No park, tried a bunch a ton

[justavillain]

Last year I lost park but only about 80% of the time I did. So I went down the rabbit hole of reasons why and one thing after another I have tried what I thought of everything and here is why I am not deferring to the hive mind for help! I have attached some photos and a list of what I have tried so far….

It does do this with the car running and off.

-adjusted linkage - new bushings - adjusted linkage again
-changed fluid
-attempted to change column bush and adjust linkage, however the column bush was pretty mint and there was a little slop in that top link but nothing TOO bad the rest of the link/bushings are still fresh and white new hairpin clips around.

So with the stuff in the manual out of the way I went a little deeper and pulled the tail shaft off thinking there might be a problem there.
- I compared the retaining clip orientation to a spare I have
- the park pawl moves freely and is intact
- the rods look the same and are the same length (saw a thread about possible having a 904 rod mixed in)
- the gov and cog do not move freely with as much force that I can move with me holding the output shaft with 1 hand and trying to move It with the othe (I wish I had an extra yolk to try and get some real movement because I’m thinking this MIGHT be my issue)

it all went back together just fine and the whole time going back together it felt like it had park I kept turning the output shaft and nothing moved. I got the crossmember all back up, the H pipe sealed, drive shaft in and I rotated the tire after putting the 1 strap over the universal and it was still in park, put the car in Neutral and put the second strap on and went to put it in park again, nothing.

in order to isolate the car from the transmission I popped the clip off the gear select on the transmission and actuated it manually with a screwdriver and still no park.

The arrows are not pointing to anything it’s just a mark. The red is the tail shaft off the car and the yellow is the tail shaft off the spare.

I have attached a few photos for reference what are your thoughts? I am open to suggestions!!!!!!!

 

[pnora]

Did it crank over every time you put it in park? If it did that usually means all the outside linkage is good and moving the rooster comb the full distance. If thats good I would leave the pan off and see what is going on. Are the levers tight on the valve body? If so then the park rod might be bent and not pulling the pawl in fully. Not much to go wrong its pretty basic.

 

[EARLY B]

Put the tail shaft housing back on. Then with the park rod disconnected from the valve body, install it into the tail shaft housing and see if you have park when moving the rod by hand ? If this works the park pawl and park engages Place the gear shift lever in the park position and see if the rod will fit in the valve body rooster comb. this will tell you if the park rod is too long or too short.

 

[justavillain]

Put the tail shaft housing back on. Then with the park rod disconnected from the valve body, install it into the tail shaft housing and see if you have park when moving the rod by hand ? If this works the park pawl and park engages Place the gear shift lever in the park position and see if the rod will fit in the valve body rooster comb. this will tell you if the park rod is too long or too short.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to take that idea on. When I put the tail shaft on today I only loosened up the valve body I didn’t take it off. I had a little trepidation on removing the whole valve body. As it does have all of the gears just no park. And I’m working on jackstands on the ground.

Did it crank over every time you put it in park? If it did that usually means all the outside linkage is good and moving the rooster comb the full distance. If thats good I would leave the pan off and see what is going on. Are the levers tight on the valve body? If so then the park rod might be bent and not pulling the pawl in fully. Not much to go wrong its pretty basic.

It has always started during this whole ordeal. Even when it kicked 2 rods it always started….the levers are all tight from when I was moving them around as is. I did not remove the full valve body just removed the bolts and let it hang by the side. Like I said above I was a little worried about removing it fully. I have to work in the morning I should be able to watch some of the videos from the 90’s and 70’s on the rebuilds and take it on.

 

[pnora]

71 Charger 727 parking pawl engagement

 

[dvw]

Don't pull the valve body yet. Does the spring on the park lever shaft hold the lever outward? If it doesn't, correctly install the spring. If it's correct Do a little measuring. When the park rod is pulled forward the "knob" on the rod moves the park lever into the park gear. Measure the distance from the center of the knob to the tailshaft face while in park. Now measure the tailshaft itself face to park lever. They measurements should be the same. If the measure ments are off the rod is bent or you have a 904 rod. If the measurements are correct you dont have the rod inserted in the correct location between the lever and cam. Read the attachment link in post #5
Doug

 

[justavillain]

Don't pull the valve body yet. Does the spring on the park lever shaft hold the lever outward? If it doesn't, correctly install the spring. If it's correct Do a little measuring. When the park rod is pulled forward the "knob" on the rod moves the park lever into the park gear. Measure the distance from the center of the knob to the tailshaft face while in park. Now measure the tailshaft itself face to park lever. They measurements should be the same. If the measure ments are off the rod is bent or you have a 904 rod. If the measurements are correct you dont have the rod inserted in the correct location between the lever and cam. Read the attachment link in post #5
Doug

I’m trying to do this from memory but there 100% is a spring on it and if I pull the park rod towards the rear the spring returns it towards the nose of the car.

The post 5 was one I read through this morning before I went to work on it because I was thinking I could have a 904 rod.

I do not have park on stands or ground consistently. If I try putting it in park like 5 times it might go in 1 time. I am going to throw a guess it might be a bent rod.

I will measure the spare 727 and the one in the car tomorrow

 

[justavillain]

I got the car up on the stands again today and measured the transmission and the park rod is 1-3/4” with slack and 2” with the spring pulled. This is the same on the back up trans. So I put it back together and actuated it a few more times and I had park every time on the stands. No clicks or clunks. Put it on the ground still good. Hooked the linkage up and it still was iffy, so I readjusted the linkage and found that the transmission had a different style gear selector and that was not allowing the linkage on my car to move the full range.

 

[pnora]

I got the car up on the stands again today and measured the transmission and the park rod is 1-3/4” with slack and 2” with the spring pulled. This is the same on the back up trans. So I put it back together and actuated it a few more times and I had park every time on the stands. No clicks or clunks. Put it on the ground still good. Hooked the linkage up and it still was iffy, so I readjusted the linkage and found that the transmission had a different style gear selector and that was not allowing the linkage on my car to move the full range.

My experience is when it is like that it will not crank as the NSS will not be in the right spot. Park and crank usually go hand in hand.

 

[justavillain]

The NSS has never been a reliable tool on this car. I have never verified that it works outside of “park” or “neutral” and not even sure it is those. As the column doesn’t show those are the actual gears that are secreted but close as there is a little slop. The NSS has been far down my list of things of stuff to really look at to make sure it’s working always.

The wiring harness has been jacked up on his car by the previous owner.

That said I haven’t put it back on the ground with the linkage all back up after swapping to the other one from my back up trans

 

[pnora]

The NSS has never been a reliable tool on this car. I have never verified that it works outside of “park” or “neutral” and not even sure it is those. As the column doesn’t show those are the actual gears that are secreted but close as there is a little slop. The NSS has been far down my list of things of stuff to really look at to make sure it’s working always.

The wiring harness has been jacked up on his car by the previous owner.

That said I haven’t put it back on the ground with the linkage all back up after swapping to the other one from my back up trans

In post 4 you said it works correctly

 

[justavillain]

In post 4 you said it works correctly

As far as the never failed to start it ver well could be working but it could have cycled it to neutral and tried again to start. It’s never left me on the road like that. The car’s linkage vs the gear selection on the trans had a miss and that was about 1/4” but it wasn’t anyways. I had a friend sit in the car and go through the gears many times while I watched the link and the selector. The few times it didn’t want to go into park it was the gear selector flexing. I think there was a slight misunderstanding in the starting position vs NSS.