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I have used the $11 one on my 2000 9-3 and it works fine. The way I look at it, you can buy 7 of the $11 ones for the cost of one OEM one. :-) So, if they do not last as long, no problem. I think I have replaced the mast twice since the original mast cable broke. At $11 a pop, not a big deal...they last several years at least (and I use my radio a lot).
Since it is a generic part, the toothed nylon cable will likely be too long and you will need to trim it to fit. They key is just make sure you have enough cable when the mast is fully extended so that it can reach down to the part of the motor assembly where the cable winds around the internal toothed hub gear. (You can "eyeball" that by just extending the mast before you install it and hold it in the hatch area approximately where it would connect to the body.) As the mast retracts, the cable will wind into the motor housing and you don't want too much extra cable or it will not fully retract.
There is a nut you have to loosen and remove from the outside where the mast retracts into the hatch area. Use a cloth to keep from scratching it up when you remove it with an open ended wrench. Once the nut is removed, you can lift off the small black plastic housing and remove the old mast and cable. If the cable comes out in pieces (i.e., it shredded in the motor housing) you may have to fish the pieces out to make sure you don't have a lot of broken cable wound around down in the motor housing. You should get a feel for that based on how much old cable you can pull out. If you can't get at it, you may have to remove the motor housing, open it up and remove the broken old nylon cable pieces...that is not hard...just takes some extra time.
Then you are ready to install the new mast. Replace the plastic trim piece on the body, turn on the radio, extend the mast and feed the nylon cable down into the hole until the end hits the toothed wheel inside. (This next part can use a helper.) Then while holding the cable and mast in position, have someone turn the radio off. The motor should then try to reel in the cable...if the teeth catch. It may take a couple of tries of turning the radio off while pushing down gently on the cable to get the teeth to catch, but once it does it should reel the cable in and retract the mast. Once it does, replace the nut and then extend and retract the mast a few times by turning the radio on and off to test.
_______________________________________
1971 Sonett III (since 2010)
2000 9-3 5-door (since new)
2008 9-5 2.3T SportCombi (since 2014)
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(#352) 
[Profile/Gallery]
(more from NCCaniac) on Wed, 15 May 2013 14:49:45
