I have an '02 Durango SLT, purchased new. the past year the shifter has stuck in park four (4) times, requiring towing. Repairs were a) brake fuse, b) shifter cable. Still happens. Contacted Dodge and they say they have no information on this problem. Have you? If so, is it recurrent and have you found a permanent solution?

 

Do you press the brake prior to trying to shift?

IndyDurango

 

indy is on the right track, this happened to me a few times a couple of years back. i found out that in a pinch to get into gear if you have the truck off (engine not running) and disconnect the brake light switch (above the brake pedal under the dash, really easy to reach if you lay on the floor) you can then shift into nuetral (as long as you have the e-brake on this is perfectly safe to do) and start the truck there, and the switch can be reconnected in order to drive safely with lights. what i did that finally got rid of the problem was to take a can of electrical contact cleaner, and with the plug out of the brake switch spray down all the contacts on both the switch and the plug side, and dry them out good (we have an air compressor which i used) and then plug them back in, i have not had the problem since then, and if it does come back i would then replace the brake light switch. if you need pictures i will be more than happy to get some for you if you can wait till dec 22 (the day i go back home, i am at college now w/o the truck or a camera)

if you need more details let me know and ill try to explain better later

 

rock the truck back and forth that happened on my 2003 dodge 3500 5.7 duelly

 

If you are parking on a hill you need to engage the emergengy brake BEFORE you shift it out of gear. This will help keep it from locking up with torque on the trans.

 

actually when it happened to me my truck was parked on my flat driveway , up against the house, w/ the parking break on and 0 torque applied to the trans, and the only thing that worked is what i said above

 

Happened to me too about two years ago. Flat surface. I was at 7-Eleven gassing up.

No idea what finally let go to get it into gear.

 

Hmmmmm


Anyway you can try turning the steering wheel back and forth while then pull down on the shifter. I am trying to follow Sharp's idea of removal of the brake switch. It sounds like the actuator is electronic and I thought it was manual locking?

 

I have a 02 durango and it was doing it all the time, so i took the cover off, where the shifter meets the column, once inside you will see a small lever stop. It holds the shifter in park, just push it in and you can move the shifter into drive, i did that for a while and now it works fine, strange

 

you can spray that mechanism down with a lubricant (i use a silicone based spray on lubricant as it resists water and dirt build up) and that will help the problem