im growing ill of pooring money into a 17 year old gas hog. Lately ive been having problems with it coming out of gear. I took it around the block and didnt even get 2 blocks away before it fell into N. First thing i did was try to get it back into D but it did nothing when i shifted. wont go into any gear once its popped out. Thus far the only cure ive found is just sitting and waiting and it will eventually go back into D.Im not convinced that the transmission is dead already. the truck has 137K on it and the current trans is TH350, but the truck came from the factery with a 700R4. New trans just isnt old enough to be dying already.

So heres what ive checked so far.
took a look at the shift linkage.
checked trans fluid levels. (they are normal)
Tried driving it in 4x4 to make sure my transfer case wasnt dropping into N.
ive thought about the different vaccuum switches but i know little about them.
A friend of mine told me that since i recently replaced the column that he thinks the steering rod is rubbing against the linkage at the column. Dont know about this one. to my knowledge the actual steering rod is in its own tube that cant rub the linkage.
Any sort of help would be much appreciated.
1989 K5 4x4 TBI350 TH350

 

If putting it into "D" or "L" doesn't get you going, my first thought would be to get the fluid pressure tested.
Maybe a front pump failure or a leaking internal seal causing low pressure.
When it drops into "N" and won't go into "D", have you tried putting into "R", if so what is the result?

 

I have tried putting it into R but it doesnt do anything. it wont go into any gear. while i was rolling down a hill out of gear the truck started to slow for an unknown reason. then fell into gear out of no where.

 

Looks like im stuck with the column theory. it didnt do this before i replaced it so thats where ill start. though im confused. i dont see how my column could have much to do with it besides the linkage, which ive found is not adjustible at the reansmission. is it adjustible anywhere else?