this is for my buddy, his 1986 blazer was stolen and then recovered...some wires hanging down from the column...and he has to use a screwdriver to crank it up now.

He says it won't shift out of 1st now, but will shift into reverse. I thought maybe there was a neutral/park safety wire going to the tranny...maybe that was cut and prevents him from shifting out of first. Kind of like how you can't crank your auto truck up when it's in drive. I don't know if this model had that or not...just wondering though if that could be an option...his truck isn't near me so i can't check it out...

any help would be appreciated.

no, no wires like that on an 86. if its not shiftin, look at one of the 10 other threads about uncooperative 700s for your answer

not lookin for an answer about the problems of the 700r4 for myself, really lookin for process of elimination to help him narrow things out. Im not going to be rebuilding his tranny nor will he...either someone else will or he will just replace it. Sounds like his tranny is screwed.

not lookin for an answer about the problems of the 700r4 for myself, really lookin for process of elimination to help him narrow things out. B/c with him not being mechanically inclined and his truck being 6hrs away from me there is no way that i can pin point what is wrong with the tranny. Im not going to be rebuilding his tranny nor will he...either someone else will or he will just replace it. Sounds like his tranny is screwed.

is the shift lever moving through its range if not the damage to column is the problem
if shift lever is moving but trans is not engaging anything but reverse then it internal trans problem