It's stuck,folks..(Alfetta's transaxle frozen)

[Milanogold@domain.elided]

Greetings and happy easter,Alfisti!
          Or as happy as one can have with a stuck transmission.........  I 
finally got a chance to diagnose the problems with Lazarus, my '79 Alfetta 
Velocissima.You may remember from my post a week or so ago that I was driving 
Lazarus,shifting from 3rd to 4th when the shift lever jammed,and the car went 
into neutral.The shift lever wouldn't budge.The car has sat until today 
because I had zero time to look and see what the problem was.
      I looked today and wasn't happy with what I found.I disconnected the 
shifter from the tranny,and found that the shifter is in perfect shape.I 
tried to move the shift rod to another gear,and found to my dismay that the 
rod would not move the tranny into another gear.I tried to move the shifter 
arm where it joins to the transaxle;it feels as though superglue was used for 
gear oil.It won't $##^%#@ move! My question to all alfisti in Alfa Land;what 
would cause this problem?Several Alfisti have mentioned shift interlocks not 
working properly;it is common for these to go out suddenly and not make any 
"transaxle death throes" sounds?There was no gear grinding, actually no noise 
at all from the tranny when this occured.The rear wheels are freewheeling,and 
move in their proper directions when off the ground and spun around.(Try that 
using one milano jack and one alfetta jack)So, I'm assuming it's not an 
additional ring and pinion problem.Any ideas?Am I missing something?
          Looks like there's a transaxle purchase in my future.For financial 
reasons this will be a used transaxle.Milano transaxles are fairly plentiful 
in stock form,can these be used in place of the Alfetta box?I am thinking of 
a complete Milano Gold (same gear ratios, right?) rear 
transaxle/springs/brakes swap;looking at Alfie (87 milano gold) and Lazarus 
side by side the rears seem to be identical.Would the alfetta shifter have to 
be swapped for the milano shifter?etc.etc.Any advice would be 
appreciated......
Thanks in advance,
Terry and Sharon Akins 
Alexandria,VA 
( announcing the birth of 7 utterly adorable kittens on April1,Cuddles,the  
confirmed Alfisti mother doing fine and all kittens are HUGE and healthy.when 
weaned,3 will be available for adoption free to good Alfisti homes.
1987 Milano Gold (Alfie)
1979 Alfetta Velocissima (Lazarus,not arising from the dead.Owner anxiously 
awaiting the third day........)      		                      

------------------------------