Rick, When you try to shift into reverse, do you feel a spring pressure, or does it feel solid? The shifter has to move over to get into the shifter dog for reverse and to do this it pushes against a spring loaded pin. This pin is to prevent shifting into reverse accidentally. The pin could be frozen due to rust or whatever. Now, if you can feel the spring pushing the lever back, the shifter fork might have slipped on the reverse selector shaft. In any case, the top cover should be removed to check the problem. If you had a workshop manual, it would give you a break down of the transmission and it's workings. Moss and other suppliers sell them. PJ