Im replacing my antenna mast because it is broken. I don't know which way the teeth were facing because there wasn't any cord when I took the antenna off. Does anybody know which way the teeth face on a 1998 4runner limited.

 

The teeth will go in only if faced the correct direction... i broke mine mudding a while back and when i put in the replacement it would only go one way but the grooves face the passenger door if u want to make sure. Ur probably better off just doing the taco whip mod bc it saves alot of hassle having to deal with the motor later on down the line.

 

Thanks for the reply. I figured they could only on in one way but when I was reading about how to replace the antenna it always said remember which way the teeth face so I wasn't sure.

 

lol oh ok well good luck

 

you need to remove and disassemble the antenna motor and winder if
there is any chance of old busted bits in there, otherwise the new antenna won't
work correctly

 

Thanks. I did remove the busted part and Im just waiting for the new mast to be shipped.

 

Just did mine this week and the teeth faced toward the front. After about 6 tries to get it to go all the way down the new one finally broke. After that I just unplugged the motor.

 

I just unplugged the motor on mine too after unsuccessfully trying to get a new mast to work. the motor seemed to retract much longer (say a 6 sec count) than the cord was long (only took about 3 sec for the antenna to be fully retracted), so the top of the cord kept disconnecting from the mast itself and being just about fully coiled inside the motor. So after taking the motor apart and taking the cord out and trying to feed it about 6 times i just unplugged the motor and will look into the taco whip solution seen on this site.