Oops. The radio antenna on our 2018 F150 has gone missing. And, yes, we are geezers and still listen to radio. Hubby thinks he can repair it. I think not. Case in point: at his request I bought him some drill bits to do the job. Two weeks later the drill bits apparently weren’t quite right and hubby will likely abandon the effort. Looks to me like the antenna may have snapped off inside the housing/ mounting piece but who knows. Anyone have any experience with this? Thank you.
Any body shop can fix this .
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A replacement antenna base is only $17 however there will be a bit of labor routing the cable through the dash. I don’t think a body shop will repair this; electrical work is general repair.
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I do not know the design of your truck’s antenna base. My 2013 F150 has the conventional design where the antenna mast simply screws into the base with a 3/8 or 5/16th wrench. Base would be very difficult to damage.
On late model vehicles, with all the stuff crammed under the dash, I would not attempt this myself. When much younger did it on a 1970 Cutlass, much more room under the dash.
Drill bits make me think your husbands is already over his head. Ask your regular mechanic if their shop can do it or recommend a shop.
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Thank you! I think so too but he will listen to you not to me 
Thank you! YouTube videos that I found also mentioned the dashboard and I immediately panicked 
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Thank you. I’m going to check with my regular mechanic first (armed with fresh baked cookies, of course) with the hope he’ll be able to handle. Not familiar with any of the body shops here and that makes me a bit wary.
+1
My 1960 Falcon (bought in 1976, with only 17k miles on the odometer) did not have a radio. I bought a basic Panasonic car radio, drilled into the rear fender to mount an antenna, got a really long antenna lead, installed the radio in place of the blank panel on the dashboard, hooked everything up, and the entire process was relatively easy.
However, on a modern vehicle, I wouldn’t attempt even part of that process. Part of that reluctance is due to my having much less agility nowadays, and the other part is due to lack of working room under a modern dashboard.
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