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Yes, to the first question.
2 is kind of see what you have in your garage that you can make use of. I did somehow managed to use the tundra antenna base holder and rearranged it(straighten and bent again) and found 2 rubber spacer to secure it against the OEM hole in the car where the oem antenna was mounted. I mounted to the bottom hole where the oem antenna mounted.
3. I was afraid of the tube rub against the body, that's why I bent the tube, I was going to wrap some foam on it but decided against it. But be careful how much you bent it, I managed to crack it a little and that's not what you want. I guess if you heat it up you might be able to bent moee aggressive. I don't know but be careful.
I hope you found it very satisfying after you see how everything just come together and easy.
Bent the antenna tube and was very careful not to go to far. Got a pretty good bend in it.
Now to work on my last step and that is, like yourself, modifying the Tundra bracket to use. Now that you let me know the point you secured the bracket I can take it from there to use all of my home depot brackets to come up with something to extend the Tundra bracket to the original screw placement for the sc430 antenna. You get what I mean. I can conjure up something to make use of the Tundra bracket holder. But I am going to start out like you did by first flattening out and reshaping it from there. this is the fun part.
Only thing left to do is put back the trunk as the antenna mod has been completed.
BB430 is so right. In Mandyfig's thread he wrote go purchase the Tundra base and when you go to fit it you will be so happy. Man when I went to actually install or attache the antenna base to the car in place of our stock base it linked up so perfect and was such a perfect match I started tearing up I was so happy. BB430 I truly doubted you when I initially read your posts but now having done your mod, it is one of the easiest and hassle free mod I have done (that is once I got past all of the fear, trepidation and doubts). I mean my last post I wrote how I was going to modify the Tundar bracket to use, thinking that last step was going to another whole afternoon. But after rereading BB430's instructions again I did exactly what he did and flattened the bracket out and found a long screw and some washers and was done in ten minutes.
Everyone, I took step by step pictures so everyone can do this so simple 15 minute mod to get rid of that ugly long antenna. I mean once you break down your trunk all you need to do the mod is to basically remove one bolt and slap the new perfectly fitting tundra base on.
Now I know all you guys are saying well if it is that easy why did it take over 40 posts here to get it done. There is a simple answer to that. I AM A KNUCKLEHEAD who needs to have his hand held step by step. I mean I was sending PMs and posting to both Mandyfig and BB430 with questions like: "to do this do I first have to open the trunk, and could you please explain to me What exactly is an antenna?--Like I said I am a knucklehead and so if I can do it you can bet it is super easy. To be truthful it took me longer posting here and asking a thousand questions than it did to actually do the mod
SO with all of that being said I think the two who are most ecstatic that I am finished is BB430 and Mandyfig, both of whom showed tremendous patience and understanding working with a KNUCKLEHEAD.
I will begin tonight posting the pictures and instructions for everyone. For how easy this mod is there is no reason any of us should be riding around with the outdated antenna. BB430 and Mandyfig have already solved this matter to where it is a nonissue.
SrWilliams, I'm very happy for you. As I said before, I know once you see the Tundra's antenna base, you will know how to do this with minimum guidance. The best part of this mod is that it's totally reverseable and nothing from the SC430 antenna was modified simply just reuse 2 parts to secure the new antenna. I'm pretty sure others that want to mod their antenna will be as happy as you are once they see your DIY. Great job.
Of course, biggest thanks to Mandyfig for the inspiration and to get me the idea of looking for the right antenna base.
mademedoit is this the one? if it is, obviously you kept the OEM outer housing of the antenna... did you have to do any mod on the part where you screw the stubby to the antenna housing and which part(s) of the OEM antenna you kept to make this work. Sorry for all the questions but I'm really intrigue about this low cost option to convert our OEM antenna to stubby.... thanks in advance for your answers!
Just completed the antenna mod and thanks to bb430 for his suggestions and for the trouble he went to to source the correct part. I imported the Tundra antenna from a Lexus/Toyota dealer in the US (unfortunately we dont have the Tundra in the UK).
Used a similar stubby to the TRD one, but painted it and the new chrome nut in body colour (apart from the carbon fibre piece).
I must add that you need to fabricate a bracket to hold it firm or it can move about and leave a gap between the outer cap and the bodywork.
Pleased with the result and on first test radio reception is ok.
Really blends in well, but has a touch of distinctiveness about it when you look close too.
Nice job
Thanks scarletti, I have a smaller one to try as well. It appears that our UK FM stations work ok, but I only tried it on the drive. I will see which is better for reception when I get to take it for a drive.
Not to bothered either way as I hardly ever listen to the radio, I would rather listen to the sound my exhaust makes lol.
04-24-15, 02:19 PM
