Anybody out there lost 5th/reverse yet??

[Jim Sullivan <sullivan@tigger.cs.colorado.edu>]

Hi folks -

I've got an '84 5000S wagon with 112K miles.  As I was driving home tonite,
I noticed that it was hard to get into 5th gear, and then finally it 
became impossible. No grinding, the gear shifter just didn't seem to go over 
to the right place.  After parking it in my garage, I played with the shifter
with the engine off and it seemed to actually be shifting correctly. When I 
started up the car to go for a test ride (to see if it had been my imagination)
I discovered that I had lost reverse too!  The lever appears to be move into 
reverse, but the tranny is actually in 4th.  It also seems that the shifter 
will go into 5th, although the transmission obviously doesn't.

I've looked at the factory manual & Hayes and have a sick feeling that 
something
has happened to my 5th/reverse selector rod inside the gear housing.  Hmm, this
smells expensive.

Anybody out there have any experience with this problem?  If so, what can I
expect it to cost?  If it does require removal/disassembly of my tranny, is 
there any other work that you'd recommend I have done (such as new synchros,
or replacement of the other selector rods, etc.?)  

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions!

- Jim

sullivan@cs.colorado.edu