Hi all,

I noticed on my 63 Dart with PB automatic trans that when I activate the park lever it disables further pushbutton selections however isn't it also supposed to lock the transmission to aid the parking break??

I had a 63 Fury III years ago and remember my Dad yelling at me for not waiting until the car stopped completely before flipping the park lever....the car would come to an adrupt halt so there must have been a pawl that engaged in the transmission? Right??

At any rate, mine does not lock as I found out the hard way. The parking brake was mis-adjusted also, so when I was on an incline the first time, I was suprised when the car started rolling when in park and with the parking brake engaged.

How serious of a transmission or linkage repair am I looking at here??

Kevin

It depends. Is the linkage out of adjustment; or, is the parking pawl bad?

If it's linkage adjustment, it should be fairly simple (I'm not familiar with the push-button shift) The adjustment procedure should be outlined in the service manuals.

IF the parking pawl is bad -- you're looking at some tranny dissassembly. It's a pin or lever inside the transmission that locks the output shaft.

_________________
My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

The pushbutton setup in the dash sounds like it is working right -
since it locks out the pushbuttons (forcing it into neutral I believe).

The parking pawl has a separate cable that runs to the front of
the tailshaft area of the trans. There is a small cover it goes into
the side of. The cable has a special pointed end with a detent
groove. This pointed end is supposed to slide past a spring and
catch the spring in the detent. If the spring broke, got bent or was
not assembled carefully when the trans was out last there will
be no connection to the parking pawl. I find the parts difficult to
find - I have two trans that are missing the pawl spring and the
gasket for the small cover seems to be a make it yourself item.

Thanks, I'll have to check the linkage and the tail section of the tranny to see what's up. The car is stored for the winter, so it could be awhile till I get to it. I look pretty funny carrying wheel chocks I suppose the cable could have come off of the pushbutton assembly behind the dash also.....

Thanks for the suggestions.

Kevin

I went through this with a rebuilt transmission - the pawl setup was misassembled and could not engage. The adjustment procedure is in the service manual, and in one of the big old Chilton's.