Still having shift problems Help!!!

So Mik, if you took the rods  off the trans ,can you shift the trans levers by hand,,,,,the 2nd and 3rd lever has to be in NEUTRAL before the 1st and reverse  levers will move ,,,,,,,or are you saying you only get 1st and reverse and cant get into 2nd and 3rd at the column,,,,,,

1st and revers are fine, I can't get into second or third.

when the shift lever is in neutral, can you go down and move the 2nd and 3rd lever at the bottom of the shift column and feel the transmission shift into 2nd and 3rd ,,,,,or if it does not move, try it with the rod disconnected from the lever and see if the shift column is froze up or the transmission....

Nah they shift fine down at the arms. Shift column is stuck....

Thats kind of weird,,,,the shift pin normally lives in the 2nd and 3rd  lever,,,you got to go way out of your way to make that pin slide down into the 1st and Reverse lever ,,,,and here you are,,,,,its in there all the time,,,,,,,so maybe that upper lever is froze up on the shift tube bracket,,,,,,,don't that lever have the grease fitting on it?   Maybe hit the shaft up so the pin goes back home to the 2nd and 3rd speed lever,,,,

Thanks Don, yeah it's stuck in the up position. Maybe there is something lodged in the sleeve portion of the bracket... I'll try to give it some smacks to dislodge tomorrow. I'll update. In the morning.

So,,,,,do you have to lift up on the shift lever to put it in 1st or Reverse or is the shift lever  stuck there and you cant drop the shifter down to catch 2nd and 3rd,,,,,is the 1st and Reverse shift rod actually hooked to the lower lever,,,,so if you disconnect the 2nd and 3rd rod off the upper shift lever,  is the lever actually froze up,,,,,

I couldn't wait till morning... it was bugging me so I am here trying to deal with it.

Yes the shift lever is stuck in the up position in 1st or Reverse and you cant drop the shifter down to catch 2nd and 3rd.

My picture is for a Chevy,,,,,,and a spring always pushes that pin up into the 2nd and 3rd speed lever,,,,and when you pull up on the shift lever,,,,,it pushes the shaft with the pin down into the 1st and reverse lever,,,,,now is a Ford set up that way or is it set up just the opposite,,,,if so, your pin aint getting pushed down,,,,,could be stuck up at the shift lever or down at the bottom,,,,,if its like a Chevy, I guess you could put some vice grips on the shift shaft near the gas pedal and tap it up and free up the pin,,,,or tap it down if its set up the other way,,,,,

Thanks don will try the vice grip trick.

My Econoline used to do that, the shifter stuck in 1st, and the linkage was not sloppy. The reason was, that when you shifted out of first, the shift lever on the transmission did not completely shift out of 1st, and the trany will not shift into 2nd if its not out of 1st; -so would have to crawl under the van and move that lever into neutral. and yes, the column shift levers passed the philips screwdriver test. Turned out the reason was that the 2 spring washers in the shift column were totally flat, no "spring" left in them. Got new spring washers from from www.mcmaster.com -part# 9715K91

On an old Econoline of mine, when shifting from 1st to second, I had to lift up on the shift lever and move it to where I knew the neutral was, and then drop it down though neutral. The natural tendency was to press down to let it naturally drop into the neutral slot, but that always locked it up. I drove for many years like that until I sold it. Never figured out what the problem was.

For sure in the van that had that shift problem, it was the spring washers that had little tension; as I had 2 Econos for a long time. One locked and the other didn't. One day took both shift assemblies out and apart to see what the difference was; -and it was the spring washers in the one that locked had no "spring" in them. Wth the new spring washers the van that used to lock, never locked since.

Good information. I will have to check my spring washers- i oiled and greased and checked for excessive play and still sticks in 2nd gear occasionaly. I shut it off and poke linkage with my finger threw frt grill and falls back in neuteral. Its not a big probblem butt worry about letting other people driving it---so i dont

Took my shifter levers off bottom of steering column cleaned it all up. No spring washers and missing plastic spacer/bushing on shaft where it mounts to column. Anyone have a part no. For the plastic bushing

cleaned and polished all the shifter arms and levers installed bushing and spring washers topped off steering gear box and greased steering column.and tweeked the bends in shifter rods. seems to be working alot smoother now. have to test drive it yet - had to buy a package of 10 of the springwashers so i have 8 left if anyone needs some