Well This Sucks...

[Odin]

So, take the Ol PW through the car wash today and some how, a thin spinning piece of cloth breaks my stubby antenna. Try to take the piece out and the sucker won't turn. So unscrew the silver retention plate on the antenna piece to try and get a better grip and WHAM! Soon as retention plate comes off, the entire antenna assembly fell into the fender... Now I can't find the damn thing to fish it out. Short of taking the fender off, which I'm not gonna do cause truck is under warranty and that piece shouldn't have fallen down in there cause I know that assembly has 2 hooks, does anyone have any ideas? Otherwise, it'll go to dealership to get taken care of.

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[Corvette427]

Crap!!!!!!

 

[Odin]

Def not what I said when it happened. Lol.

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[Hawkman]

Mine did the same thing about a year or so ago. Went thru a car wash to get the salt off my truck. Snapped off my shorty antenna and like you when I tried to remove what was left the main mount fell into the fender. Took it to the dealer, but made the mistake and told them it had the short antenna on it. They would not cover it under warranty because of that. Hint, hint tell them it was the stock antenna that broke. Cost me over $100 for them to replace the mount and whip. Promptly put another short antenna back on when I got home.

 

[Odin]

Mine did the same thing about a year or so ago. Went thru a car wash to get the salt off my truck. Snapped off my shorty antenna and like you when I tried to remove what was left the main mount fell into the fender. Took it to the dealer, but made the mistake and told them it had the short antenna on it. They would not cover it under warranty because of that. Hint, hint tell them it was the stock antenna that broke. Cost me over $100 for them to replace the mount and whip. Promptly put another short antenna back on when I got home.

Yeah, if I have to go that route, which based on your exact same experience, I won't be telling them I had the shorty. I was planning on just telling them the stock antenna broke anyways. I wish they made a shorter version of the stock. It's not as nice looking as the shorty, but if a shorty is that easy to break, is it really worth it?

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[crash68]

Pull the plastic wheel well liner down, it's a couple of screws. What's left of the antenna is in there

 

[Odin]

Pull the plastic wheel well liner down, it's a couple of screws. What's left of the antenna is in there

I wish it were that simple. The wheel well liner slips between the fender flar and fender, it's a pain to get back in once pulled out. Additionally, there are pieces which attach to the wheel well liner which allow the screws to be threaded through them. Those aren't stamped onto the liner and can shift and fall off. Plus you've got at least 2 of the past push retention clips (forget the techinal term) you have to pop out. Once that happens they are basically useless. I'm not gonna go through all that, I'll drop the truck off at the dearlship for them to mess with all that stuff. Now, if I was doing a big project which was worth it, I'd have no problem. But to simple get the antenna assembly, nah, not worth it. Was looking for a simple fix if anyone had one.

The problem is, I can't see the assembly in there, even when I stick a light in there. I figured it's dripped down near the door, I was hoping to just fish it up to where I could grab the assembly with my hand and pull it back in place

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[Hawkman]

Yeah, if I have to go that route, which based on your exact same experience, I won't be telling them I had the shorty. I was planning on just telling them the stock antenna broke anyways. I wish they made a shorter version of the stock. It's not as nice looking as the shorty, but if a shorty is that easy to break, is it really worth it?

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Some one on this forum actually cut down a stock antenna and it looked nice. Not sure who it was, can anyone help?

 

[kad]

Some one on this forum actually cut down a stock antenna and it looked nice. Not sure who it was, can anyone help?

A number of people have done that one. You use a padded set of pliers to twist the ball off the top, cut the antenna down to where you want it, file the end down to size and push the ball back on. It screws up your reception, but so does a shorty. It also removes the inbuilt "this area is not tall enough for my truck" detector (there's a reason the antenna is 2 inches taller than the truck).

-K

 

[crash68]

I wish it were that simple. The wheel well liner slips between the fender flar and fender, it's a pain to get back in once pulled out. Additionally, there are pieces which attach to the wheel well liner which allow the screws to be threaded through them. Those aren't stamped onto the liner and can shift and fall off. Plus you've got at least 2 of the past push retention clips (forget the techinal term) you have to pop out. Once that happens they are basically useless. I'm not gonna go through all that, I'll drop the truck off at the dearlship for them to mess with all that stuff. Now, if I was doing a big project which was worth it, I'd have no problem. But to simple get the antenna assembly, nah, not worth it. Was looking for a simple fix if anyone had one.

The problem is, I can't see the assembly in there, even when I stick a light in there. I figured it's dripped down near the door, I was hoping to just fish it up to where I could grab the assembly with my hand and pull it back in place

Unless they do something drastically different on the passenger side, I pulled the top of my wheel liner down to get to the factory horn wiring plug and put it all back together in less than half an hour (that included wiring my auxiliary horn). Yes I have the factory fender flares

As for finding what's left of the antenna, feel for the antenna wire that pops through the sidewall.

