Hello,

I think I have an interesting one here.

My ranger is an 05 automatic 5-speed on the column. During normal shifting a pin fell out of the steering column, pictured below. Ever since this fell out I no longer have to pull the shift-lever back to change gears. Nothing feels loose or wobbly and the gear-to-gear shifting feels the same, I just no longer have to pull the lever back to shift and when in reverse pushing down on the shift-lever will take me all the way to 1st instead of stopping at drive like it used to.

I'm trying to figure out where this thing came from, after dropping the steering column enough to see the shift tube I'm not seeing anything missing. I'm also not having any luck identifying this via parts diagrams either.
https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/pa...lapseRelated44

So has anyone here seen this before? And/or know what this is called so I can do further Googling on how to fix?

 

Not seeing anything obvious except the lever pin and you would notice if that was missing, lol, seen here: https://imgur.com/uN6oh5O

Here is a diagram: https://ww2-secure.justanswer.com/up...7_231609_1.gif

And the legend for that diagram: https://ww2-secure.justanswer.com/up...7_231808_2.gif

#8 "release lever pin" has a nice ring to it from your description

 

Found the answer here, credit to user pat4road
https://www.f150online.com/forums/v8...ng-column.html

Once you know where the stupid thing goes it can be re-inserted without dropping the column, just by removing the cowling below it. And if you break the clip to the sensor that detects door-ajar, like I did taking stuff apart, (blue thing on the ignition column) you can re-secure that with duct-tape.

Shamelessly stealing his pictures so they're hosted on more places because these were key to me figuring out where the pin went.

 

I had the same thing happen! Put my car, ford Taurus 2000, in park, turned it off and the exact same pin fell on my foot. Did you ever find out what it is and where it goes??

 

Post #3 shows where it goes