symptom: The first thickest section of the mast does not retract.
Remove mast - unbolt the top screw at the base of the mast. Switch on radio and quickly got to the back and pull the whole mast out.
Examine- any loss teeth on the nylon white strap. Spray lots of silicone into the mast. Hit the mast on the ground till the unretracted portion get into. repeat lunbrication and rotate the section till it gets smooth to retract.
Reinsert mast with teeth pointing bottom. Switch off radio and the gear with catch the nylon strap. Retraction complete and tighten the screw.
It should take less than 10mins. But the red straw on the silicone can sprayer dropped into motor "black hole" accidentally and I need to dissemble the whole thing. And found the gear/ motor inside was all filled with firts and soots. Clean it and re-lubricate that with grease. The motor now sounds complete silence.
Also, clean with a light solvent and move the mast up and down until there isn't any more dirt, grime, rust , etc. Then apply the grease afterwards. Works great.
Preventative Maintenance for those looking for more things to do to their car to keep it looing new! Other than that, if the mast is noisy or dirty this will fix it right up.
FOr preventive sake, it seems reasonable to clean the mast monthly. The fact is that eventually dirts will accumulate enough into the mast after repeated retraction and extension. With such dirty air in our city, I will wipe the mast every 2 weeks...if I keep my words. [xx(]
A good substitute to silicone grease is something called white lightning. Its a self cleaning chain lube used by cyclist. Cheap silicone grease will pick up dust and start to clog. This stuff doesn't do that. I wipe my antenna clean with it every 3 months and it stays put in heavy rain or snow with the antenna up.
If there is a bicycle store near you they'll have it.
Good stuff! It will stop the sound coming from your antennna in no time. If off road bicyclist use it you can be sure it will stand up to anything you throw on your antenna. You can put as much as you want on (not neccessary) and it will never clog
Linear Mode
