Chrysler Repair: automatic transmission, drive axles, vertical shaft

Question
Hello,and thanks for any information.
Our family owns a 1998 Chrysler town & country 3.3lliter with 95,000 miles. we had no previous problems with slipping or grinding. the drive axles did not grinding during a sharp right or left turn. my wife was driving and all was OK. she came to a red light and went to go and the van would not move. when we put the van in neutral to push it out of the way of traffic the van also would not move. we had it towed home and i jacked it up and turned the front tires and see if they would  turn. when i put it in gear with it jacked up the wheels move and made a grinding noise. could this be the transmission or do you think that the drive axles may be bad?  

Answer
HI Naz,
I have a better suggestion for you. What may have happened is that the cable between the shift lever in the cabin and the shift lever on the transmission has come loose or has slipped out of adjustment at the transmission end. You can check the action of the lever at the transmission (mounted on the top of a vertical shaft on the side of the engine that faces the front of the van) by observing its movement when your wife tries to move the shift lever in the cabin thru all its positions. It may not move at all in which case you may find that it has just come loose from its adjustment/securing screw which secures it to the lever on the transmission at the proper point. If that is the case, merely put the lever in the cabin in Park, move the trans lever all the way to the end of its travel (in the same direction that the cable moves from drive to park) and then tighten the adjuctmet screw to secure it. Then check that the engine will only start when you have it in park or neutral (slightly adjust as necessary) and see if it will now run normally. It is possible that the cable broke or came loose at the cabin end. So don't give up on this alternative explanation which is totally external to the trans and can be repaired inexpensively compared to the trans itself.
I hope this is the solution.
Roland