chickenhawk

Ok, I happen to be one of those that want to keep the power antenna so to those that ditch it, shave it, thats all good but this thread aint for you lol.

Ok, so I made the mistake of throwing out my original antenna motor. I dont know why I did it, maybe it was the physical condition and I decided.. what the hell? I'll buy another.. ( You will have to excuse the lapse in memory as its been a long time since I took it out to paint the car)
Anyway...Buzzzzzzzzz wrong answer!!! Turns out that GM only offers a universal, fits a million and one POS, lol.

OK no biggie,I thought, I'll buy another one from the junk yard and rebuild that. As I recall...long ago... that you can buy a rebuild kit for this assembly, as the most common issue with this is the nylon cord that is fastened to the mast, driven by gears that spools the nylon antenna cord up and down by the motor, breaks...leaving your antenna motor to run for an eternity unless you unplug it at the relay under the dash.

Ok, so I got the junkyard antenna assy for 7 bucks, order a mast\tube assy for 25.00, part number 22109894, thinking this is the kit as this is the only thing available for my car ( 89 Formie\Firebird) that fits the bill.

Well, needless to say I got a mast alright but no friggin nylon tube lol.

So I call the dealer back and he informs me that this is all there is for this assembly. Since my contact at the dealership is a friend, , I know he is being honest. Also, the way the motor assembly was built it should have the words "no user serviceable part inside" as this sucker is rivited together.

Anyway, I found a way to fix it... if the mast is in one piece and just the nylon cable is broken.
Or if your mast is trashed, as mine was( lower portion only.. as the very top part must be in good shape) you can use this fix and the part number above.

It takes some finese and some weed whacker line lol...but it works. Im back in business and it only took me an hour to fix. basically, after disassembling, you just heat up the metal ends that contain the old line, remove it, reheat the metal pieces and insert the weed whacker line in place of the old line. Cool down and assemble.

Let me know if anyone is interested in the full details and I will post. ( would be better with pictures but I didnt think to snap any at the time I had it appart)

Additionally...
If there is something that my friend has missed regarding a rebuild kit with the line attached Im curious to know if someone has any info..

Thanks,

Matt

mean57

that's usin your noggin . good repair.

3.8TransAM

Nice and I just thought u were a puter guy! :-P lol

Sounds about like what happened to my GTA's motor.

I bought the suck it all replacement(dont recommend) but I kept the original, sounds like I'll take it apart and have u rebuild it :-)

Good work

later
Jeremy

chickenhawk

Thanks guys,

I still havent sealed it up yet, The clips are on as I wanted to test the fruits of my labor... but I was planning to put some sealant around the outer edge of the entire assembly to keep the weather out. When I get a chance I will take some pictures and post them to show what I did.

Jeremy, one of these days I will hook up with you and grab those lights. lol

Im not worried about them, but fixing your antenna would be another good excuse for me to get you the cash for those.

Bryceman

iTrader: (1)

Do you have a photo of how you did this? From what I gathered, you heated the metal end (which goes in the gear) and pulled the line from that. However, how do you get the line to hold onto the mast?

chickenhawk

No... Sorry I dont have a photo as i forgot to bring my camera to the shop as I hurried to get it ready for the upcomming thirdgen show.

Basically, i heated the 100mm tip of the antenna, and the metal end in the drive gear as well, to remove the old nylon cord and reseat the new cord.

The mod from this board, Jeremy, said he had one to fix... i will PM him to bring it to the fest and take some pictures if hes willing to let me work on it there as I did indicate that I would post some pics but in haste, forgot to bring my camera.

chickenhawk

Its important also to note that the line you use is important as the way the motor turns off is by way of tension the nylon line creates at the end of its travel ( up or down ) There is a worm gear married to a switch assy that is actuated by the tension created by the nylon cord.

In short, dont use the thin, multi facited weed whacker line. I purchased a spool of the smooth, fat, round stuff (.130" made by STIHL part# 000-930-2577) It was slightly bigger than the i.d. ends of the antenna pieces it was to be inserted in, but I wanted something that would stand up to the abuse and made it work without much trouble at all.

The first stuff I tried was some .095" Grass Gator, orange,multi-sided crap.. It worked to prove I could do it but I knew it would not stand up to much abuse and would have the tendancy to bind and fold if used to often so I went to an authorized STIHL dealer and picked up some of the good stuff as all the other hardware stores ( Home Depot, ACE, Menards, True value) had nothing but the small multi-sided stuff.

I think it was like 15.00 bucks for 155' spool. LOL.... I could do hundrends of these, if I wanted, with the line I have now.

Regards,

Matt

Apeiron

What you actually wanted was a 22038195.

chickenhawk

Ok... Thanks... I did a search on that number and the details are sketchy regarding what that part number includes..

I would guess it would have the mast and the nylon cable but does it have the metal tube that the mast is seated in? that would make this an awesome kit if so.


If not, does it come with the plastic 11mm 12 pt retainer that holds the mast in the metal tube?

chickenhawk

Nevermind I found my answer.. Quote from another post... "The "kit" consists of the top most part of the mast and the drive cable atatched to it, costs about $20"
So It containts the 100mm top of the mast.. so If your lower mast was toast, as mine was, this kit will not work.

