Got the grill put on last night. It's been nasty this week and yesterday was the only decent day so I took advantage. Some before and after shots. Just quick phone pics.
Before:
After:
Overall, the change in appearance is actually pretty subtle and would probably only be noticeable to the trained eye.
What I like
I like that the 06' style grill looks beefier than the 03' style and gives it a little meaner look.
I like that the grill actually fills up the open cutout from my aftermarket bumper (see dislikes).
What I don't like
While I like the fact that it fills up the hole in the bumper, there are drawbacks to this as well. I mentioned earlier in my build how I didn't like the look of the huge opening caused by the bumper but I did like the accessibility that it gave me to the winch. Well now I can no longer reach my winch clutch through the top of the bumper, but still can through one of the large cutouts in the front of it, but the plug for the controller is no longer accessible without opening the hood.
Which also brings me to dislike #2. The secondary latch release is now a huge PITA to disengage. I have to reach over my bumper hoop, down in between my light bar and grill and back in between my grill and winch to get at it. It's a pretty uncomfortable contortion as I found the best way to do it is sort of with my back to the truck, elbow facing it, and sort of behind me. Thank goodness it isn't something I do every day.
Items of Note:
Many have done different degrees of the "facelift" here, so I'm not going to go into a ton of detail, but there are a few items of note:
-I trimmed the back of the grill to clear the 03' style headlights and panels beneath the lights.
-also needed to trim to clear the bolts and mount bosses for those under headlight trim pieces
-I used a wire coat hanger to form a new connecting rod from the secondary hood latch to the release since this grill is a good bit taller than the old one.
-I also had to modify the back of the grill in order to accept the 03' style "V8" emblem, as it seems the slats on the new grill are deeper.
I guess that's about it. If anybody has any questions regarding this, I'd be glad to answer them. Thanks for looking!