mocad

So, I need to shorten my antenna. First choice is to cut the factory one. I've been trying to remove the ball at the top for a few days with no luck. My truck is a '17. Any chance Ford modified the way these are made or am I really just an idiot?

Below is a pic of my current setup. I have it in a vice so that the antenna moves freely, but the ball will not fit. I've pulled antenna extremely hard. I've tried slamming it against the vice with quite a bit of force. The the point that I think my hands are going to get sliced from the spiral on the antenna. Looking at the joint between the ball and the antenna, it's clear I've made no progress other than to scar the crap out of the ball. Any suggestions?




Factory antenna in vice

B-ManFX4

Why do you need to shorten the factory antenna ? Just buy a shorter one if you want to reduce your radio reception capability... :-)

bamorris2

If you post a picture of the ball of your antenna, we can probably tell if it's the same or different for 2017. When I did it on my 2016, I just grabbed the ball with some pliers and twisted it off. It took moderate force to remove it.

BCMIF150

I was going to try and remove the ball but found a shorter, 14" antenna at Pep Boys for less than 20 bucks. Looks nice and the reception has not changed.

okie1fifty

If it is the same as a 16 here is what I did to remove the ball. First put tape on the ball because it may go flying and it will be easier to find. I put the antenna in a vice with the ball about 6 inches away from the vice. I used some cloth on the antenna so I did not mash it up. I used some pliers just below the ball and squeezed down on the antenna. Not to tight though. I used a hammer to hit the pliers and the ball popped off. Glad I had tape on it. I then cut the antenna with a dreme cut off wheell. I also used the dremel (with a grinding bit) to narrow down the end so the ball would fit back on. JB weld or super glue will work. Good luck.

Also. I have a stubby from cravenspeed that did not work for me. If you want to try it I will send it to you free, just PM me. If it works for you, great. If not offer it up to someone else.

BTW. The shortnened antenna worked great but I ended up with the antenna X off-road antenna 14". Works great and if I go through a car wash I don't worry about the antenna at all.

rcroane

"Also. I have a stubby from cravenspeed that did not work for me. If you want to try it I will send it to you free, just PM me. If it works for you, great. If not offer it up to someone else."

^Nice...class act.

mocad

Thanks all. I gave up on getting the ball off and just cut the antenna down to 28" (6' 10" off the ground). I just put extra epoxy on the top of the antenna to hold the spiral wire in place and form a round tip. No wind noise up to 75 mph. And you can't even see anything was done.

I still have the top part so I'll try the hammer technique. By the end, I had the cut section clamped in and I was basically shredding the ball with pliers trying to twist and pry it off. I'm pretty sure it's got some type of super adhesive on mine.

Thanks for the offer on the stubby! I'll pass to someone else though as the shortened antenna seems to get me what I was going for.

Truckin

iTrader: (4)

Lol opps, guess I should have looked before I did mine... scratched the heck outta the ball with vise grips... couldnt get the ball back on so I wrapped the top with a lil piece of black tape... holds good, been up a month already!

Bubbabiker

I tried shortening the factory antenna but ended up marring the ball pretty bad trying to remove it. Gave up and bought a 17" Metra from Autozone.

DeltaNu1142

Whacking it in the vise, sort of like how you described, proved futile for me. I twisted it a few times and it came right off.