Column very hard to shift after painting

[Bizcoach1]

I just got my truck back from the painter. Looks beautiful. Unfortunately, now I can't move the column shifter (A/T). I can move the shifter from the lower section of the column inside the engine side of the firewall when using a prybar to spread the two pieces. I readjusted the tension on the column at that point but I still can't move the shift lever at all. I pulled the pin out of the lever to column. Nothing seems out of place.
What am I missing here? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[bluek5]

Is it a tilt column ? The reason I ask, is that I had the plastic pointer break and slide down in the column. I could not get the shifter to move.

[HO455]

Was the engine compartment painted, blasted, or pressure washed? Any of these could cause problems in the lower part of the column. There is a bushing at the bottom that can get full of crud or rust up and then it is very difficult to get the shifter to move. Will your shift handle drop back down on its own? Have you tried unhooking the linkage at the tranny to see if it gets better? Unfortunately the fix is to pull the column and disassemble the lower end so the contamination can be removed. It took me about five hours my first time tearing the column apart. But there are some nice threads here that I didn't have when I did my first.

[Bizcoach1]

Not a tilt column. We did power wash firewall and column prior to removing it. We removed the column and painted it. Moved freely prior to removing. Is disconnected from linkage. I can move it in all positions from the lower section where i connect the linkage. I just have to use a pry bar to separate the selector positions due to what seems like too high of spring tension for that assembly. When I move the positions up and down, the lever moves as well. But when I try to use the actual shift lever, it will not move at all towards me.

[HO455]

Sounds very familiar. Mine acted that way and found the bushing at the bottom was frozen up and would not let the sliding part move freely. Even after I pulled the column and lubed it with some penetrating oil, it still would not allow the selector to move in and out of the detents without a pry bar. I even tried moving it around a bunch with the pry bar hoping it would loosen up and work but all I ended up doing was cracking one of the tabs on the detent. So it got torn down and the bushing cleaned up ( and the crack welded up).