Reply to "Think it's in 1st but it's in 3rd."

I just had an experience with the shift linkage that may apply to others in the future, the little 2"long splined coupling that connects the ZF gear box to the linkage had become so twisted,fatigued that when I broke the nut loose on the turn barrel by resting 1 wrench against the transmission and turning the nut with the other it sheared off. I wasn't able to catch reverse earlier that day and it looks like the last owner was really trying to tighten up the adjustment nuts by the damage to them.. So it appears he was thinking that was the culprit. I also noticed that it appears to be actually 2 peices welded together as when the outer coupler and the inner shaft separated it revealed a perfectly machined hole that the splined end fit into which leads me to believe it was welded from the inside them mill ended or ground smooth on the inside.. Anyway I replaced it for a tidy sum of $183 and it works perfectly now.. Hindsight would lead me to believe that a person could possibly reclock refit, weld, grind then reinstall this peice.