I've got a 1996 Jeep Cherokee SE 4wd 4.0L V6 manual 5-speed transmission. Stock as it can be.

Parked it last January in my grandparent's garage after I bought a new car. The original plan was to use it as a trail car for hunting and fishing, but was hasty when I was storing it (girlfriend was mad about something or the other) and put the emergency brake on. I wasn't able to get back up north as soon as I had planned and when I did came back up, the rear right brake was seized. In the process or trying to break it free I think the transmission took a dump. I heard a pop, it came out of 1st gear, and it started making a knocking sound. The shifter won't move side to side and will only go into 2 gears, up and down from the neutral position it is stuck at.

I'm assuming it's the trans, but have no idea about the extent of the damage. Some optimistic input I've heard are clutch bands, shifter linkage? I think I could fix a good many things, but a transmission is out of my skill set. Talked to a guy at a local transmission shop and he said a couple thousand to rebuild the trans.

Does this sound like a familiar problem? And thoughts/advice on diagnosing it?

Thanks for the help...

 

Have you checked the gear oil? It really can be a number of thing. How is the clutch?
BTW, If you have a 4.0, You do not have a V6.

 

I doubt you could ruin a tranny that way. (maybe burn up a clutch).I suppose in your shoes I'd take a good look at the engine and transmission mounts, stuff might have moved while you were gassing it. I guess they are designed to not let anything go too far, but worth checking.

 

One of the reasons "I Never Use the Parking Brake" unless its an emergency or I'm working on it. Oh yeah and they freeze in the winter too. Only took me 33 yrs out of 36 to finally get my wife to stop using them, I made her get on the frozen ground to get hers to release...........Guess I was the dumb one should have it 35 yrs ago