I have a 07 mega cab. 5.9L, automatic trans. For quite sometime now, it's sometimes very hard to shift from park to drive, feels like I could possibly break something when forcing it to drive with shift selector. Shifts fine from reverse to drive or other gears, only when taking out of park. Was told by one mechanic needs a new shift cable, which I had replaced, still no better from park to drive. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I'm gonna pass this on to one of my mechanics, cause I AIN'T One !

 

So going from Park straight to Drive it is hard but if you go from Park to Reverse and pause then to Drive it is OK?

 

No, its hard to get out of park period. Once in drive, shifts fine to all other gears. Just feels like it hanging in Park. Thanks

 

There is a interlock on the shift cable underneath the dash that requires you to step firmly on the brake for a second or 2 before shifting. If you try to shift before the interlock has time to retract it will jam. The interlock will go bad and not work even if you are stepping on the brake. You might try disconnecting it to see if it helps.

The other normal failure point is on the VB. The casting that holds the detent ball for the detent plate will wear. In park the ball will jam the detent plate from moving easily. Sonnax makes a repair kit that allows you drill out the soft housing and replace it with a harder bushing that does not wear.

Those are the 2 common points that cause the hard to shift out of park problem.

 

Set parking brake before putting into park. That could help narrow down the problem.

 

I have the same problem sometimes, hard but not very hard to get out from Park. After I dropped the trans pan, replaced the filter, refilled with 6 qts of new AFT+4 and adjusted the bands, now it gets out from park much easier. Mostly this was due to the area around the detent ball and plate being cleaned out after the tranny service.

I agree to the above mentioned failure points.

 

Mines doing the same thing. It started not shifting out after I had a remote start installed. I remove the column cover and monkeyed with the interlock and that let me shift, but it's still hard at times. I'd suggest you unhook that first and see if that fixes your problem. I'll have to tear into mine again at some point.

 

The valve body was my problem too. Checked and tested everything. Then finally took it to my transmission shop. They verified it was in the valve body (disconnected the shifter cable and tried manually/hand shifting the trans). They were able to find me just and upper valve body. $150 for the part and about $180 to put it in.