chris Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 The aerial on our Ford Transit (2010) Dethleffs van was found on the floor of the driveway yesterday morning and the threads seem to have broken down where you screw it on. Is there a solution to fixing this? Would plumbers tape wrapped on the male section of the screw part help hold it in place or shall we glue it? It is still under warranty but don't think this would be covered. It is a long aerial that screws on near the wing mirror of the passenger door jamb. It blows around a lot when we are driving so looks like it has worn the threads. Any advice please. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 This is not quite clear, Chris. If the aerial has snapped at the point where it screws to its base, surely nothing will stick etc it back on, and in any case no glue would carry the signal. So, I'm confused! :-) However, it is clearly broken, you say it is under warranty, so first take it to a Ford dealer to show them, and ask for a replacement under warranty. Unless you know otherwise, it has failed, so should be fixed. I assume it is the standard Ford item? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Sorry Brian, it is not snapped off but wind etc had loosened it and obviously if we had noticed we would have attempted to screw it tighter. The male part of the screw is on the van and the threads have gone on this. It is a standard ford aerial Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 chris - 2011-12-04 5:59 PM The aerial on our Ford Transit (2010) Dethleffs van was found on the floor of the driveway yesterday morning and the threads seem to have broken down where you screw it on. Is there a solution to fixing this? Would plumbers tape wrapped on the male section of the screw part help hold it in place or shall we glue it? It is still under warranty but don't think this would be covered. It is a long aerial that screws on near the wing mirror of the passenger door jamb. It blows around a lot when we are driving so looks like it has worn the threads. Any advice please. Chris All the Transit Mk 6 & 7 aerials fitted in the position you describe waggle about alarmingly when the vehicle is being driven, even when the aerial is fully tightened on to its mounting. If it's impossible to tighten the aerial on to the mount's male threaded section because that thread has really badly worn away then I'm not sure what best to do. The male part of the joint is quite short and the thread fairly fine, so plumbers' tape is unlikely to hold. As Brian says, using anything (tape, glue, etc.) between the male threaded section and the aerial's female insert may well seriously degrade reception. If you can get at least some grip between the male and female metal parts, then you might try using something like Sikafix in the joint between the mount and aerial, avoiding getting it on the metal threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Gotcha! :-) Then I'd be inclined to present it to Mr Ford, and ask him to fix it. Two reasons. First, it is a bit difficult to understand why it should have loosened at all. That the thread has failed suggests either it was never properly tightened and the thread has stripped as the aerial has rocked in the slip stream, or it was over-tightened to damage the threads, and the rocking has simply finished the job. Ours does wag around a lot, especially into strong winds. But it has so far withstood the Bora, the Mistral more than once, the Tramontane, and 26,000 miles of not always sedate travel, plus the odd hedgerow, and is still securely in place, so the basic design is fairly robust - if (presumably) properly assembled. Second, any jury-rig seems to me likely to fail again in fairly short order - most probably just after the warranty has expired! :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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