dcmitchel1975

I recently purchased a 96 silverado 4wd, and found that I could not shift it into 1st gear with the column shift lever. I can move it into 1st gear at the tranny, manually, so I figured the shift cable might need adjusting. Did that thing where you release the little clip and move the shift lever back and forth from park to 1st 10 times. Did this many times. Decided to replace the shift cable, as it looked pretty old and the plastic clip was brittle. I replaced the cable, and repeated the procedure......no change. The shift lever felt very loose, so I thought maybe I'd change the linkage at the steering column. I did this, and repeated the procedure for adjusting the cable......no change. Since the panel is removed below the dash, I can actually reach down there and shift the truck into 1st gear by pulling back on the cable. It runs in 1st gear just fine, doesn't try to jump out of gear, and I drove it for several miles on a bouncy dirt track, in 4wd type conditions. I thought maybe it would work some kinks out of the cable, or the linkage, or something. Repeated the adjustment procedure again.....no change. I can shift the truck out of 1st gear, and the tranny responds just fine, but the lever will not shift back down into 1st. Sorry to be so wordy, but I want to show why I don't think there's anything wrong with the tranny. I even tried to adjust the cable beyond where the adjustment procedure leaves it.....trying to make the cable longer, to shift into 1st, even if it won't shift into park, just to make sure the lever will force it into 1st, but this also did not work, and only resulted in the truck not wanting to shift into park while ALSO not shifting into 1st. I've searched all over the internet, and this site, and I cannot find anything that helps me. Any ideas? Thank you in advance.