camry 1995: motorized antenna mast replacement

Hi, I have got new mast and atempted replacement but during the work I noticed that the new mast has much longer band with teeth than the old one. It is possible, that the piece of the cable with teeth broke from the old one and stayed in the antenna motor assembly...

Is there any access to this broken piece? Do I even have to worry about it, or just put the new one in and leave the broken piece in?

Reply to
Pszemol
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If you look at the ball at the top of the antenna, it should have a flattened off part just under the ball. By gripping this with pliers and turning the antenna, you should be able to unscrew the ball and remove anything left behind. At least, that's the way it was on two of my Toyotas with broken antennas (I hate the damn things!)

Reply to
Hachiroku

I have no idea what are you talking about... :-) I asked how to remove broken piece of the plastic toothed band which stayed inside the motor assembly after removing antenna.

I have figured out how to do it myself yesterday: just took off the carpet padding on the right side of the trunk and everything was clear: two nuts securing the motor assembly, so I took this off... Then there is a black plastic cover in round shape enclosing spool which is used to wind the toothed cable - after opening this enclosure I found the broken piece of the cable there...

Antenna is fixed and works now better than before it got damaged :-)

Thanks!

Reply to
Pszemol

Give it a month......... dave

Reply to
videokid400

Oh. Usually when they break, they break at the top of the antenna where the ball is. I've had three of them do that to me. You got lucky!

Reply to
Hachiroku

e in message

like i said , give it a month.You actually need a factory tool to set the mast timing. regards, dave

Reply to
videokid400

Where/when did you say it? :-)

I was under impression that the motor can feel the resistance and stops. That is why antenna mast does not extend fully or not colapses fully when the mast is dirty and hard to slide...

Reply to
Pszemol

When it would break ta the top it should not be the problem: I would unscrew the nut securing the mast to the car body and then turn on the radio. Extending plastic toothed cord would push the whole mast up and you could remove everything. This would leave empty motor assembly where you would slide new mast with new toothed cable attached.

Reply to
Pszemol

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@e65g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...

Not exactly, and I said give it a month 6 posts ago. We no longer fit mast assys for pour customers ,the failure rate is far to great. The common cause of failure for us is sticky power control relays, but Toyota in their wisdom can not supply these over here, you can only buy the antenna assy.We are looking now at ways around this ,but using a standard bosch or narva relay seems to cause a coil resistance issue with the radio .........when we find the awnser ill post it. dave

Reply to
videokid400

Yes, that is how it works. There is no timing to set, the motor senses the resistance and stops.

I didn't realize how easy it was to change the mast as long as there was no broken plastic left inside, and disassembled the housing needlessly. Replacement is very easy if there is no broken section inside.

Reply to
SMS

So what the hell Dave is talking about???

Reply to
Pszemol

Now I see it.

Who is "we" ? Are you a part of some repair shop?

Dave, could you please tell me what timer setting you were talking about in your previous text?

Reply to
Pszemol

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@b58g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

your previous text?

WE is me, I guess I own a workshop and employ 6 full time mechanics and 1 dyno tune mechanic.We specialise in Toyota and Subaru. I, and all of my staff are factory trained and have various post trade qualifications. Timing the mast relates to the position of the nylon gear ribbon when it is installed into the motor.stop start function of the antenna relies on this. dave

Reply to
videokid400

So how the hell does a brush type motor sense resistance????? I must have been away the day the taught that. If what you mean is the system is operated by a current sensative relay ........well thats very roughly how it works. dave

Reply to
videokid400

If the device senses increase in current consumption by the motor than there is no timing involved. Time for turning off the motor is determined by the mast causing resistance to the movement, not specified number of seconds. Makes much more sense than timing.

Reply to
Pszemol

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@r3g2000prh.googlegroups.com...

Ill just give up now, Spose someone should tell Toyota that the tool they sell is not required, VERY basic engineering would sugest that a ribbon gear set 1 or 2 teeth either way from its stop or idle position is going to strss the mast.But hey what would I know ive probobly only fitted 200 of them.

Reply to
videokid400

Hmmm..I have an Auto Down switch for my driver's window in my Supra that I modified to Auto-Up (it involves removing a tab that keeps the Up position from locking..that's all) I don't understand full how it works, but in either up or down mode, the window goes to full stop and the switch clicks off. I imagine this is the same method they use for the antenna. It must work on either current or voltage (current would increase once the stop is reached, or voltage would drop...)

Reply to
Hachiroku

You are correct, the load sensing is done by a relay and a load sensing circuit NOT BY THE MOTOR, load sensing brush motor , again HOW??? anyway like i said I give up here. dave

Reply to
videokid400

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@r3g2000prh.googlegroups.com...

What is the toyota catalog name/number of this special tool?

You give all this talk about your experience but you are unable to answer simple question I asked before...

Where is this time set - any screw somewhere?

Basic engineering would suggest rather that a fixed timer is NOT very good idea... Measuring time only we still do not know if the mast is fully extended or just 80%... A timer preciselly set for one given condition would be different than time required to pull the mast in a different condition. This is a DC motor which will heavly depend on the voltage in the system (12V or below when the engine is stopped or 14.5V when engine is running) so the time needed to extend mast when engine is working will be different than the time needed for the same operation when is not working. Slight resistance in the mast movement would also slow down everything and the fixed time would be USELESS.

Can you explain my doubts with your great experience? Why is it so hard for you to explain such a simple stuff?

Reply to
Pszemol

You could have the limit switch detecting position of the window there... But it would not be safe in case your kid/dog put the head in the window and press the switch to roll the window up... So all modern cars have mechanism which detects resistance in the window movement and cut of the power from the electric motor in the event of window getting stuck before they cut your kid's head away... :-(

Reply to
Pszemol

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