Power Antenna Broken

[jack1.1]

Please advise:

The power antenna goes up and down fine, only problem is that once it goes up a horrific grinding sound of the gears occurs (stripping). Obviously a 2 cent plastic part is broken.
One shop is telling me $335 for the work, another said I had to remove the fender. I'm thinking a replacement with a regular "mast" antenna may cut down the cost.
Do I have to take off the fender to access the power antenna? Is there a trick to this? Anyone have this problem? How much should this cost? Should Ford do it or a body shop?

Thanks for the help,

 

[ygu]

I had the same problem, you just need to replace the mast and it should be fine. Got one at a dealer for $25. All you have to do is pop the black attenna base off, remove three screws and turn the radio on, the antenna will come right out. feed the new one in and shut off the radio and it will automatically feed, take like 5-10 mins