Chrome Mesh Grille
- Thread starter Silver Amputee
- Start date
Ebay is selling two different sets.
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)
-dee
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)
-dee
Cant wait to see to the pics Ted. Now hurry up mate!
I have to get the darned thing away from my wife long enough to finish installing everything!
Ted
Got mine installed today!
As kosh2258 stated, the upper grills CAN be installed without removing the front clip, but it's REALLY hard on the arms. I started that way and then also realized there's no way to do the middle grill without removing the front end anyway. Got out the service manual and removed all the fasteners. Once off, installing the grills was easy. About 3 hours start to finish.
Since I don't like using any non-stainless steel nuts and bolts on a car, I went to the hardware store and got 12 2" stainless screws, 12 stainless washers, and 12 stainless nylock nuts. Cost me an extra $12.00. I put the nuts on backwards all the way onto the screws, then the washers, then the brackets and then used Loctite to hold the screws into the grills. I then snugged the nuts down to tighten up the brackets. Hopefully that way everything will stay tight and nothing will rattle loose.
As kosh2258 stated, the upper grills CAN be installed without removing the front clip, but it's REALLY hard on the arms. I started that way and then also realized there's no way to do the middle grill without removing the front end anyway. Got out the service manual and removed all the fasteners. Once off, installing the grills was easy. About 3 hours start to finish.
Since I don't like using any non-stainless steel nuts and bolts on a car, I went to the hardware store and got 12 2" stainless screws, 12 stainless washers, and 12 stainless nylock nuts. Cost me an extra $12.00. I put the nuts on backwards all the way onto the screws, then the washers, then the brackets and then used Loctite to hold the screws into the grills. I then snugged the nuts down to tighten up the brackets. Hopefully that way everything will stay tight and nothing will rattle loose.
Attachments
I have the service manual which clearly states which fasteners need to be removed. Only the two in the wheel wells were any kind of challenge. The others just unscrew or pop up and remove.
The service manual assumes that the fenders have already been removed, so I removed the fender fastener in the wheel well just to make it a little easier to tuck the bumper edge under the fender.
All in all, a very straightforward job.
If anyone needs a scan of the relevant page from the manual, just let me know and I'll scan and post it.
I'm still waiting on my replacement brackets for the bumper grills to arrive.
I was working on this last weekend and all the fasteners came out easily EXCEPT for the two that hold the upper edge of the bumper cover in the wheel opening. I'm sure these are the two you mean - have a cross for phillips screwdriver in the center. I stopped trying to remove them because I didn't want to break something. How were you able to extract them? Nothing I tried seemed to work.
I like your idea about substituting SS hardware.
Yes, those are the two that were a pain. I finally just put two flat blade screwdrivers under each and popped them out! I figured worst case, if they broke (they didn't), I could get new ones for a buck or two from the dealer. After removing them, I saw that the center shaft has ridges, but I don't think they are actually threads. I certainly couldn't get it to come out by unscrewing it. When I was ready to reinstall everything, I just pushed the center out, inserted the fastener into the hole, and pushed the center back in. Seems to be working fine!
Those sound like blind rivets where the assumption is you have access behind them to push on the center pin to release it. That's weird since I see that the overfender trim and fender liner have fasteners that pop up the center if you turn them.
Speaking of the overfender trim, I'm not sure what the manual is saying by "remove the clip". The diagram indicates the retaining clips are some sort of friction spring clip and they should release by simply pulling straight back on the trim once the 3 pop fasteners are removed. The trim on mine seems pretty reluctantant to release when I try pulling on it.
What was your experience?
I didn't remove the fenders or overfender trim. You're probably right - if I had, then getting to the back of the center pin would probably have been possible.
I did remove one of the pop up fasteners on the overfender trim to make it easier to get the wheel well portion of the bumper to slide back under it. Still not easy, but better than removing yet another piece of bodywork.
I did remove one of the pop up fasteners on the overfender trim to make it easier to get the wheel well portion of the bumper to slide back under it. Still not easy, but better than removing yet another piece of bodywork.
That bit of info helps. I'm with you, the less removed the better.
jasonrushton
Member
I have ordered the billet grille from www.buyautotruckaccessories.com and will be need to know which fastners to remove. Please post the front bumper removal procedure from the service manual. Thanks in advance.
Here's the relevant page from the service manual.
The manual does assume that the fenders have been removed, so there is a little more to it once the bolts have been removed. You will need to use a little bit of force to unclip the bumper from the front fenders. They are just some kind of snap connnectors, so if you grab the inside of the wheel well and slowly but firmly pull outward, they will unsnap. I think there are three on each side.
The manual does assume that the fenders have been removed, so there is a little more to it once the bolts have been removed. You will need to use a little bit of force to unclip the bumper from the front fenders. They are just some kind of snap connnectors, so if you grab the inside of the wheel well and slowly but firmly pull outward, they will unsnap. I think there are three on each side.
I finished installing my kit last night (sorry, no pictures as promised. I simply didn't have the time to spare to do it).
There are two additional screws on each side that the diagram doesn't show. They are at the bottom edge of the inner fender liners. Cock the front wheels to one side or the other to allow you to get a screwdriver on them. Also, don't forget to reach up behind the bumper and disconnect the fog light wires from the bulbs, if you have fog lights.
I'd strongly suggest you leave the two large screws on the top side in place until after you've removed all the other fasteners and gotten the sides of the cover released. That will prevent the whole works from just falling off the vehicle (no, that didn't happen to me but the manual warns about it so I thought it was the best way to prevent it).
The whole cover flexes pretty easily when it's off the vehicle so take it easy.
Reattaching the cover isn't much of a challenge. If you look at the topside near each headlight there is a sort of a plastic spear on the cover that lines up with a hole in the support structure. When you go to reattach the cover if you line those spears up with the holes the whole cover slides easily into place. Just line up the top side fastener holes, put the two large screws back in and then reclip the sides into the sliders and the rest just falls into place with some playing with the inner fender liners to get them tucked under the cover. There is a bit of manipulation to get the lipped edge of the gray trim under the overfender trim. Patience is rewarded.
I had pre-staged all the fasteners (using the same stainless steel screws and nylock nut approach i-miwa did - good idea and thanks for it) the night before so it only took me about 2 hours start to finish to do the actual remove, install, replace.
Ted
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How's it goin' everyone, I also purchased a grill, but I got the chrome mesh version. Installed it today, took me about 2.5 - 3 hours to install because it didn't come with instructions, so I had figure out on my own where to install certain brackets and what not. Bolted right over existing honeycomb stock grill. It looks pretty nice, I'll post pics later.
I look forward to seeing the pics. Where did you find/purchase it?
I found it on ebay about 2 weeks ago. I think someone posted a link to it in this thread a few posts back. I'm not sure, but it looks like they may have had only 1 for sale (for now), and I got that one. It doesn't show how much they have/had in stock.
I'll post pictures this weekend.
I'll post pictures this weekend.
CX9 SportOwner
Member
Dont post photos that are linked to a sign up con
