Power antenna replacement

Many SHOs are equipped with a power antenna, and some experience failure. It is not necessary to remove the fender in order to replace the antenna. Here's the procedure:

There is a fitting that the antenna slides through. It's a cylinder with a nut on top that the antenna goes through. There is a special socket or wrench that removes the top nut. If you are careful you can use a pair of channel locks to take it off. Since it is down on the fender just a little, you must be careful with the channel locks not to unscrew the nut too far in a single grip action. If you do, the channel locks will hit the fender and scratch the paint. Once the nut is off, you need two people. Have one person turn the radio on if the antenna goes up automatically or push the up switch if manual. The second person will grip the antenna an pull it out. The antenna has a flange on the bottom of it (which the nut you took off holds down) and a toothed plastic cord in the center. I works much like the old STP racers we had as kids. Check to see if the plastic is broken. If the antenna doesn't go down at all, once the nut is taken off the antenna should be able to be pulled out. To get the plastic out, get the motor to move to the up position and have the other person pull it out. Reverse the procedure to put a new antenna in.

If you have problems removing all of the old cord, or if the new antenna doesn't retract fully, follow these instructions to go deeper into the assembly (Thanks to Brian Peters) :

Tools needed:

- 14 mm deep socket (make sure its a thin wall to get down into mast well)

- #2 Phillips screwdriver

- small vise grips (for push pin removal)

- small extending mirror is helpful to see acorn nut on clamshell although the assembly can be twisted quite a bit towards you in order to see.

Remove spanner nut (I used snap ring pliers as a spanner wrench) and stantion, then 14 mm deep socket to remove inner nut. Raise mast and pull up on mast to release drive cord from motor assembly.

Remove pass front wheel.

Remove enough phillips screws and push-lock pins to pull back the fender splash liner to expose the assembly. There is a 7mm acorn nut on the back of the clamshell(side toward engine) that holds the wound drive cord. Remove it and you'll find the broken piece of nylon cord wrapped inside the hub. Simply remove it, replace the hub and cover assembly, reinstall the new mast from above and you're done. 45 minutes tops!! Install new mast assembly. Run the antenna up and down a few times.

This one is real easy even for a non-mechanically inclined person. I would give this repair a SHO degree of difficulty 1.5. By comparison I would give a tire change a 0.5 and strut replacement a 5.0.