Truck not moving in gears

[BlazingBlue305]

1981 K5 Blazer
Looking for some help or any ideas where to start looking. Recently had my rear driveshaft fall of my truck while driving. Had to replace my transfer case and buy a new driveshaft because of this. I also replaced my trans pan gasket and filter the day I installed my new t-case and driveshaft due to it leaking prior.

Once everything was done I started the car to take it on the test drive. Started up good and let it idle to warm up. Moved the shifter to drive and got nothing. Gave it some gas and the engine only started to rev higher. Double checked my trans fluid level and it was right at the full range. No matter what gear I’m in the car does not move. Can’t even roll in neutral. Almost like it’s stuck in park.
Shut the car off and now I cannot get it to even start again. Key fully turns in park and neutral but does not crank.
I do want to mention when the driveshaft broke off I instinctively put it in park while running and heard a grinding noise. As soon as I heard it I put it back in drive and shut it off to prevent anymore damage.
Sorry for long post. Feeling a bit defeated and just needing any ideas or tests I can try out to narrow down the problem. Thanks for any help.

 

[Barrman]

Could your transfer case be in neutral?

 

[imiceman44]

Could your transfer case be in neutral?

That's a possibility but then it could still roll in neutral.
He said it won't.

 

[imiceman44]

1981 K5 Blazer
Looking for some help or any ideas where to start looking. Recently had my rear driveshaft fall of my truck while driving. Had to replace my transfer case and buy a new driveshaft because of this. I also replaced my trans pan gasket and filter the day I installed my new t-case and driveshaft due to it leaking prior.

Once everything was done I started the car to take it on the test drive. Started up good and let it idle to warm up. Moved the shifter to drive and got nothing. Gave it some gas and the engine only started to rev higher. Double checked my trans fluid level and it was right at the full range. No matter what gear I’m in the car does not move. Can’t even roll in neutral. Almost like it’s stuck in park.
Shut the car off and now I cannot get it to even start again. Key fully turns in park and neutral but does not crank.
I do want to mention when the driveshaft broke off I instinctively put it in park while running and heard a grinding noise. As soon as I heard it I put it back in drive and shut it off to prevent anymore damage.
Sorry for long post. Feeling a bit defeated and just needing any ideas or tests I can try out to narrow down the problem. Thanks for any help.

You have to pull the pan and check you parking sprawl. I think that's what it is called.
When you slammed it in park you broke that tab and it might be stuck there.
You also might have stripped the shifter of the shaft.
You need to see if the shifter is actually moving things inside the way it should.

 

[tarussell]

You have to pull the pan and check you parking sprawl. I think that's what it is called.
When you slammed it in park you broke that tab and it might be stuck there.
You also might have stripped the shifter of the shaft.
You need to see if the shifter is actually moving things inside the way it should.

“Pawl”

 

[Wes Harden]

other than double checking the shift linkage adjustment, the only other thought that come to mind is the filter may not have a good seal, and sucking air. 2nd thought is coupling at t case might be worn and slipping. I don't know if replacement t case is new or used. Used t case could be the culprit for these symptoms.
If the truck was stopped when selecting park was attempted, the parking pawl may not have broken. If the truck was still rolling then yeah high probability. The parking pawl is not a very robust part to begin with.

As for the no crank, nothing you changed should have effected that, unless something is locked up, like the torque converter. 1st thing to do is put a socket on the front crank bolt and turn the engine by hand. If it turns then your problem is probably the neutral safety switch. This could be linkage adjustment or electrical. The neutral safety switch is on the steering column inside the cab near firewall, it will 2 purple 12ga wires for the cranking circuit. You can unplug these wires from the switch and jumper them to see if the switch is the cause of no crank. Remember with switch jumpered the engine will crank in any gear. If jumpering the wires works, 1st make sure linkage is adjusted as this will effect where the switch positions. 1 trick is to select reverse and watch for the reverse lights to come on while adjusting linkage. This should get you very close. Plug the purple wires connector in and see if the engine cranks

 

[Blue85]

It probably is stuck in park. My question is whether or not it's still in neutral. Does the RPM drop when you select a drive range? When you move the shifter, do you feel the proper number of detents? I've labeled a picture, but I'm sure there are better diagrams out there somewhere.


That rod at the bottom with the long spring around it is what actuates the pawl, a toothed lever that engages with teeth on the output shaft. That potentially could jam together to prevent the transmission output from rotating. Less likely would be that the abuse messed up the linkages inside so that it's not actually pulling the manual valve, so you never actually go into gear.

An easy check is to see if the vehicle can be pushed with the T-case in neutral. If your T-case was in permanent neutral (i.e. bad shift forks) and the transmission was OK, then you would hear the pawl ratchet as you go from any selection to Park, as with no load the insides tend to spin a bit, even with no gear selected.

 

[imiceman44]

other than double checking the shift linkage adjustment, the only other thought that come to mind is the filter may not have a good seal, and sucking air. 2nd thought is coupling at t case might be worn and slipping. I don't know if replacement t case is new or used. Used t case could be the culprit for these symptoms.
If the truck was stopped when selecting park was attempted, the parking pawl may not have broken. If the truck was still rolling then yeah high probability. The parking pawl is not a very robust part to begin with.

As for the no crank, nothing you changed should have effected that, unless something is locked up, like the torque converter. 1st thing to do is put a socket on the front crank bolt and turn the engine by hand. If it turns then your problem is probably the neutral safety switch. This could be linkage adjustment or electrical. The neutral safety switch is on the steering column inside the cab near firewall, it will 2 purple 12ga wires for the cranking circuit. You can unplug these wires from the switch and jumper them to see if the switch is the cause of no crank. Remember with switch jumpered the engine will crank in any gear. If jumpering the wires works, 1st make sure linkage is adjusted as this will effect where the switch positions. 1 trick is to select reverse and watch for the reverse lights to come on while adjusting linkage. This should get you very close. Plug the purple wires connector in and see if the engine cranks

That's why I think it is the shifter, because it's not even able to roll but at the same time looks like the switch is not aligned properly