Power Antenna Mast Replacement
Note: This applies to LX450s and late '96 and on Land Cruisers only.
The Series 80 power antenna is prone to fail - the inner serrated cable snaps and you are left with an antenna mast that is stuck part way up. You can temporarily retract the mast by removing the lower nut and mast assembly, cutting off the remaining stub of cable, and reassembling. You now have a manual antenna - better than nothing..... Here is the real fix.
Materials needed - List/ Net Prices from "cruiserdan" at American Toyota, Albuquerque NM, 1-800-432-6668
MO16 Rod sub-assembly P/N 86337-60080 $47.88 $35.58 OR the following....
Antenna assembly complete Well over $200 Net
General purpose grease (White lithium or equivalent)
Mild solvent: isopropyl alcohol or another solvent that is safe for plastics. NOT brake cleaner!
One 7 inch (medium width) nylon wire tie.
PROCEDURE:
If the motor is working ok, a simple mast replacement will save you about $170. If the entire antenna assembly has to be replaced, plan on major disassembly of the dash so that you can remove and re-install the coax through the firewall and connect it to the radio. A mast replacement does not require removing the coax! In theory it can be done without removing and disassembling the lower assembly IF you can retrieve the broken off piece of cable. I was unable to get mine out, or even see it, for that matter....
Remove the chromed base nut, using circlip or needle-nosed pliers. Raise the nut a few inches away from the threads - this is the upper attachment for the antenna assembly. Remove the old mast and pry off the base nut from the plastic grommet.
Open the hood and remove the plastic cover from the cruise control servo. Lift straight up to release the three clips.
The target area. Remove the three 14
mm headed bolts securing the black cruise control servo bracket - two at the top
and one at the bottom. Swing the unit inboard to give yourself some working room
- you don't need to disconnect any wires or the cable. Remove the Fuel Pump
Resistor (silver finned
electrical doodad) by removing the one mounting bolt,
and lay the Resistor on the fender. A couple of inches below the irregular opening
you will find a single 12 mm headed bolt. This is the lower mounting bolt for
the antenna. Remove the bolt. Mine was stripped, and it took some gentle prying
on the bracket with a flat bladed screwdriver and a lot of muttering to remove it. (The bracket was ok - the bolt threads were
toast.) If your bolt spins, and you can't persuade it to unscrew with some
leverage, you will have to grab it with small vice grip pliers and drill off the
head. The OEM bolt is quite soft, probably to protect the threads in the
bracket.
The antenna assembly can be fiddled around
inside the hole without removing any wires or the coax from the radio.
Unfortunately there appears to be no way to get the entire thing out of the
hole, so wiggle it so that the plated bracket is exposed as shown. This will
allow access to the two Philips screws holding the bracket to the housing.
Remove the screws and bracket.
Here is the antenna assembly removed from
the cavity, and the bracket you had to remove in the previous step. Note the two
ground wires that were under the forward screw - these both must go back during
reassembly or the motor may not work! The wires going to the center of the
housing are for the position sensor. The next step calls for removing the
following:
Four self tapping screws (in recessed holes) around the outside perimeter of the plastic cover
One machine screw holding the other end of the ground jumper wire to the motor
One machine screw going dead center through the middle of the housing. CAUTION! There is a small nut held captive in a recess on the other side. You will need to hold a small blunt tool into the rear cavity to keep the nut in place, and be very careful not to drop the nut. Mine rolled under the front tire....
Cut the nylon wire tie securing the position harness to the housing.
The cover is sealed with some sort of
flexible, VERY sticky rubber weatherseal material. Pry carefully around the
perimeter of the cover until it pops free, revealing this. The white "wheel" is
the spool that collects the mast cable when the mast is retracted. You can see
the lower 3/4 of my broken cable wound up in the spool. The proper position of
the spool for reassembly is actually inside the cover on the right. Note the
gloppy hardened grease, which needs to be removed using rags and a mild solvent.
The rubber sealant is also a real mess, and should be removed using a small
screwdriver or scraper. Since there is a drain at the bottom of the housing, and
the whole thing is well protected inside the fender, I saw no reason to reseal
the housing. If you routinely ford deep water, consider sealing the housing.
Close-up of the spool. This side has a small
lip - the other side has none. Normally the cable would extend down the mast (at
the bottom of the picture) past the motor gear drive and wind counterclockwise
into the spool. It would exit into view at about the 2:00 position, if it were
intact. The circular contact ring in the center of the housing rotates past the
position sensor in the cover, allowing you to position the mast using the Up/
Down buttons on the dash. I'm not exactly sure how the circuit works....
The cable remnant removed from the spool.
Wipe down all the parts. For
this pic I re-inserted the spool into the cover to show how everything goes
together. The spool should still be removed for the next step.
Grease the entire inside of the housing,
cover and spool, with a moderate amount (not packed!) of general purpose grease
and insert the spool into the cover, with the lip facing away from you. The
grease will hold the spool in place during reassembly. Do NOT try to install the
mast until after the cover is fully reassembled. If you wish to seal the cover,
use a non-hardening sealer and carefully lay a narrow strip into the
groove in the housing. I was going to use clay "strip caulk" but I couldn't find
any, so I left out the sealer entirely.
Reinstall the cover/ spool assembly
and the four self-tapping screws. Connect the ground jumper wire to the motor.
The center machine screw and nut are not yet installed in this pic. Be careful
not to lose the nut! Note the three wire terminals, which should be polished to
bright metal with sandpaper or ScotchBrite. Secure the position sensor harness
with a wire tie.
Wiggle the antenna assembly back into the hole, and reinstall the mounting bracket. Be careful to connect both ground wires to the forward screw. Position the antenna assembly vertically and install the lower mounting bolt. Visually align the upper mast extension into the center of the hole in the upper fender, and tighten the lower bolt.
The new mast assembly sits next to the old
one, showing the "sort-off" flexible cogged cable. The retaining nut sits above
the two masts. Install the nut onto the new mast. Grease the full length of the
cable and extend the mast fully. You need a helper for the next step.
Turn on the key and radio, and ensure the motor is positioned in the full "Up" position, using the Up/ Down buttons. Hold the new mast into position with the cogs facing the drive motor (straight to the back of the truck) and insert the cable until you feel it bottom on the drive gear. Have your helper bump the "Down" button and feed in the cable smoothly. When the mast starts to retract, have the helper release the button. Push the lower part of the mast into the extension and screw down the nut part way (a few turns). Test the operation - verify that the mast will run through the entire range of travel, and that the mast can be positioned manually anywhere through its range of travel, and that it will auto-extend and auto-retract correctly.
If everything works, secure the mast nut, reinstall the cruise servo, cover and the Fuel Pump Resistor. If it doesn't work right, I have no idea..... Go have a beer and hope this won't be necessary for another ten years.