850 Antenna Mast Won't Pull Out

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 18 Feb 2009, 18:56

The ferrule should fit inside of the hole on the top of the main housing that you thread the final nut onto. It should slide right into place with very little resistance. If you have a lot of corrosion on the top of the main antenna housing off of the motor assembly it would be worth your time to clean it up before replacing the mast.

God forbid that I ever reveal that, as a Volvo owner, I actually own firearms but the round brush for the barrel of a .22 looks to be about the right size to scrub the corrosion out with along with some WD40 to help break the corrosion up.

...Lee

Post by **JimBee** » 18 Feb 2009, 19:17

Thanks, Lee, I think I've got it now!

db130 · Post by **db130** » 21 Feb 2009, 15:51

JimBee,

were you able to pull out the mast? I walked past my original power antenna in my basement today and for laughs and giggles I tried pulling out the mast using the "slide hammer" method previously suggested. The sleeve portion of the mast came out on the 3rd try.

looks like i'll definitely be picking up a new replacement mast so i can have a spare working power antenna in my parts collection.

Saratoga850 · Post by **Saratoga850** » 09 May 2009, 17:24

Two 'words': PB Blaster. This corrosion buster finally broke the antenna mast and ferrule free from the housing and allowed me to pull the old mast free, with ferrule, which is actually a bit of copper or brass at the top of a metal sleeve the mast slides into and then drops inside the housing (arghhhh). All this with the whole housing out of the vehicle and piece of junk after-market antenna on the car for two years while I figured it out.
So here's the maddening part:
Why are there two set screws in the large silver tube that carries the brass threaded piece through the fender, the connector for the antenna lead and seat for the ferrule? It is impossible to dislodge from the black motor housing, so impossible to replace the little white plastic slotted boot that comes with after-market mast replacements. Ignore that part or trying to remove that housing. I wasted a year trying to figure it out.
The good news: I had every dang piece of that antenna mount apart, down to the tiny brass (?) gears in the motor. So it's nice and clean.
In the end, the big problem was getting the ferrule and sleeve out of the housing. Did my best to deform the zinc and brass, but thank goodness it's tougher than me and my tools. PB Blaster. Pull out the bad mast, put the new one thru the sleeve, drop it into the big tube and let the motor suck down the plastic lead as described elsewhere.
Cheers.

arsenal6 · Post by **arsenal6** » 25 May 2010, 13:38

can i replace it with a different antenna? Like the rubber cover ones in the new cars

jreidko · Post by **jreidko** » 09 Oct 2010, 16:32

Had a very similar experience to Saratoga850. The telescoping antenna mast itself has a short outer sleeve that fits into the top of the antenna mast housing. On my busted antenna mast it was fused solid inside the housing. With some vice grips and lot of yanking the telescoping mast finally came out but the sleeve remained in the housing along with a few bits off the bottom of the old mast.

I too could find no way to get that dang antenna mast housing out of the black plastic sleeve it sits in on the top of the antenna motor assembly. I tried pulling/twisting with vice grips with the whole assembly in a vice to no avail. I'm just glad i didn't break it.

Long story short, the right size drill bit allowed me to drill out the old antenna sleeve bit and then i used a hack saw to cut the antenna housing in half. After dumping out the old bits of mast i used a worm drive hose clamp to hold the two halves of the antenna mast housing together. Because the motor portion is bolted to the frame and the top of the antenna assembly is mounted to the outside of the car the whole thing is pretty rigid even thought it's sawed in half.

aviator5356 · Post by **aviator5356** » 23 Sep 2015, 05:34

Heads - up. I too had to yank the mast out because the retainer sleeve was corroded on the mast. Be careful , or you may lose one of the white gear sprockets inside the motor !!! If you have the motor apart (need to because many times the plastic gear strip is broken). I put the tip of the mast in a vise, grabbed the motor assembly and yanked like a sliding hammer straight up REALLY hard several times to get the mast (and retainer sleeve) to come out of the tube! It did finally come out, HOWEVER, in the process, I lost one of the plastic gears in the motor housing area !! I didn't realize they slid straight off so easily ! Yank harder ... and smarter ?

aviator5356 · Post by **aviator5356** » 24 Feb 2016, 05:22

Yes, as described above, the sleeve that slides over the mast and seats at the top of the tube is a beast getting out. This is because the sleeve can "seize" slightly on the mast/tube area from moisture/corrosion. ('96; 850 ). I did successfully change the mast assembly, BUT, I had to resort to taking out the entire motor assembly and mast as a unit ... only after unsuccessfully trying to "pry", pull, twist the sleeve out. My success of getting that nasty sleeve out was: I clamped the tip of the mast in a vise and held the motor assembly, then yanked hard, using the motor assembly as a "slide hammer of sorts. I was not worried about damaging the mast or sleeve as I was ONLY replacing the mast (which came with a new sleeve). My original problem ..the mast had a broken plastic drive cable which the motor uses to push/pull the mast. The slide hammer concept works, because, as someone mentioned earlier, the bottom of the mast flares out which the sleeve bottoms out on. Bottom line, the sleeve and mast WILL come out of the tube ! Yank harder .. not smarter !? good luck

Post by **abscate** » 24 Feb 2016, 07:14

Ozark Lee wrote:The ferrule should fit inside of the hole on the top of the main housing that you thread the final nut onto. It should slide right into place with very little resistance. If you have a lot of corrosion on the top of the main antenna housing off of the motor assembly it would be worth your time to clean it up before replacing the mast.

God forbid that I ever reveal that, as a Volvo owner, I actually own firearms but the round brush for the barrel of a .22 looks to be about the right size to scrub the corrosion out with along with some WD40 to help break the corrosion up.

...Lee

Its a little known fact that the Second Amendment impares the ability of both the bearing of arms and the ability to boost to 16 psi.

Post by **abscate** » 24 Feb 2016, 07:15

abscate wrote:
Ozark Lee wrote:The ferrule should fit inside of the hole on the top of the main housing that you thread the final nut onto. It should slide right into place with very little resistance. If you have a lot of corrosion on the top of the main antenna housing off of the motor assembly it would be worth your time to clean it up before replacing the mast.

God forbid that I ever reveal that, as a Volvo owner, I actually own firearms but the round brush for the barrel of a .22 looks to be about the right size to scrub the corrosion out with along with some WD40 to help break the corrosion up.

...Lee

Its a little known fact that the Second Amendment promises the right to both the bearing of arms and the ability to boost to 16 psi.

850 Antenna Mast Won't Pull Out

Re: 850 Antenna Mast Won't Pull Out