mellor_21

So my power antenna went junk on me, but I don't mind pulling it up and down manually for now. I saw the threads on replacements and rebuilds, and the bitviper will probably be the solution in a week or two but for now I have a couple of questions.
When I try to manually put it down it only goes to about 4 or 5 inches from the bottom, is this normal? I was thinking of putting some wd-40 and forcing it down but I don't want to break something inside.
Also, I unplugged it so that it wouldn't make the noise whenever I turned my radio on. Will this screw up my reception? It didn't seem to.. It still sounds like crap all the way down and perfect from about 7 inches to all the way up.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

its just the plastic cable in side the antenna........it look like a zip tie on steroids......and it breaks LOL...........you can buy a replacement mast and fix it.........or you can buy the entire unit

mellor_21

Thanks for the response, but you didn't answer either of my questions lol
But since we're on the topic, what does the replacement mast run these days? And the entire unit? The bitviper replacement seems like a great value, but I like the look of the stock antenna as well.
I sincerely appreciate your input. If you know of a pic of the cable or the innards of the entire unit I'd love to see it.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

ebay has the best price on replacement masts.......i forget exactly how much the entire unit was that i bought........and i threw away my broken mast last week........so no pics.......you can probably pull out your mast and see the cable......the cable is nothing more than a zip tie lookin thing with teeth on 1 side

BitViper

iTrader: (63)

If you like the OEM look Why not just pop in a std Camaro fixed base unit..~ 20 bucks or so

mellor_21

Thanks for the replies everyone. Some day when i have some spare cash I'll fix it, but i'm probably just going to leave it up for now since it works fine as-is.

slowpoke96z28

iTrader: (2)

F that ebay junk. I got a delco mast for 35 bucks. First question, no, its not normal. Its not normal to try and force a broken power antenna mast down. By now you'll have bits and pieces of broken cable in there, and will have to take the whole thing apart to clean it, or the new one will jam or strip. Thats why u cant get it all the way down now. Second, the motor control and actual antenna cable are two different things. Did u not see that when you disconnected the motor? That is the one that determines reception.

Decadence75

iTrader: (17)

My antenna did not work when I picked up my bird a year and a half ago either. I decided to not deal with that unit and picked up a tune trapper antenna that you can stick in the headliner or under the dash. I plan to shave the antenna hole when I do some body work/paint it.

mellor_21

Slowpoke, thanks for the info.
Decadence, how is the reception with those?