IdahoRanger
Well-Known Member
Nice shine!Applied some 303 Graphene for the 2nd time in 3 years.
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Nice shine!Applied some 303 Graphene for the 2nd time in 3 years.
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Because I had the license bracket screws I guess I was ahead of the game somewhat.Technically this was Sat lol. I installed the Putco grill I got earlier in the week. Not as simple as it should have been though? . 1. I'm very OCD. The grill is held in place with double sided sticky tape 2 screws from the front license plate bracket, so I wanted to try and use the exact screws. But, with all the car crap I do, I figured I'd have at least 2 screws that would work...nope. So I went to my local True Value as they always have a large selection of hardware...nope, no luck there. So, on my way to try Home Depot, I stopped at the Ford dealer since it was on the way. They didn't have them either and they were $60 each ?. Yes...6 0...sixty! Parts guy showed me what they looked like so I went home, grabbed aa couple tools and went to the salvage yard. $2 entry fee later, grabbed 6 bolts, the 2 I ended up using I actually found on the ground lol. Guys at the yard didn't even charge me for them ?.
So I get home, clean the bolts and slap a couple coats of paint on them, then start to take the front apart while the paint dried, pretty simple. Install not so much. I used Stage3 Motorsports youtube video for reference.
I don't know if there is a difference between a 19 (theirs) and a 23 (mine) or, if the front park sensors were the issue (theirs had PS, mine doesn't) but the grill was not fitting properly due to the lower tabs on the body, which I assume is some sort of support for the grill? The part of the Putco grill where the double sided tape is was to thick and would hit the tabs (just the outer ones) so I busted out the cut off wheel lol.
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I trimmed the 2 outer tabs down, gave them a quick paint job to prevent any rust and then finished up everything. Kinda a TL;DR type deal for this thread lol, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that this might be an issue if they go with Putco. Maybe I somehow got a wrong one for my year of truck since I got it on Amazon, but I made it work, no biggie. Still I dig it and it looks great!
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Wow! I'm glad I went with the MTM grille, no disassembly required. Just had to pull the 5 push pins and put the grille in place and reinstall the push pins. The front license plate holder broke a while ago. Looks better without it. Took longer to find my trim tool than to install.Technically this was Sat lol. I installed the Putco grill I got earlier in the week. Not as simple as it should have been though? . 1. I'm very OCD. The grill is held in place with double sided sticky tape 2 screws from the front license plate bracket, so I wanted to try and use the exact screws. But, with all the car crap I do, I figured I'd have at least 2 screws that would work...nope. So I went to my local True Value as they always have a large selection of hardware...nope, no luck there. So, on my way to try Home Depot, I stopped at the Ford dealer since it was on the way. They didn't have them either and they were $60 each ?. Yes...6 0...sixty! Parts guy showed me what they looked like so I went home, grabbed aa couple tools and went to the salvage yard. $2 entry fee later, grabbed 6 bolts, the 2 I ended up using I actually found on the ground lol. Guys at the yard didn't even charge me for them ?.
So I get home, clean the bolts and slap a couple coats of paint on them, then start to take the front apart while the paint dried, pretty simple. Install not so much. I used Stage3 Motorsports youtube video for reference.
I don't know if there is a difference between a 19 (theirs) and a 23 (mine) or, if the front park sensors were the issue (theirs had PS, mine doesn't) but the grill was not fitting properly due to the lower tabs on the body, which I assume is some sort of support for the grill? The part of the Putco grill where the double sided tape is was to thick and would hit the tabs (just the outer ones) so I busted out the cut off wheel lol.
![]()
I trimmed the 2 outer tabs down, gave them a quick paint job to prevent any rust and then finished up everything. Kinda a TL;DR type deal for this thread lol, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that this might be an issue if they go with Putco. Maybe I somehow got a wrong one for my year of truck since I got it on Amazon, but I made it work, no biggie. Still I dig it and it looks great!
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+1!I'm glad I went with the MTM grille
Nice, do you have a lift/level or anything?
Nope. Stock as stock can be. Adding the MTM grill insert was an "exterior mod" in my world.Nice, do you have a lift/level or anything?

My windshield unavailable for commentAfter a full week sitting in 95° sunshine , found my 3+ year old wipers melted to the wind shield ...I went into town, Auto Zone , bought a set Bosh Icons...The nice young guy man offered to install, ....Soo I let him.
He got a smile when I pulled my front floor carpet and threw on my windshield for protection from snap back..." Can never be too careful "" ...tipped him $ 5.....?.....
Nice !New Shoes!!! Replaced the LT Hankooks 265/65/17 (a little over 19.5k miles) with Cooper Discoverer Road & Trail AT 265/70/17. First impressions: Ride quality greatly improved (smoother and quieter) according to Waze speed is 1 mph higher at 60 mph and 2 mph higher at 80 mph (I can live with that for now).
Shout out to @Discount Tire, I was in and out of there in about 40 minutes with an appointment.
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