I am having trouble replacing my antenna mast any advice or tricks when removing it? I also found this link in the how to section
http://www.jatan.net/tsbs/044565.pdf

I believe we are suppose to pull out the whole antenna correct? HOWEVER, it so hard to pull out the whole antenna and i even took the unit out of the car and I still could not get it out HELP!!! I am afraid to force or break it. 90% of the antenna is out of the car even the part witht he cable i just have the bottom end left to pull out and it so stubburn. LOL the stupid antenna mast wont come out any advice or tricks?

Note* i already bought my oem antenna on ebay.

 

open the box up, it will give you full acess to everthing.

 

I did open up the box. However, i cant get the old antenna out because the aluminnum pipe that it is in wont budge at all or come out. Is the alumnimum pipe that is attached to the black box suppose to come out?

 

This is exactly why I still rock a broken antenna mast. Good luck.

 

BigLou93SE is right, but there is a solution....
Junck yard.... anttenas from altimas (94-96) or something like that carry the same antenna. with one small modification... tha tis how I fixed my antenna the first time.... there is only a *** made of plastic, which on our cars is in one side and on the altimas is opposite (180 degrees) just detacht that and glue it on the other side. (I did I write up about 2 years ago but never added to the howtoo's section.)

One difference is Altimas antenna mast Do come ut and is alot easier to replace. (about $25) instead of the $160 for a new one.

 

Guinader you said altima antenna why didnt you just buy a maxima antenna from the scrap yard? Is there a catch 101 or something lol?

Ya, I pretty much gave up i dont know what to do with this orginal nissan mast LOL I am most likely going to buy one at the scrap yard

Thanks

 

well maximas antenna are a little hard to find, and altimas you find by the bunch... also most maximas as you will learn have the antenna mast attached to the housing, the altimas don't... make sure you get one that looks like yours... or you might be buying one that will not fit.

 

Ok Thanks. I guess I will have to purchase a whole antenna...

 

I did the ebay thing for about $13 plus shipping. I did have to remove the unit and take it apart, but it went back together easy and works GREAT!!!!

 

venturous how did u take the antenna mast out of the aluminum pipe attached to the black plastic box? I have my ebay antenna too but cant seem to get the mast out

 

Did you take out the nut on top. If you did remove the nut, was the radio on when you are pulling on it?

This should be a standard Takada antenna. The nylon tail part is coiled up in the black plastic round part of the antenna assembly. Removing the small nut in the middle will allow you to open the wip compartment. I had to do this when the nylon wip broke leaving the tail part inside.

 

SVI30 i did pull out whole antenna assembly including all of the the nylon tail through the shaft outside of the car when it was hanging. I had no other choice because my antenna was hanging so i pulled it out or else i would drag it around when im driving. The antenna broke midway between the bottom 1st shaft and and 2nd shaft

Yes i did see the round plastic with the teeth in the assembly. My problem is removing the LAST shaft of the antenna the biggest shaft from the aluminum pipe (housing). I need to remove that last piece of the antenna in order to get new the antenna in. I dont know how to go about doing that. I tried PULLING it out, taking apart the housing with no success in reaching the last piece of the antenna shaft.

When you say NUT, you mean the nut holding the antenna mast on the body of the car exterior? NO the nut was still in locked in place the antenna was already hanging so i pulled it out completely while the radio was ON due to the given circumstances BUT the nut was locked in place like i said.

Is there some trick in removing the MAST with the radio or something?

 

 

I replaced mine in Sep.; memory is a bit hazy.

There are three concentric aluminum rings:
1. The outermost tube that is part of the antenna motor unit. This is not removed. That is, the motor unit has a plastic spirally thing attached to an aluminum shaft.
2. The sleeve with tabs and o-rings (that are clamped down under the exterior nut). This is a short (3-4 inches) sleeve that slides over the bottom-most section of the antenna. I had to save this and reuse it on the new mast.
3. The bottom segment of the antenna.

For me, I had difficulties pulling my entire mast out. All of the websites say, "turn on your radio, it'll come right out", but mine didn't budge. I tried for several weekends, and at each successive one I'd pull harder with pliers until I pulling as hard as I could (admittedly, that's not much).

I ended up removing the motor unit and disassembling it; I unwould the whip and undid the plastic body. Convinced that there was nothing left but friction, more pulling with needle noses. The mast and sleeve came out fairly easily.

