3rd gen shifter help. No Park
 

1983 T/A
700R4 trans
Problem: shifter wont go into park positions easily.

What I have found:
Disconnected key lock/ park safety cable. Shifter goes into all positions easily. the other cable, which goes to the steering column, seems to bind in the column. Before I tear the column apart, is this a known issue? what is the cause and fix to this? is it easier to switch the columns?

not surea bout that problem, but my 86 had the same problem back when i first bought it and it was just loose bolts on the shifter linkage on the trans pan.

the trans seems to be a common issue on these cars, but the issue I have is in the steering column. Has something to do with the key park lock system.

I had a very similar problem to this on an '86 I fixed up. The problem was, you'd have to do some wiggling of the shifter, and you could eventually get the shifter in park. But once you pulled it out of park, it was a real pain to get it back in. I was able to get a complete used shifter out of the local junkyard for $15-$20, so I tried that, and sure enough it worked great.

i dont remember seeing a column shift third gen before. i may still have the cable you need in a box somewhere, it is a new gm part that i have left over.

i think hes talking about the key and the position it needs to be when you wanna put it in park.. (ps i had a simular problem with my 87 but i just muscled it all the time haha nobody else could drive my car cause noone could get it out of park lol.. needless to say i just lived with it)

i know the problem, there are 2 cables under there that go bad.

wound up ordering a column and shifter set from Hawks. not the cheapest, but its the only one I could find from a reliable source and def better than disassembling the tilt column to fix what ever jammed or broke.

Not sure what option it was, but I chalk it up to a year change as only a very few amount of 82-84 cars I look at or contact about had it. actually this was the only one I found that the setup worked.