Replacing vehicle's radio antenna

[Dan Bundy]

the radio antenna on my 2000 Ford Ranger XLT snapped off a week or so ago. I was told at a car audio place it would be better to do it myself because they just "screw in and out". that may be so, but mine was an aftermarket item (not the factory antenna) so I'm not sure the threads will match if I can get to them.

I did some google searching a few days ago and one of the pages I went to said to pry off the escutcheon plate, which I tried a little bit but couldn't budge it. Not being familiar with such things, I didn't want to do more damage. anyone familiar with how this might be accomplished?

I'm hoping I can just replace the mast and not have to fish a new wire all the way to the radio. To that end, can the wires (old antenna and new one) be spliced together?

Here's a picture of how the antenna is perched on the fender of my vehicle. Thanks for any input you might provide. DB

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[George Bokros]

That looks like the stock factory escutcheon plate so it should pop off with a screw driver or perhaps a strong pocket knife. That is probably just a replacement mast so I should unscrew from the base once you can get to the hex part. The factory antenna mast has its hex above the escutcheon plate. I would take vise grips on the stub and unthread it. I would also recommend replacing with a factory mast so you do not need to take the escutcheon plate off.

I have had several Rangers over the years, have a 2011 now, and the antenna has been the same since at least 93.

George

George

[Mike Cozad]

Will a deep well socket fit down on it to get it loose?

[Dan Bundy]

thanks to both for replies.

George, does the black pry off or do I need to try down lower flush with the fender?

Mike, I hadn't thought about a deep well socket. I will take a look at that. It's pretty tight around the part of the antenna that pokes up through the hole in the plate. Socket walls might be too thick. DB

[George Bokros]

Dan just the black part pops off. The other part will likely have screws into the cowl sheet metal.

George

[Mike Henderson]

I don't know if this will work, but we used to do this on broken antennas long ago.

The way most of these were made is that there's a stub, about 1 to 1.5" long that comes out of the mount. The antenna is hollow and is pushed on to the stub and crimped at the bottom. What we used to do is take a hacksaw and carefully cut around the lowest part of the stub, where the crimp is. You want to just cut through the mast part and not cut the stub off. After you've cut all around you can work the little piece of mast off the stub. Then take the remaining mast and press it down on the stub. Usually, it's quite tight and will stay very well without crimping. I suppose you could drill a hole through the mast and stub and put a screw in if you had to, but I never had to.

Mike

[Oops, I just went and looked closely at your picture. Looks like your antenna is different than what I described. Sorry.]

[George Bokros]

Dan,

Did you get the antenna taken care of?

George

[Dan Bundy]

No, not yet. It rained most of the weekend and when it wasn't doing that I had Christmas parties to attend. I have tried a little more to pry off the escutcheon plate but I'm not doing it right or not holding my mouth right or something because I can't seem to budge it. These things are always WAY more complicated for me than for normal people. Thanks for asking. DB

[John Coloccia]

I would just grab it with vise grips and twist. Then I'd screw the new one in my hand. You probably want it loose anyway so you can take it off for car washes.