My secret belief is that the tabs on the sleeve somehow lock into the motor tube, and that complete disassembly relieved clamping pressure. But it's probably just that I was able to grab more of the antenna mast and pull harder.

 

I think I understand. The metal mast sections are held in, after removing the top nut, by a short sleeve. You can remove this short sleeve with a sharp knife by lifting up the lip on top. After the sleeve is out, shake the antenna upside down to get the other metal sections out.

 

The shaft inside the antenna housing has these little teeth that "lock" it in place. I was able to get mine out with no issues. Just took a little persuasion to make it happen. I bought the mast from Ebay, btw.

 

Ya, that my exact my problem that last shaft attached with the teeth will not come out no matter how hard i pull or if i turn it. Those teeth are holding it back.

 

Ya i tried using a knife to remove the short sleeve however, the metal was so fragile it peeled if i put force or if i pulled. Like parts of it are broken and im afraid to break it more or else i will loose access the that sleeve around the last shaft.

 

Ok i used a vicegrip and hammer it worked great the shaft came out but the sleeve stayed inside. Do vicegrip pliers exist?

 

I found my antenna mast instructions. I don't have access to a fax so I'll just tell you what the pertinent parts. In the interest of being open, I don't work for this guy, and he sells on Ebay.

"3. If at this time you can't pull the mast out and it seems to be stuck, more than likely the grounding/retaining sleeve is corroded to the top of the antenna tube. What one needs to do at this point is inject an agressive penetrating oil(kriol oil works great or equivalent) between the outer mast section and the brass threaded tip of the power unit. Let it work overnight and try again."

The only thing else I can suggest is to take a step back, take breath and take a slow methodical look at everything to see if you're not missing something. It shouldn't be as hard as it is sounding. It really sounds like there is some major corrosion in there. Good luck.

 

Sounbwoy, YES you were right that stupid sleeve the one that LOCKS was so rusted! i had to peel it off the inner wall! (after the major shaft came out) with a flat screw driver then use a clothes hanger to pull whatver fragments were left inside! It was literally glued to the antenna wall. Canadian winters really mess up the cars here LOL i even found some corrsion in the innerwall below the antenna towards the splash guard area ( that blowssss).
I think i am going to do write up on this on this antenna replacement when i have chance so poor folks like me dont spend so much time worrying about break the housing.

 

THANKS EVERYONE for the advice really helped and gave a good insight! I will write a detailed write up when i have the chance!

 

ummm its been almost a year... wheres that write up??? lol

 

Write up? its gonna be the same as this
http://www.infinitihelp.com/Ownershi.../ITB94-014.htm
except for maybe notes that you should remove the nut before attempting to get the antenna out.... in bold font 24

 

Im practically lifting the car by the antenna??? Its stuck??? I removed the nut the black plastic covering... At the base of the antenna there are small holes the circle around the antenna base??? that is the last area of antenna left in the car??? Is there a write up on removing the whole assembly??? cause that seems like my only other option?

 

i . have to fix. my antenna. just have to make. myself some time. to fix... it...

 

If you want to take the whole assmebly out, obviously you will need to remove that circle "with the holes in it".
Then you will need to look inside the trunk, remove some of the upholstery(?), remove the jack, loosen about three bolts and that should be it. It'll make sense when you LOOK at it.

 

Quick and easy. Rip the whole thing out, break off the top 2 sections and stuff it back down into the antenna shaft so that the antenna just looks like it is in the down position. Your radio will still work because of the antenna in the back windshield. Its not the best solution, but it is quick and at least you dont have that ugly antenna sticking up when you are listening to the radio.

 

I just replaced my antenna last night. Thanks for all the tips above. My case was a little different so I wanted to add something here.

When my antenna broke, it wasn't the metal that snapped. It was the nylon cord inside the mast (with the teeth on one side) that had snapped. I didn't have the corrosion problems above, but I did have to remove the whole motor assembly from inside the trunk so that I could take it apart and remove about 5" of that broken nylon cord that was still inside the spool.

Once I got that piece of nylon cord out and put everything back together, I was able to follow the normal instructions and "wind" the new antenna back into position by turning the radio off. The teeth on the nylon cord need to face the rear of the vehicle so that the gears on the motor can grab it properly.

The antenna I bought off of eBay from AntennaMastsRus was a perfect match - $17.50 including shipping.