Sticks in Park

[Prairie Dog]

Have a buddy with an 06 and 26K miles on it (yes really) These miles are the result of lots of short trips. Truck is totally stock.
Sometimes lately he has had a hard time getting it out of Park. If he unhooks the cable from the trans and moves the column by hand, it moves freely every time. If at the same time he tries to move the lever on the trans by hand, it moves ok but it's slightly hard to move out of park than going in or between any other gear positions.

A local shop told him the ball for the Park detent in the trans wears out the bore in the VB. They fix it by boring the hole and sleaving it, it then uses the original ball.

Does this sound reasonable for such low mileage?

thanks in advance,
Scott

 

[p-Bar]

Try putting some tension on the cable down below and see if it binds. The fix is correct procedure, anything with moving parts will fail at anytime

 

[seafish]

Isn't there some sort of brake pedal interlock on shifting out of Park that sometimes needs an adjustment??

 

[PWong]

I fixed mine by replacing the detent ball and spring with a new detent bullet and a new spring (without boring the hole).
I had to smooth out the notch on the rooster comb a little bit so that it would get out from park easily.
Check the shifting operation with the valve body on hand.
Shifting out from park is as easy as shifting between other positions now.

 

[BDaugherty]

It sounds like the troubleshooting is accurate. I've used the sonnax kit which sleeves the detent ball bore and includes a new ball. They say you need a special reamer to make the hole the right size, but after doing one I don't think it's as critical as they make it out to be. Hardest part is pulling the VB.
I've never used the detent bullet. It looks to me like it would be great for prevention, but if your bore was worn enough, I'm not sure the bullet fix would be permanent.
http://www.sonnax.com/parts/1836

 

[Hoefler]

I had the same issue on my 05, the dealer replaced the valve body under warranty.

 

[PWong]

if your bore was worn enough, I'm not sure the bullet fix would be permanent.
The bore is worn near the top opening only but the bullet is like one inch long that goes deep into the bore and that's why there is no need to bore the hole.
The bullet was a new product/invention after the sonnax detent ball kit.
Both kits would fix the problem the same way but I didn't like the reaming part of the sonnax kit.

 

[LFalconer]

Hi, I had the same issue on my 2006 - I found if I applied the brake firmly for a second or so before pulling the lever into gear, the problem is not there. If I pulled the lever before the brake pedal was firmly pressed I would get this issue.

Worth a try, cheap enough to do.

Luke

 

[Prairie Dog]

Thanks for the feedback everybody.
My buddy is a heavy equipment mechanic that has owned his own Co. for 25 years so he's pretty good with a wrench. He first suspected the BTSI cable and solenoid but without the VB connected it seems to work perfectly. He (we) will try putting a little tension on the cable to see how it acts, that should rule out the cable if good.

Luke, thanks - he has tried that and there's no change.

 

[crabman]

The park interlock(stepping on & holding the brake) has to be working correctly for the transmission to come out of park first. If it is working correctly, then there is a good chance that it is the detent ball.
Go to this link for a video which explains how to fix the ball problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttBlZJjCB4

 

[Prairie Dog]

The park interlock(stepping on & holding the brake) has to be working correctly for the transmission to come out of park first. If it is working correctly, then there is a good chance that it is the detent ball.
Go to this link for a video which explains how to fix the ball problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttBlZJjCB4

Thanks for that Crabman - Great video and it looks like a better way to fix it than boring and sleaving.

Scott

 

[Prairie Dog]

I wanted to update this thread just in case it can help somebody else.

My buddy pulled the VB and we checked the detent - it was perfectly tight. He put the "bullet" in anyway and bolted the VB back up, it was still hard to get out of P. He pulled the VB back down and carefully inspected it. Turns out the "Rooster" had a spot at the top of where the ball climbs out of its park detent where the metal stuck out. Think of something like the edge of a wave or a cliff that's eroding from below and forming a kind of shelf.
He polished this extra metal off and it works perfectly now.

 

[PWong]

I fixed mine by replacing the detent ball and spring with a new detent bullet and a new spring (without boring the hole).
I had to smooth out the notch on the rooster comb a little bit so that it would get out from park easily.
Check the shifting operation with the valve body on hand.
Shifting out from park is as easy as shifting between other positions now.

Turns out the "Rooster" had a spot at the top of where the ball climbs out of its park detent where the metal stuck out.
I did mentioned that.
Check out the operation by hand before install the VB.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Turns out the "Rooster" had a spot at the top of where the ball climbs out of its park detent where the metal stuck out.
I did mentioned that.
Check out the operation by hand before install the VB.

Your right, damned my eye's!