I've got a 93 mighty max w/ 2.4L engine and manual transmission. About 3 days ago i'm driving and truck is driving just fine. I'm turning left at a light, go to shift into 2nd but my daughters leg was in the way (she was in the middle), i quickly threw it into neutral, moved her leg, and then threw it into 2nd fast cuz i had slowed down a lot and was making the turn; it didn't go in smoothly but i was able to force it in and then it would not get out of 2nd to go to 3rd. I had to pull over and after jerking the shifter for a couple minutes i was able to get it out of 2nd. BUT now it would only go into 3rd, 4th, 5th, and reverse; no 1st or 2nd! 1st and 2nd just feels like there's no gear there at all, no grinding, clanking, nothing -the shifter flops up and down extremely loosely . When i got home i took the boot out, the three bolts for the shifter, the shifter out, and all i found was a hard plastic ring or cap-like piece (about 1/2" tall and 1" around) and it looks rather squished but i have no idea what that part is or whats going on with the tranny. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. And sorry for the long rant lol

The piece of the shifter grommet that you found is your problem. Unbroken, it looks like a small cylinder and fits on the "ball" end at the bottom of the gear shift. It limits the travel of the shifter. It is available from a Mitsu or Dodge dealer, worth getting new as opposed to used. I think they are only a buck or two. Even without it, unless a broken piece is blocking your shifter, you should have all your gears, they will just be a little difficult to "find".

Take ur shifter out check for any shaterd pieces of the grommet and without boltin the shifter back up put in in the tranny and try to change gears listin for any loose or grindin sound it wont be load so listin closely

Thanks for responding guys. Ok, so it makes perfect sense that the piece i found was the grommet for the ball end of the shifter. However, i used an extension inserted where the shifter would go and i went through all of the gears. Now, when i shifted it all the way as far right as the mechanism would let me go (where i understand 1st and 2nd would be, due to the lever action of the ball end of the shifter) it just slides up and down with no resistance, noise, or grinding whatsoever. It moves smoother than in neutral; it pretty much just flops up and down. This really has me baffled and i'm fearing it's something inside of the transmission. And if it is, this will not be good. We're down to one vehicle now and this truck is it; her car's engine blew 2 days before this happened...SMH... So, what could it possibly be???

With enough force you could have broke the linkages to first and secend or you could have no first and secend hard to say

Did you ever find out what the problem is? I am having an extremely similar problem however i cannot shift into any gears. I have not begun to look at mine yet as it just happened. VERY curious if you found your solution.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner but i just now saw this. Hopefully you've gotten something figured out with your truck by now but if not what i did was change the transmission. Something inside messed up and i needed the truck running asap so i just switched it out. I learned A LOT about these trucks and what kind of transmission would work for it in the process. They're not as easy to find (at least in my area) but they're still out there. I found mine by the grace of God at a junkyard. But some of the ones that fit come off of Dodge d50s from the late 80s with either a 2.4l if it came with it or a 2.6l and of course the Mighty Maxs. They bolt right in perfectly. This might be a no-brainer but just throwing it out there in case it is helpful. I'm new to these trucks but maybe this may help someone else like myself. Well, good luck with your truck and feel free to ask any questions.