Hey all,

I bought a 98.5 2500 ram about 6 months ago and have been slowly working through getting everything road worthy again. I noticed that I can’t shift much at all past drive on the column, so I did my research and found the adjustment screw and rod, and attempted to adjust that, but soon realized the reason it won’t shift past drive is because the chunk that attaches to the rod is hitting the bell housing of the trans.

I’m kind of stumped as to what would cause this and more importantly how to go about adjusting it back slightly. I’ve attached some pictures below to sort of help describe what’s going on.

Any help would be extremely appreciated

Sorry but that appears to be modified. I would look at another Dodge in possibly a wrecking yard or in a parking lot. Just some of the parts look wrong or welded.

@IBMobile i know has a Auto and maybe get a photo of your linkage sir?

I'll see if I can get a picture of mine during lunch.

I believe when you drop the valve body that shift linkage has to be undone. It might have been reinstalled incorrectly. This mine in park

31 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Sorry but that appears to be modified. I would look at another Dodge in possibly a wrecking yard or in a parking lot. Just some of the parts look wrong or welded.

@IBMobile i know has an Auto and maybe get a photo of your linkage sir?

I did clean a lot of the area in question to kinda give a better idea of what was going on, I haven’t noticed anything that doesn’t look factory in there as far as welds go.

I don’t really know the history on the truck so it’s very possible it’s been apart before and not reassembled correctly, the very first pic is of it in park and the last I believe is drive or 2

2 hours ago, yohon said:

I believe when you drop the valve body that shift linkage has to be undone. It might have been reinstalled incorrectly. This mine in park

Thank you very much for the pictures , those help a ton !!

I was really thinking that it was the tab on the trans but every picture he seen has it at about the same position relative to the neutral safety.

I did notice however that the section coming to the rod connecting to the trans on yours looks like it has a bend to it and mine looks like it goes straight down.

Edited March 19Mar 19 by Mason404

You might try poping that linkage off (block the wheels!) And see if the transmission "tab"goes through all of the gears like it should or if the linkage is bound up. That will tell you if the transmission tab is clocked wrong or if your linkage is wrong.

5 minutes ago, yohon said:

You might try poping that linkage off (block the wheels!) And see if the transmission "tab"goes through all of the gears like it should or if the linkage is bound up. That will tell you if the transmission tab is clocked wrong or if your linkage is wrong.

Done that, it does go through all the gears correctly, I can feel the detent for prnd21.

I did remove both the tv arm and the parking arm to verify it was in the notch correctly, kinda stumped. I’ve attempted to make my own separate shorter rod but the bends and angles are kind of a pain. If it wasn’t 4-500 for a ratchet shifter I’d be tempted to go that route at this point haha.

Edited March 19Mar 19 by Mason404

Can you see what it needs? Park on the selector and park on the lever? Might be able to cut and shorten and re weld the existing rod. (Not to sound like the exact person moparman was describing)

11 minutes ago, yohon said:

Can you see what it needs? Park on the selector and park on the lever? Might be able to cut and shorten and re weld the existing rod. (Not to sound like the exact person moparman was describing)

I’ve attempted to recreate the rod with bolts welded together but haven’t had the courage to actually shorten the oem rod but that may be what needs to happen, I just have no idea what else to do at this point, I did like I mentioned earlier notice that yours appears to have a bend in the upper section, is that just the picture or is it really bent like that ? Because mine is very straight, perhaps that’s the missing piece

Mine is curved but it ends up in the same place if that makes sense. How far off is your linkage? You might be able to "adjust" it by closing the 90 degree bends on the ends

here is a better picture of that curved linkage

1 hour ago, yohon said:

Mine is curved but it ends up in the same place if that makes sense. How far off is your linkage? You might be able to "adjust" it by closing the 90 degree bends on the ends

here is a better picture of that curved linkage

Going off the idea of your bend, I cut a chunk of l bracket to change the angle and it is now going through all gears, going to town to get some new bushings and will update once everything is put together and tight

Glad it's working!

I just saw this thread so sorry I didn't respond in time with pics. My thoughts about why it is out of adjustment, are the engine/transmission mounts in good shape or did they fail and let the engine move to the side and cause this problem.

27 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

I just saw this thread so sorry I didn't respond in time with pics. My thoughts about why it is out of adjustment, are the engine/transmission mounts in good shape or did they fail and let the engine move to the side and cause this problem.

I will check in the morning, but it doesn’t vibrate or clunk like they are shot, that’s a very good idea though, I was kinda leaning in that direction, that or maybe the cab was lifted at one point.