rebuilt power antenna

[KDirk]

I successfully rebuilt my first power antenna this evening. Rolled my own, so to speak. Used 37" of braided steel cable, some JB weld, a blowtorch and a short length of aluminum tubular stock.

On disassembly, I removed the top section of mast and used the blowtorch to melt the old broken plastic cord out of the coupling sleeve. Then epoxied the steel aircaft cable into the sleeve. After curing, I crimped the aluminum tubing over the other end and hooked itnto match the original part. Lubricated and reassembled, putting RTV where suggested.

Took out to the car and hooked up to test. On power up it extended just as it should and retracted on power down. Repeated several times with success. Have another one apart now waiting for the epoxy to cure. Will finish tomorrow and then have a third one to do as a spare. Really not too bad of a job except for drilling the rivets out of the motor housing.

KDirk

[Barney Eaton]

I will add that the length of the cable is semi important. If you make it too short, it can kink or jam at the extreme UP. If too long it can do the same. This is like pushing rope and the motor shuts off when the it is at the up and down extremes. I have now rebuilt several hundred and would not recommend the alumumin tubing. I used brass for some time and it is borderline too soft and will bend. I would think the alumumin is even softer than the brass. I have been using steel tubing for over a year.

The JB weld may be fine but I chose to silver solder the upper end.

here is an old link http://reatta.net/faq/antenna.html

I wrote most of this when replacement parts were still available from GM

You can also use ROUND weed-eater line...... .105 diameter will work as will .130 but the larger size needs to be reduced on the ends to fit into the antenna and "J" hook.

No epoxy required. Just heat the metal part and jam the line into the hole and hold unit it cools.

This photo is one someone rebuilt using .095 line and made it too long. When it bottoms out in the UP position the motor tries to continue pushing and if the line is too long it will kink. Once it kinks, it gets worse each time it is cycled.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Barney Eaton (see edit history)

[KDirk]

Barney,

Thanks for the input. I arrived at 37" by measuring the old plastic cord stretched straight, including the tubing with hook on the end and portion inside the coupling sleeve.

I agree the aluminim tube is not the best (will use steel on next batch) but it crimps easily and bends rather nicely to the required contour. I used 8-24 machine screws with nylon insert lock nuts both in stainless to replace the drilled out rivets.

I considered using weed eater line but it seemed too soft to push the mast up without problems. On the JB weld, I was reluctant to heat that coupling up enough to braze the cable in.

[Barney Eaton]

The main reason I switched from weed eater line to steel was the unknown specs of the weed eater line. I could buy 3 rolls of different brands and they would all be different (flexibility)

I have found another use for weed eater line, again it is probably not all the same but I have some green line that is great for welding plastic. I can melt it with a touch, let it drip on a cracked plastic part and it will flow and patch the crack. I repaired a broken trigger on a Skil saw using this plastic.

[Guest HessLakeGuy]

Barney

Are most of the antennas you get already broken or do people just want them rebuilt (like the one I mailed you last week) before they break?

By the way, that USPS medium size flat rate box with a little newspaper padding inside works great. If it ever stops raining and warms up I will install the rebuilt unit.

Tom

[Barney Eaton]

Tom, 90% have a broken plastic line....the other 10% have badly bent or broken mast. Somewhere in that mix a small % have both problems. Within the last month one came from NJ (a Riviera antenna) that had been under water. Anything metallic was rusted, I gutted the motor and replaced it with spare parts.