Newbie, 98 4cyl 4x4 auto. Trans issues

so ive worked on a lot of these old 1st gens over the years and never really had to deal with a transmission problem. so the story has it that the PO over filled the transmission and thats why it doesnt move. i was told that once it gets up to operating temp it will go in reverse. trying to pull it off the trailer last night was a chore in its self though no gears ever caught. while trying to get it to do anything i went to mess with the handle for the transfer case while i had it in reverse(which was going no where) i could feel the trans case grinding a little bit like it was trying to catch but i didnt want to just jam it in gear. could this be a torque convertor problem or transmission pump? just a bad transmission in general? its a really solid low mile non rust truck, other than the transmission it was missing a few vacuum lines that i quickly replaced to get the idle back down, and also alot of racket coming from the top end, which is probably the 10+ year old oil filter. i look forward to the project and will be posting pictures along the way. I also have a few other projects going as well, and pictures of 22r's ive done over the years too.

Wish me luck and hopefully i can get a few pointers dealing with transmissions

 

Welcome to TW Matthew

 

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so i got to look at it better last night. with the truck cold the trans fluid level was way above the full hot mark, i let a few quarts drain out and there was no change. still no movement through any gears.

One thing that i did notice is that while shifting gears, the idle changes like it recognizes that the its going to a different gear(PRNDL) and also the lock doesnt work at all, i can move the linkage by hand.

it seems as if it does need a transmission, or at least for me to pull it and take it somewhere to get checked out because it doesnt sound too pretty inside the transmission when your moving the shift link forward and backwards. if i can get pictures and videos before it gets dark ill put them on here and figure out how to put a post in the right part of these forums. for now im working off this thread.

 

Welcome to TW!