2001 Dodge Ram 2500 Transmission

My truck, a former Arizona Highway Patrol. Probably used for pulling over semis at high speeds. It has the V10 engine with automatic transmission and over drive. Heres my problem. At 138,413 miles it wont go into park. I crawled under, removed the linkage that connects to the arm that goes into the transmission. Get back into the extended cab. move the column shifter into park, now I can remove my key! I crawl back under the truck, I see where the linkage is at in the park position, and the arm that goes into the transmission, not even close, about 1" away. I click the transmission arm all the way forward, which should be 1st. (which lines up when I move the column shifter to 1st position). Moving the transmission arm towards the back, I count 5 resting points, thats all the further back it will go. (I believe there should be 6 resting points). My truck is only a year old to me. I hope you guys can find a solution that I can possibly fix without removing the transmission!
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JerryS