Ford E4OD/Powerstroke question

I looked at a 96 F-250 for sale, and it had a recently rebuilt transmission installed by the owner (from the way it shifted it seemed like a reasonable story), but the shift lever took a significant amount of force to move between gears.  The owner said with the old transmission it moved easily, but the new one had been that way since he installed it.  Any idea what might cause that?  Is there an easy way to put the linkage together wrong so it would bind?  Or is there probably something assembled wrong inside the new transmission that would require taking it back out and taking it apart.  The truck seemed ok otherwise but was too expensive if the transmission needs to be taken out and some internal problem fixed.

The cable that connects the lever to the trans can be popped off or unbolted at the transmission, from what I remember of my E4OD.  Could do that and see how easily it moves?  Mine is real easy to move between gears without that cable connected.

If it's not the shift cable/tube and it's set screw, you could have a sticky manual valve in the valve body, which isn't hard to fix. Just a LOT of fluid to drain and fill, like 14qts.

" it had a recently rebuilt transmission installed by the owner "

If the shift linkage is binding up, what else is wrong with it?   Run away.

Noddaz said:

If the shift linkage is binding up, what else is wrong with it?   Run away.

Well at this point I plan on that unless there is a good (and cheap/easy to fix) explanation for it.

I don't have to buy one right now but I do want a diesel ford at some point, good ones sell for more than the original sticker price so I will just keep looking at cheap ones until I either find one that isn't too broken or decide to get something else. 

This one seemed ok other than the transmission being hard to shift (but it drove fine) so I was curious.  Sounds like something the owner needs to figure out for the price he's asking though.