Still I could have bought both the mast and the cord kit and had done it a little quicker but not much as it was very easy.

In short, I spent about the same amount if I would have ordered the nylon cable kit and the mast kit but now I have an almost endless supply of cord if the problem happens again and its very easy to do So to recap...
First of all... Its important to note that if your searching application specific, as was the case for me, this part number will not show up as a workable part for your application as someone else posted that " Part#22038195 is listed as a cable for 1982-1985 Camaro only.. But indeed it does work for many others..

Secondly,
If your mast is toast you need kit#22109894 If your mast is ok but your cable is toast you need kit#22038195..
If both are toast.. as was in my case, you need both kit numbers. Or if your cable is toast...you can be a little inventive,like myself, and use some comercial quality weed whacker line

Cheers!!

IROCKman

Hi there,I saw your post and decided to fix my powerantenna on my 87 iroc.So i went to chev dealer andordered part#22038195 top mast and cable for 86-89camero,installed and it seemed to work ok,but the nextmorning my new battery was dead.Anyone have this problem? Thanks irockman

Guest

bump

chickenhawk

Well I'm three years late responding.. lol Hope you didnt keep replacing batteries..
I have long since sold my bird so I dont get on here even half as often as I used to..

As stated before, the antenna must have the appropriate tension when at the end of travel to actuate the internal switch..( Up or Down) or the motor will continue to run and toast the battery...

The lack of appropriate tension could be caused by the metal antenna mast binding.. or the plastic cord that extends the metal mast binding. I suppose the switch could be taost as well but mine wasnt an issue and it was as worn and as old as many others I have seen..

Only way to know for certain is to take it apart like I did..

Matt

87 Trans Am

iTrader: (1)

If you have the complete instructions on how to do this with weed wacker line I would greatly appreciate it. Can't get the part any longer, GM has discontinued and I need to fix the power antenna. The motor runs and runs and the antenna just stays in the up position. The car is an 87 Trans. It's in mint condition with this and the spoiler being problems. Should have know something was amiss when I picked it up from storing it in a guys heated basement and he had tools out!! LOL

RJ_Moore

Hi, can you tell me how to install a power antenna GM, in my 85 Camaro, the mast sucks, so I trashed it and want to get the power antenna in.


Seems like you and the others don't have any problem install power antennae into a Camaro, my installer can't get it to fit, but then the tire is still on, inner liner out, but can not get it to fit.

Can you help? Richard.

NCC-2569

iTrader: (1)

I'd recommend removing the wheel for more clearance.
Perhaps you're able to get the antenna in then, if not already done.

Guys... how hot does that antenna tip need to be to get that plastic wire loose?
I used my lighter and the tip started to smoke... possibly dirt or some glue...
but even with pliers the wire would not come out.

Ok... after viewing some pics of different antenna masts I came to the conclusion to apply heat to the LOWER part of the thinnest mast.
This part is inside the next thicker one, so you'll have to hold the mast upside down and heat up the area where those two mast parts meet.
After a while you'll notice a bubbling sound coming from the open end of the mast and that's when you pull out the string.
For the metal end of the string just hold it with some pliers and heat it up until it bubbles and pull it out.
Use some metal wire to push the molten rest out and heat up repeatedly until the tube is clear.

Perhaps I'll go at this with the trimmer wire some day... I found the discontinued repair kit on eBay the other day so I don't HAVE to do this now.

alphaenvirmgt

chickenhawk,
You still here? Would you sell me some of the Stihl line? I really don't want to buy 150' of this stuff.
Conrad

RJ_Moore

Found a solution, got a new GM power antenna which fits, and gave it to a BestBuy installer, and voila! one new GM Power antenna installed!

Now on to the 1987 IROC front fender emblems, new seat upholstery and headliner.

Richard

Update: Got my upholstery kits for both Camaros, also headliner kits, and carpets for my IROC. The 85 is finished and waiting on a new engine for the 87 IROC. Getting the engine bay done in the meantime, and hope to have all paint processes complete by next week, along with the stripes and decals for the IROC and stripes for the Base.

Also taking the 85 in for new stock equalizer radio, overhead console and underbody 7 color LED sound activated light system.

y84pauloflondon

RJ Moore- which GM car does your NEW antenna come from??? Or do you have a part # for it at least?????

RJ_Moore

The two GM antennae I got were from ThirdGenRacnch, contact dennyb@thirdgenranch.com, they may have been the last two he had, but check him out for others. I have the two 3rd Gen Camaro, one base sport coupe modified with after market GFX and a 1987 IROC 5 speed.

I am going to 'brand' the 85 modified Camaro as the 'Decepticon' because it is a VIN Base, but I am modifying to dress it up and reflect the changes, because it now looks like other than the Base, mostly due to the GFX aftermarket for the Camaro Base, which I have had installed. Two GFX side rocker covers have to be replaced because the Dr. Xenon sent a mismatched pair and did not fit right.

Richard.