I posted this on another forum but I wanted see what some of the possibilities are for this problem on this forum. This has been happening a long time on my 98 Ranger Automatic. I just think I'm ready to try and take care of it if it can be fixed. About 2+ years ago I had the shift cable replaced with a Pioneer shift cable. Ever since then the shifter has been really tight to shift out of Park. When the guy installed it I watched him and at first it was really loose. He tightened the clamp at the bottom of the shift tube and it got really tight. He left it where it felt normal for a brand new cable he said. Well it never slackened up over 2 years. It was so tight shifting that one night when I got back to a friends and put it into Park it actually broke the clamp at the end of the shift tube. I had to manually shift it into Park when I got back home. I went to the salvage yard the next day and got a couple extra shift tubes. I installed a new one and put a dab of grease on the bushings. It was still tight and eventually the shift knob finally gave way. So I had to go back and get some shift handles. I took the column back down and added some more grease on the sliding shift tube bushings. It's helped a bit but it's still not right. I'm afraid it's going to end up breaking another shifter handle. It's got to be out of adjustment or something sticking. I can't even move the shifter all the way into the 1 position. All other positions are fine. The actual transmission is fine and shifts good while driving. I believe I was told a long time ago on another forum that the Neutral Safety Switch is probably the entire problem. Any ideas?

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1998 Ford Ranger XLT 2.5 4R44E Automatic Regular Cab, 4.10 non-limited slip
1993 Ford Ranger XLT 2.3 M5 Manual, Regular Cab, 3.45 non-limited slip