I was out running some errands this morning and as I go to back into a parking space , my shift linkage pops off in neutral on my 04 gm Sierra 2wd

I am on a hill , down is a dead end in the 4-H parking lot so I rolled to a few parking spaces and set the parking break.
was I ever relived when the parking brake actually worked , and even more relived when it released , a win for fluid film they rust up on so many things here.

had to jack it up a little to get far enough under to reach the linkage and pop it back on , that got me home

napa had A bushing but it isn't the right one so it is going back

this is getting the nut and bolt treatment
you can skip ahead to 5 minutes and see the fix , not being 4wd I even have a little more room to work with.



apparently the dorman replacement bushings are a temporary fix typically about a year so nut and bolt it is.

Seen quite a few of those pop off. Rust buildup on the linkage arm (in the little groove) will keep the busking from snapping into place. A quick cleanup and the linkage usually popped right back on.

this popped back on , very easy , it also popped right back off 2 shifts later

Good thing you were not drinking,,,,This is one the situation that start Interventions,,,,,

the 4-H office is also in the basement of the court house next door to the sheriffs office , I as sort of hoping my off park job would attract some attention ,then they could pull the wheel chocks while I held the brake.

but no help , the parolees all had to go to their meetings and the addict's just smoked cigs on the side of the building on their break ,no one even talked to me.

Thing will get better,,,,,, Keep trying... lol

Had the same experience the day before yesterday. Pulled in my back yard to load some items in the pickup. Started to leave and the shift lever just flopped around.
Thankfully I was in far better shape than you. Sitting in park. Called my mechanic and he said what the heck, stopped by on his way home and corrected the problem!
Roy

well k snow looked at cleaning it up and more and more rust kept coming off and there were no edged left to catch the bushing

I cut the stud off drilled and tapped and threaded a SS machine screw into it from the back side
then a SS fender washer , a little grease the shift cable end and then another SS fender washer and a SS nylok

it is nicely sandwiched by the fender washers snug but not so tight in binds and shifting is working and smooth

$2.34 later back on the road and working.

Glad you got it fixed. I was working on them when they were 10 years old, not twenty. A lot less rust on those rigs.

Working at a dealership, those types of fixes were frowned upon, as they assumed liability for repairs. We would have replaced the link arm, and possibly the cable. Not saying you are wrong at all, its a great fix. Just different worlds.

Don't forget your labor cost, most shops are north of $100 an hour now.

I get it a new bushing 20 , new arm 30 and 1/2 hour labor got them back on the road for 100 dollars and tax and fees an

it took as long to get it on the lift and test that it shifted right as it did to make the repair.

this didn't take me long 15mm to take arm off , grind off the teet drill and tap and 2.34 in hardware from the hardware store.

all the labor money is saved for my personal beer fund.

if I was building it from ground up the shift lever would be 2 pieces of bent steel that formed a place for the shift linkage to sit between and a nylon pin that went through because it would be a lot stronger and not rust but hey this worked for 20 years and it was the rust mostly that caused the failure.

the liability that the next bushing was going to slip off seemed higher than my fix failing

and if it fails it isn't like it doesn't fail on dozens of GM products ever day with the factory option.