2000 Park won’t Engage Have to start in neutral

@esrick and @Shellback are going….

 

Is there any reason to replace part 33501-0C012? I've seen other posts where part of the assembly is broken, but mine is intact. Wondering if that white plastic sphere is a wear item...
I received my new bracket. Cant say I'm impressed with the quality, but I guess its a cast issue(???). I did tap the mounting holes with a 6MM-1.0 tap that ate that metal like butter. Hopefully I get to reassemble everything tonight and post results.

New part arrived:

 

Metal, meet pot, Pot meet metal.

 

How did it go?
Wonderful! Except...
The last step. Re-installing the steering wheel airbag was close to impossible. There were some bent tabs and it just wouldn't want to set properly, especially while I tightened the torx side bolts. One side would tighten while the other would not engage where the torx threads.
After several hours, I was finally able to get both screws to thread in but it just doesn't look right.
As I suspected, as soon as the battery was connected, the horn went off. Air bag install didn't go as planned so I have to pull the corresponding fuse to the horn (unfortunately also controls turn signals) to quiet the horn.
My plan is to replace the steering wheel and airbag.
Shifter outcome? Shifter is nice and tight. Notches very solidly into its indicated gear, especially "P", where it wouldn't even want to drop into before.
The repair is a must if your bracket assembly is cracked, and the shifter cable bushing also tightens the whole shifting experience.

 

Must be your clock spring is boogered or improperly seated.

 

Was piddling on other things under steering column and noticed missing bushing.

$11 Dorman 14797 Shifter Cable Bushing Compatible with Select Models

Dorman 14797 mentioned in previous post worked perfect.

 

This was one of the things the head mech at the shop who installed wheels/aligned me mentioned. "Your shifter arm is sloppy - might be on the verge of failing". I told him I was aware of the earlier years having the corner of the shifter housing fail, and he said "yep, exactly that. yours feels like it's gonna go soon. it's from people treating their Tundra like a Chevy and slamming it into park. totally unnecessary"

I agree, I can flop the lever up/down an inch in either direction when in park, but I swore there was a bushing for that.

 

Not on an 04 nor on 2001/2002, as seen on first page same plastic bushing.

 

I may hafta pop mine open and look in there, see if I can figure out why the shift lever is so floppy.