[alanwoodieman]

from under the car remove the second/high gear shift linkage on the trans. shift arms closest to front of the car, shift the linkage to second and see if it feels tight or sloppy next, have some one put the trans in second gear on column and hold it there while you see if the linkage will now slip over the arm on trans, if it will not go chances are the linkage is out of adjustment, Ford trans of this era do not have very good thrust washers on the cluster gear and if this clearance is too much it will pop out of second gear