This morning, I shifted the truck into Drive and the handle went all the way down to "1". I fiddled with it and it went into Reverse, Neutral and Drive but it won't go into Park. I dropped the column and found the shifter mechanism housing was broken in half. What is the technical name for that mechanism so I can search for a new one without sounding like an idiot?

Jeff

 

AH, found it.............. it's called the "Intermediate shaft".
Oops, that's the steering shaft.

Jeff

 

my cd for a 1996 shows the shaft name as "shift control assembly"
the two clamps that hold it down is called "gearshift lever socket and bushing"
is the shaft broken or is it possible that the lever on the end is loose
the bolts at the end are known to come loose

 

No, the aluminum housing has broken in half. I pulled the column down and saw it. It's the housing that the shift shaft (whatever) goes through.

Jeff

 

I've got the parts to fix the shifter. The aluminum housing is called a transmission tube. Here are the part #'s that I have:

1F1Z-7212-AA Trans. tube.
F7DZ-7R264-AA Plunger
F3TZ-7L278 Bushing (2)

I Googled the first part number and found several places where this repair has been made. Lincolns and Mustangs use the same parts so this seems to be a fairly common problem with the automatics possibly due to the shift cable thats dry or dragging, causing too much stress on the tube.

Jeff

 

you can swap it in about an hour just did one. I made a temp shifter for under dash and got the part on eBAY was way way cheaper and reaching under dash to shift once in while till it come no biggie.

If in PA I have a new one on shelf LOST