lubricating motorized antenna mast

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2001 Toyota Sequoia. It has the motorized antenna mast. I am posting here to get some assistance on lubricating this mast. I used silicone spray and apparently it froze because the antenna won't go up but about 4-5" when the weather is below freezing. it works just fine any other time so I know it's not the motor. So, I need to clean off all the grease and silicone and then lubricate it with the correct lubricant. My two questions are;

1) What is best to clean this old grease and silicone off?

2) What is best to lubricate the mast with for all temp operation?

Thank you in advance for any assistance you are able to provide.
 
Most likely gear teeth on the antenna mast stripped. Happened to me on a celica before. Can usually replace for less than 40.00.
 
The teeth are not stripped. Did you have any feedback on how best to clean and lubricate the mast?

Thank you.
 
Clean the antenna thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol and lubricate it with nothing. The antenna is not meant to ever be lubricated. If it ever hangs up or moves slowly, it should only be cleaned with alcohol.
 
since it is not the teeth make sure that the entire length of the mast, including guide teeth and the motor drive gear are clean and lube free.
 
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I get carried away sometimes. lol I was lubing up the door and trunk hinges and other misc. stuff and saw that antenna just looking at me all dry and dirty. So I wiped it off and gave her a nice coat of silicone! What could go wrong I thot? 2 days later, 9 degree weather and I had to drive to work either listening to my own thoughts or the what the current price of hogs were. It was then I knew we had a problem.
 
Any lubricant that leaves a film will attract dirt. I kept a motorized antenna mast working for many years on a Honda using an occasional light coating of Teflon DRY lubricant. If you use that you'll want to clean the mast with solvent before applying each time.

Eventually, though, the plastic strip inside broke on a very cold day when the car was about 20+ years old. At that point I replaced it with a manual antenna.

I do not like power antennas, actually.
 
I liked the antenna I had on the roof. It was rear swept and could be adjusted while going down the road by just rolling down the window and adjusting to retracted up to full extension.


The spiral antennas on my vehicles now seem great. I dont notice wind noise nor do they ever really get in the way.


Man, the power antennas are bad like auto headlights. Turn my key to run, the headlights appear, then I crank it and they disappear, then the car starts and they appear again. A whole lot of wasted something.......circuits, relays, aggravation......just senseless non-sense.
 
I could live with the ones that extended when the radio was powered up, but hated the ones where it was connected to the ignition. The best were the mid 1970s Lincolns, which actually had a dash switch, just like a power window switch, to retract or extend the antenna.
 
I share the pain on the Sequoia antenna. Some days it was fine, other days it would go halfway, on really cold days it wouldnt go anywhere at all...

I found the best solution is, on a day it goes all the way up, clean it thoroughly, until its shiny and grit free, with a clean rag using either alcohol or WD-40. Then clean it again, then wipe it completely dry and free of any residue. Don't oil it or use any type of spray lube after cleaning it. Do this every few months and it will work well.
 
I always clean with WD40 until no dirt on mast and just leave what is behind and have found ice and snow doesn't stick to them and just do this anytime a car is being worked on and it seems to work good
 
Yah, WD 40
grin2.gif
 
Clean with alcohol and then spray & wipe with Boeshield B9. Reapply annually.
 
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