Steering column gear lever hard to put in gear

[dickeymoore]

I have a 1980 Chevy Monte Carlo I installed a small block Chevy 400 engine and a 700 R4 Transmission with the column shifter everything seemed to be all right until up to now which is about a year when I start to car and go to put the car in gear and grab the column lever to pull it down in gear its like it's stuck sometimes and sometimes it will just work normal I checked all the linkage and everything seems to be in order anyone know what the problem can be with the column level

 

[melloelky]

with the car in park and off remove the linkage that comes from the trans to the arm @ the base of the column on the firewal side.see if the column operates freely with it unhooked.if it works fine then it isn't in the column.if it's still hard to operate then i'd look at the column.

 

[dickeymoore]

Okay I'll try that tomorrow