87 5KCSQ 1st/2nd gear Kaput

[Wallace White]

I had a similar condition once, which happened a little while after
getting the clutch replaced as you have... there are two links from the
transmission to the gear lever. One is stationary, a locator, and the
other moves as the lever moves. Each link is two shafts, clamped
together in the middle. 

These clamps can get loose and allow one part of the link to move with
respect to the other. Then you don't get the gear change you hoped for. 

In my case, this happened because the mechanic liberally applied
anti-seize to the clamp and didn't tighten it enough. 

- Wallace
  '87 5kcstq 173k

> > A starnge thing happened on my way home this evening.  I was driving
> > at high speed on the express way and when I took the exit to stop at a
> > Home Depot store, the car's gearshift suddenly would not engage the
> > first and 2nd gears.  I  found that I could force it into these
> > gears only by pushing the gear down (like in shifting to reverse).
> > This has never happened to me before.  It seems to me like this is a
> > problem with the linkage rather than the transimssion itself.