It's okay Alan..... you have another hand you know..... with five more digits to boot..... Besides if'n ya get stung ya should be a hurrin rite along ta complete the removal.....

Personally, I wouldn't try to reuse a nylon leader/mast section out of a used one. I've had NOS units break, they just get brittle with age and being tightly wound around the pulley doesn't help.

Changed the nylon leader in my black 79 back in 94. Couple years ago I borrowed the tip for another antenna I was rebuilding. Not thinking about it, I lowered the antenna without the tip on it. Got jambed. Had to take it out and open it up to get it unjambed. Nylon leader broke handling it. Only about 12 years old and maybe 500 miles on it.

OK survey says.................................order a new leader. Do we have a vender I can support or should I just go to my local GM?

Your right Mike about the age and the possibility of the tape being brittle. I wasn't advocating that just ant donor tape be utilized. I would pick on a newer model donor.

I replaced one in my Caddy and the donor car was the from a freshly wrecked new Oldsmobile at the time.

Another thing to consider is utilizing the entire unit. I gave $10.00 for the entire unit and could have made a mounting bracket to install it with no problem.

I choose to remove the tape and install it in the OEM housing after seeing how simple the unit was inside. I sent more time trying to locate the nuts and bolts than I did assembling the parts from one mechanism to another.

I could have just as easily fabricated a bracket during the time spent had I known I would have to make a trip to the hardware store for the nuts and bolts I wanted to use.Tuxblacray2008-07-04 05:08:59

You Can go to your Auto jobber and get an aftermarket antenna that will connect up with out problems for $75.00-$100.00 or even cheaper. one brand is Powerflow antenna.

Thank you crew!