So I was restoring my power antenna...



I popped it open and found something interesting, the blue RTV said that someone was in there before:



I found that instead of using a plastic replacement cable it was a metal speedometer type cable.

I don't know if this was a kit available for rebuilds or if someone came up with a DIY plan. One thing is for sure, the cable will never break.

Here is the other end of the cable:



This end is just a bent tube crimped on to fit in the gear assembly, available at any hardware store. So this tube + a "HELP" brand speedometer cable repair kit and your set.

I thought it was a really , I don't remember seeing this on any rebuild threads here, so hopefully someone will find this useful.

Here was the end result:

 

Another fix....nice!

This fix has been around a while.
http://turbobuick.com/threads/how-to.../#post-2938921

 

Yup! makes you wish GM had made them that way from the get-go.

 

may have to try that, how difficult is t to remove the antenna?

 

Not hard. Remove inner fender and fish it out.

 

There is a thread here about replacing the factory nylon ribbon with a plastic coated (optional) metal cable. Same type of idea here. Was never a "kit" or repair offered through GMSPO that I know of.

I chose to have mine done. If you want to see some of the R&R steps, there are in the thread about my car (link in signature).

 

Found some old notes of mine about testing these things.

If you need to run the motor to check operation, this is how I connected mine up for testing when it was out of the car:

Down:
White wire: Pos. +
Green wire: Neg. -

Up:
Green wire: Pos. +
Grey wire: Neg. -

 

Old thread but I thought someone can advice me .... took my power antenna apart and cleaned everything out including all the old grease on / in the large plastic gear / spool to get rid of old dry stuff.

anyway what type of grease should I use when re-greasing it all ? Being plastic I just want to make sure I use the right grease as petroleum based grease would not be very good.

any recommendation much appreciated

 

I can't recall if I used dielectric grease, WD-40, or a mixture of both, but it's been years and it is still working great!

 

put a nice coating of lithium grease on the cable before inserting in the mast

 

Different plastics, but I've used Lubriplate 105 in the plastic hatch pulldown with no ill effects. This was ~30 years ago.

Last time I opened it up, I used Lubriplate SFL-0 synthetic, food grade grease. Lubriplate confirmed that it is plastic safe.

 

Anyone able to find that thread? I remember it, but cannot seem to find it.


Nevermind. Found it. For anyone else looking, here it is:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/car-...r-antenna.html