Ok... from what i understand, i think the fx4 upper grille is different than the other f150's(ex. xlt, lariat, etc....) correct?? The FX4 having the bar style and others have just the honeycomb.

Anyways....I'm looking into getting upper and lower billet grilles for my truck. Problem is, i don't want the 6 piece upper insets, i want one full solid billet grille setup w/out emblem cut-out. I'm just confused with all these models and versions of the grilles. Do i have to cut the bars off the honeycomb part of my grille?? It looked to me like the bars clipped over the honeycomb.... i can't just remove the bars rather than cutting??

Any input on this would be greatly appreciated guys!!! pics are welcome too if you have an FX4 with any style aftermarket grille.

Lastly.... any good/bad on brands such as stull or carriage works?? Those are the brands i've been checking out.

thanks for the help guys!!

Mike

 

you can get a full replacement for the six piece bar style grille. you will have to remove the whole top grille, bars and all, and replace with the new grille. i don't think you have to remove the grille surround and there shouldn't be any cutting of anything. the bottom is just a bolt over.

i got the six piece black insert for mine, i kinda like the bar style grille on the FX4.


Carriage Works Replacement Grille

 

thanks for the information and the link! You have the carriage works brand then? Good quality? I see what you mean about the 6 piece also.... i found a pic of one on a website and it actually looked pretty good. I'm just not big on emblems and such, thats why i was looking into the full billet grill. We'll see though.......

anybody else have any input or pics?

 

Here's a one piece carriage works grill and lower insert. The Ford emblem was bolted on by my own design.

 

yep. carriage works six piece bolt-over. the quality and fit were really good. the only problem that i had were with the two center pieces around the emblem, they are left and right pieces and I got two rights. Just took out the hacksaw and all was good. the rest of the install went real quick, maybe 10min. for the main grille.

the lower took a little longer. I had problems gettin' my big mits up behind the bumper.

i believe these are all carriage works grilles....

six piece inserts

full replacement

another insert

full replacement

if you are looking for more just do a serach.

 

perfect, thanks for all the help guys!

nice truck Tx Fx4....... that is shadow grey with black grill right?

 

Hey TX Fx4

Did you just finish ramming that white car behind you?

 

klassic, I was just testing the grill guard

Shadowed, your right it is DSG, in the bright Texas sun!!

 

hey that moss motors catalog which is on this site has some very cool grilles in you should check it out

 

Just ordered the Carriage Works 6-piece boltovers and bumper grilles from Moss a couple of days ago, the brushed variety.

That's a dangerous catalog that they have for the '04!

MM

 

i agree... i got that magazine last week in the mail. Awesome catalog!!

Ok, sorry guys... don't mean to beat a dead horse, but i got another question on this grill. I guess since i read something about cutting the grill on some website i've worried about that even though your saying i dont have to.

Now my concern is that, on the fx4 the bar style grill is over the honeycomb.... I don't see how a billet grill would go over that because it would stick out further than the frontend. Does just the bars come off from the honeycomb somehow?? I know 04fx4Scab said the whole top grille would come off but how would the billet stay in place if that was so?

Sorry if i'm being stupid guys, i'm just stumped with this since theres so many different versions/styles to order. I just wanna get the right kit and hopefully not have to cut up anything.

Thanks for any further help!!


With that said...if all is a go. I found some Carriage Works grilles, think at a good price. $149.95 for model# 42102 and $62.86 for model# 42122. Thats the upper and lower in polished.

 

carriage works has several different grilles. they have the one piece bolt-over that works for the honeycomb grille (xlt, lariat, etc..), they have the six piece bolt-over for the bar style grille (FX4), then they have the full replacement grille that works with all models (xlt, lariat, fx4, etc...) because you remove the factory grille and replace with the new one, so it doesn't matter what model you have. you are looking for the full replacement grille.

the bumper insert is bolt-over for all models.

the bars and the honeycomb come off (they should be one piece but im not sure) and the billet grille bolts on on in place of them both. you should not have to do any cutting what so ever. there are probably brackets attached to the back of the new grille that bolt to the same place as the original grille.

you could always send carriage works an e-mail and ask them just to be sure.

 

I put the Carrage Works replacement billet grill in my FX4 this week. It's a bit of work, and it does require taking the whole grill and shell off. The instructions leave a bit to be desired, but you can struggle through. The most difficult part is getting the center grill section out of the outer shell as there are 14 quite difficult to release tabs to get off (well, difficult if you want to be able to reuse them for some reason.) It's a bit of a tricky setup, but fits perfectly and looks really sharp. Some holes are drilled in the outer shell to mount the bottom of the grill.

The bottom is a "bolt over" design and simply bolts through the small honeycomb sections on either side.

The whole install probably took about 2.5 hours, with a couple of re-do's since the instructions suck. Someone needs to tell them that a digital camera is not a substitute for an illustrator.

Looks like airflow will be significantly enhanced through the grill verses the original FX4 style, a bonus for those of us in hot climates.

 

Big grilles are nice . The bar grille was a buying point for me will be a billet add soon. All the trucks look great with the mods the owners have done. Hats off to all who like to change and personalize.