 

[JB1]

Some one on this forum actually cut down a stock antenna and it looked nice. Not sure who it was, can anyone help?

I cut mine down the same day I bought it, been doing that on my trucks for years no matter the make.

 

[KSH]

Use an inspection camera to find it, mine has hooks and magnet attachments for grabbing things.

 

[Odin]

I cut mine down the same day I bought it, been doing that on my trucks for years no matter the make.

View attachment 167676

Is there a write up on how you did it? Did you paint your antenna black?

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[Odin]

So, I realized the PW needed service anyways and also a couple recalls to fix. Called service and this is the first time in 8 yrs where I've had a problem with a service person or this dealership. Guy was super rude. I told him the antenna broke, I unscrewed the antenna and the whole assembly fell into the fender. He goes "yeah, that'll happen when you don't know what you're doing". I told the guy, no, that won't just happen. There are retention clips which hold the assembly to the fender so it doesn't fall into the fender, so simply unscrewing the antenna won't cause the assembly to fall. He said yeah, if you don't unscrew it right, it will and he won't warranty it cause it broke in a car wash. I said, so you're telling me this happens all the time? If someone unscrews their antenna for any reason, the whole assembly will just fell into the fender? He said yup, it's a known issue. I said if it's a known issue then that's something to warranty, especially since there are are retention clips which click into place on the fender and secure the assembly to the fender. Unscrewing the antenna doesn't have anything to do with those retention clips. He said, well, because you took it into a car wash and the antenna broke its not gonna be covered under warranty. [emoji2357]

So I asked him how much it was gonna be to fix and he said he has no idea. I asked for a ballpark figure and he said I'll find out once the techs look at it on Saturday and I get the call.

On top of that I asked the guy if I could drop the truck off early since I have other things I've gotta do Saturday. He said I be sitting around until 11 cause of other appointments. In the past if I had a service appointment I could drop the truck off early and they would just do the service at my appointment time. Anyone else ever have that response?


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[JB1]

Is there a write up on how you did it? Did you paint your antenna black?

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Yes I painted it black after I cut it then put the ball back on. After it dried I reinstalled it on the truck.

Kinda funny....I did a search and found a thread where I did this in 2012

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/shorty-antenna-installed-black-4gen.12386/

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/stubby-antenna.132976/#post-1904903

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/preferred-mini-antenna.123166/#post-1773522

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/antenna-upgrade-opinions.137170/#post-1957472

 

[Odin]

Yes I painted it black after I cut it then put the ball back on. After it dried I reinstalled it on the truck.

Kinda funny....I did a search and found a thread where I did this in 2012

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/shorty-antenna-installed-black-4gen.12386/

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/stubby-antenna.132976/#post-1904903

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/preferred-mini-antenna.123166/#post-1773522

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/antenna-upgrade-opinions.137170/#post-1957472

I woulda done the search, I was just wondering if you had done a write up so I could find it. Not everyone does write ups for stuff. Thank you for posting the links and everything though. I appreciate it.

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[JB1]

I woulda done the search, I was just wondering if you had done a write up so I could find it. Not everyone does write ups for stuff. Thank you for posting the links and everything though. I appreciate it.

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Sorry....I did this the day I drove home from the dealer so never planned a "how too"....I drove home from the dealership, removed all dealer stickers/license plate frames, put paper plate in a ziplock baggie and reinstalled, then removed antenna and modified it.....this is my standard routine. As you can read from those other threads, nobody really ever does this mod, they generally would rather buy one and I'm fine with that.

 

[Odin]

Sorry....I did this the day I drove home from the dealer so never planned a "how too"....I drove home from the dealership, removed all dealer stickers/license plate frames, put paper plate in a ziplock baggie and reinstalled, then removed antenna and modified it.....this is my standard routine. As you can read from those other threads, nobody really ever does this mod, they generally would rather buy one and I'm fine with that.

I'd have rather done this mod than buy a shorty. I like functional mods like this.

I normally ask if someone has done a write up if I don't know or interact with them a whole lot on here.

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[JB1]

I'd have rather done this mod than buy a shorty. I like functional mods like this.

I normally ask if someone has done a write up if I don't know or interact with them a whole lot on here.

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Just snapped a few new pics and realized I haven’t touched this antenna in almost 2 years (06/17 - 05/19)

 

[Odin]

Just snapped a few new pics and realized I haven’t touched this antenna in almost 2 years (06/17 - 05/19)

View attachment 167723

View attachment 167724

Damn bro! That looks good! Do you take it through car washes or hand wash? If you take it through car wash do you take it off?

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