Went ahead and pulled the small hose out of the large hose--no big deal after all--and removed the entire assembly. Yes, there was about 7 inches of broken cord left in the drum when I opened it. Cleaned out the drum and put in some new grease, re-assembled the unit and put in the new mast. That was the easy part. Getting the short outer grounding/retaining sleeve to fit into the vertical base tube was the challenge. But patience prevailed. Turned the radio on and off several times, each time nudging the sleeve (with a lot of controlled pressure) into the tube until it was all the way in. Easier to do with the assembly out in the trunk with only the gray power connector attached.