Cool..Been years since I've worked on a Sierra so struggling to remember if there's any way you could get the cable through the bulkhead on the pedal end, leaving it with too much slack in the cable? I have vague recollection some Fords the cable went around the ratchet, but some just hook into it from above.

Gary (Ford tech on and off since 1988)

edit -I always used to connect pedal end first, then gearbox after.

Check to see if the cable can be routed differently through the bulkhead around the ratchet matey.