Hey guys - I've lurked in here for a while, but haven't posted anything until now.

The first day I drove my new (to me) truck to work, I came out at the end of the day to a cracked grill. I have the 07 XL black-ish plastic grille, which is pretty thin and easy to break. I have no idea how it happened, but it was frustrating, to say the least.

Anyway, to my questions --

1.) I looked around on my truck, and it appears that removing a few screws is all it will take to get the grille off - is that true? I apologize for my relative naivete, but this is my first Ford -- I'm used to having to work on Hondas and Toyotas, and the Japanese seem to make doing any sort of repair or maintenance ridiculously difficult.

2.) I like the XLT chrome grille better -- is it an exact swap for my XL grille? The price difference between the two is not very significant (~$30 difference) and would be worth it to me, if it's an easy change.

3.) Is the XLT grille just chrome-y plastic, or is the XLT grille actual metal? The only place where I could see one of these would be at the Ford dealer, and they're all out of XLT's.

4.) Is there anyone out there in r-f land who has done a grill swap and has an extra 07-09 XLT grille that they want to rid themselves of?

Thanks in advance for your help.

James

 

4 5mm screws and away it goes. Direct swap for any 04+ grill. Are you talking about the grille I have as the XLT chrome grille? If so its plastic, as are all the other grills.

 

Darn. That's the grille I'm talking about -- I was hoping I could potentially avoid having to replace it again in the future.

 

ALL 98+...infact....I dont recall a ranger every recieving a metal grille period. All are plastic.

Another option for you, is taking a look at 04-05 grilles as well..they will fit your truck as all 04+ grills are interchangeable. 06+ are all the same style except for the 08+ Sport. But all 04+ are interchangeable.....so you can run any 04+ if you want.

I use 7/32" on those 4 screws up top. Then there's two push in clips on the bottom of the grille too...just pull forcefully, yet gracefully and if the grille comes off and the clips stay on the header panel, no biggie...just get those clips off the header panel, and slide them in their spots on the grille.

 

I just swapped my 08 xl grill out for an 05 shell with a billet insert.
And now it is just hanging in the garage, Interested?