[mrlaser]

The replacement plate and trough is in place. When there is no power supplied to the solenoid, the solenoid plunger is fully retracted and the pawl disengaged. Applying power to the number 4 terminal on the solenoid results in the pawl moving about an 1/8" into the upper slot on the balk ring. With the power continuing to be supplied to the solenoid, the output shaft is turned clockwise, the pawl travels a further 3/8", fully engaging the balk gear. It was the ridge worn into the original plate which "caught " the pawl and was prevented its full travel.

Incidentally, it was Gary Duff who walked me through the above steps and also mentioned that the balk ring used by Ford was modified to prevent it from becoming improperly aligned . Because of this modification, the steps outlined in the Borg Warner manual to realign the ring without removing the transmission ( which I tried unsuccessfully) will not work on the Ford transmission. I hope this information will be helpful to others. Thanks again to everyone who has offered advice on this issue.