent rattle that makes this nastly clunking sound. I was worried it was my tranny not being fully engaged in gear, but I'm thinking it might be the adjustment bolt rattling off my exhaust pipe since it sits really close to it and I took some of header wrap off down there. Help!
85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline Captkaos

  • OWNER and Administrator
  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18351
    • http://www.73-87chevytrucks.com
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2008, 12:25:14 PM »
Was this truck equipped with a TH350 before getting a 700R4?  If so, you might need to move the linkage mount back. (redrill)

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2008, 10:08:48 AM »
Capt, it still has a TH350. It shifted fine before I did the body mounts. I wonder if I jacked the truck up too high on the drivers side and broke something or I dunno?? I know that if I put the shifter in 1 and then try to insert the rod into the swivel hole, it won't line up enough to go in. So somethings out. I don't know if the rod was bent to make it work when the previous guy installed it or what or if there is anything I can do to modify the location of the adjustment bolt and swivel hole the rod goes thru.
85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline VileZambonie

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18979
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2008, 02:07:16 PM »
Make sure the pivot from the frame and bushing are good and that the spring is in there. Loosen the adjuster screw and put the column shift into park. Manually mover the selector on the side of the trans into park also. Check for excessive play in the linkage or the shift tube in the column. If ok tighten the adjuster screw so you have about an equal amount of travel in both directions. If it has a lot of slop at the base of the column the shift tube is broken and you will either need to weld it or replace the column.
,                           ___ 
                         /  _ _ _\_
              ⌠ŻŻŻŻŻ'   [☼===☼]
              `()_);-;()_)--o--)_)

74 GMC, 75 K5, 84 GMC, 85 K20, 86 k20, 79 K10

Offline SUX2BU99

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1478
    • My Cardomain Site. Truck is on Page 6.
Re: Parking gear (pawl) won't engage
« Reply #13 on: September 15, 2008, 09:52:13 AM »
Thanks Vile. It does to seem to have some play. Meaning, if I have it in park and grasp the column itself and rotate it, I can do so a fair bit. I assume this part of the column that moves along when the shifter is moved is called the shift tube? I would say it will rotate 3/4 to 1". I'll have to find a diagram of the column to see how all the parts work together. It's an older column (80-down) if it makes any difference. Could I have broken something when I was jacking the truck up? Welding or replacing the whole column kinda sux since those aren't 2 very simple options (to me).
85 Chevy Silverado C10 short, wide, yellow, 2wd. Lowered, 60-over 350 with Dart Iron Eagle heads and Comp Cams XE268 cam, TH350 w/ shift kit, 3.40 Gov-lok 12 bolt.

Offline VileZambonie

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18979
,                           ___ 
                         /  _ _ _\_
              ⌠ŻŻŻŻŻ'   [☼===☼]
              `()_);-;()_)--o--)_)

74 GMC, 75 K5, 84 GMC, 85 K20, 86 k20, 79 K10