Power antenna mast replacement question - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

snwcmpr · 03-15-2009, 01:05 PM

I am replacing the ELECTRIC antenna mast on a 95 T-100 SR5.
I have taken some of the screws holding the trim to the fenderwell.
But ... the fenderwell has clips holding it onto the fender, and I don't want to pull the fenderwell over the clips.
How can I undo the clips to remove the fenderwell to get to the mast to check for (and remove) any broken off pieces in there?

Ken
Waynesville, NC

snwcmpr · 03-20-2009, 09:16 AM

Please respond if you can provide an answer to this question.
I am posting a reply to bump this to the top of the forum.
Thanks,
Ken

robiewp · 03-20-2009, 10:43 AM

Ken,
the head of the clip will have an inner and an outer head. Use a small flat head, needle nose plyers, whatever, to pry the center head upward. The way these clips work is the inner part slides into the outer part making the outer part wider. Once the head has popped up the whole clip can just be pulled out.

Chances are, though, that you'll break a ton of them. if you look around on line you should be able to find some cheap. When I had to remove my fender liner I just broke most of them off.

snwcmpr · 03-20-2009, 10:25 PM

Thanks, I will look at them tomorrow.

epe · 03-20-2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robiewp

Ken,
the head of the clip will have an inner and an outer head. Use a small flat head, needle nose plyers, whatever, to pry the center head upward. The way these clips work is the inner part slides into the outer part making the outer part wider. Once the head has popped up the whole clip can just be pulled out.

Chances are, though, that you'll break a ton of them. if you look around on line you should be able to find some cheap. When I had to remove my fender liner I just broke most of them off.

What site did you find yours at? Do they have to toyota specific? If not, what size are they? Thanks..

robiewp · 03-20-2009, 11:41 PM

I went on ebay and searched for "toyota fender clips" and then bought the ones that looked right. I'm sure there are many makers of clips that will fit; I just used this method to increase the likelihood i'd get the right thing. I can't say whether one type will fit or not, I may have just lucked out when I ordered. I ordered the type I described in my post, which now that I think of it may not even have been the same as the ones I broke off... I'm sure this was very little help, but it's what I can offer!

93T100Cook · 03-23-2009, 10:10 AM

How did you get to the antenna motor? Is it from underneath the tire well?

snwcmpr · 03-26-2009, 09:20 AM

"How did you get to the antenna motor? Is it from underneath the tire well?"

Yes, I got the mud flap off.
Then I started to take the fenderwell off, but the clips I mentioned, wouldn't allow me to remove them, without deforming the fenderwell holes, by pulling it over the clips. (I now see there is a way to release them, as noted in the earlier post, but I had already done it by then.)
I undid the fender bolts all around and pulled it away from the frame enough to get my hands in there.
I pulled the plastic sheet, covering the motor, up, and exposed the motor.
I undid the one screw holding the antenna motor onto the frame, unplugged the electrical clip, and the whole thing pulled away.
I took off the 4 or 5 screws holding the assembly together, opened it up, pulled out the old broken piece of plastic.
And put it all back together.

I hope that helps.

93T100Cook · 03-26-2009, 09:24 AM

I got the motor unplugged. I took off the plastic covering the underside of the the wheel well and just disconnected the relay. The antenna was broke anyway and I just needed the motor to quit running.

Thanks for the help man!!

93t100

snwcmpr · 03-26-2009, 11:10 AM

If there is a broken piece of plastic "gear" material, and that is taken out, then it is simply a matter of inserting the replacement antenna into the opening, while the motor has the drive in the "UP" position.
Then turning the radio "OFF". This drops the antenna down.
The antenna was only 38 dollars at Toyota dealer.

Ken

bixnix · 01-07-2012, 10:01 PM

Just thought I'd add some help for anyone who's changing their power antenna mast and has a broken gear strip, as this thread had helped me already.

I was getting the grinding sound like the plastic gear strip was stripped, so I took off the chrome "nut" off of the antenna and pulled my antenna. The gear strip looked worn down, so I figured that all I needed was a new antenna.

The dealers didn't have just the antenna anymore, and neither did O'Reilly's and Autozone. Autozone tried giving me a "universal" antenna which didn't fit. So I found a T100 one for $26 shipped on Ebay.

This one is pretty much identical to what I had (good sign), so I tried just slipping in the strip (teeth forward), but this still gave me some grinding and it didn't retract all the way. Must be a broken strip, so I compared with my old one. Sure enough, the strip on the new one was MUCH longer.

I removed the screws on the plastic wheel well edge with a 10mm socket. The other clips came out with a screwdriver. Here's the tricky one that is mentioned in a previous post:

It's circular on the outside with nothing in the middle; pry it up from the edges and slip your needle nose pliers underneath. Note that the tabs are on two opposing corners, so squeeze it tight on the corners, not the flat, and pry it out.

You don't need to remove the entire plastic strip, just enough to get to the antenna assembly. I removed the screws and clips to about the mid-point of the wheel well and that was enough for me to get behind it.

You'll see a few bolts inside, but there's only one, the closest, holding it into the mounting bracket inside. In this picture of the removed assembly, it's the bolt on the bottom of the picture.

Now it's pretty straightfoward. You'll probably disconnect the power harness and it'll pull straight out enough for you to work on it. Remove 4 corner screws and one bolt in the middle. Note that the middle bolt has a nut on the reverse side, so don't lose track of it.

Open up and remove the broken track and you're set. Put everything back in, and you can mount the new antenna.

Total time should be 45 minutes or less for first timers. I didn't need to remove the tire or even jack the truck, though stock 2WDs may not have enough clearance to do this without jacking.

Iowa_Josh · 01-08-2012, 12:38 AM

Why mess with it and not put a standard one in?

OndrejT100 · 01-08-2012, 08:23 AM

didn't even realize there were electric ones. I need to get a shorter one, my stock one keeps getting snagged on branches and things while offroading. This made the base of the antenna loose.

Iowa_Josh · 01-08-2012, 09:13 AM

I think the 4runner guys call it ite "tacoma whip mod" where find the regular one and ditch the power one. I can see why. Mine is bent up and never moves but the motor still runs.