To move the black piece that surrounds the shifter shaft down far enough to get the screws in, the shifter needs to be in park, and I think that the key needs to be on to release the interlock.
I can get the black piece down far enough no problem. Im about a 1/2 inch too far up though to put them in. That's in any gear I tried.
And the white electrical piece in your second pic goes inside the shifter tube on the side of the OD switch.
Put it in park and turn the key on.
I haven't been able to get it down really past the tip of that piece. Also when I start pushing down on the shifter it is engaging it so it just easily moved into any gear.
Battery is dead right now so I will try that next. My ride is here. Thanks for the tips. Ill try it in the morning.
Thanks DLF for all your help. I think the problem was I was so ready to be done I wasn't paying attention to detail when I took off the shifter. All it ended up being was that I did not have the white plastic piece in the right direction. So when i went in with a clear head today I put the rest of it back together in no time. I do have heat which is important also.