1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Get out broken antennae?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Oddfodder, Jul 27, 2018.

  1. Oddfodder

    Oddfodder New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2018
    28
    10
    3
    Location:
    Freiburg, Germany
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    My wife parked our Prius Gen 3, shall we say, not well in our double parker (common here in Europe - one car is parked over another on a platform which lowers and raises so that each can access their car).

    It was up to me to unpark it, which I did but in doing so the after market antennae (a short one which I ordered from amazon because we have such limited space in the double parker) snapped off, leaving just the threads in the antennae base. Any tips on how to get those threads out so i can put a new shorty in? I've tried a needle nose pliers - no luck.

    Thanks!!

    Oddfodder
    Prius 2012 Gen 3
    avg 4.4km/100 Liters (53.7 MPG)
     
    #1 Oddfodder, Jul 27, 2018
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    108,844
    49,446
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    would an easy out work? i'd love to see a pic, and also one of the double parker. sounds like a great idea, are they expensive?
    we have them in commercial city lots where space is tight.
     
    #2 bisco, Jul 27, 2018
    Oddfodder likes this.
  3. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 23, 2016
    608
    532
    0
    Location:
    Folsom, Pennsylvania
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Advanced
    What you need is a screw extractor of the appropriate size. These look like common drill bits, but the threads are reversed to allow them to do the job.
    . temp.jpg
     
    #3 Pluggo, Jul 27, 2018
    Oddfodder and RMB like this.
  4. DLC82SV

    DLC82SV Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2018
    241
    119
    0
    Location:
    81212
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    We call those easy outs in america.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #4 DLC82SV, Jul 29, 2018
    Oddfodder and bisco like this.
  5. BZzap!

    BZzap! Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2012
    1,607
    877
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Once the antenna body breaks off the thread portion that is left in the base no longer has any torque against the threads. The small diameter of the base threads will make it very difficult to drill to use a screw extractor. My suggestion is to use two very sharp picks to try to unscrew the broken portion out of the base. It’s somewhat of a long shot but it can be done with a little finesse. Just hope the threads haven’t been treated with thread lock.
     
    #5 BZzap!, Jul 29, 2018
    Oddfodder likes this.
  6. Oddfodder

    Oddfodder New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2018
    28
    10
    3
    Location:
    Freiburg, Germany
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Thanks to all. I ended up using the larger part of the broken screw and thread that back into the base - there was just enough room to do that over the broken part that was still in the base - there are still enough threads that the antenna caught. Seems to be working fine. Got lucky I guess!
     
    #6 Oddfodder, Aug 8, 2018
    bisco likes this.
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)