anyone have a westin Sportsman Grill Guard on their explorer, 96-00? If so, do you like it? Haven't seen any mounted on explorer's yet in my area.......but they look cool in the catalog pics. thanks

I have a Westin sportsman on mine and it looks better on the truck than it does in the catalog. I installed it myself to save some money and it took about one and a half hours. It just bolts on using existing holes so if you have a decent set of tools you can do it easily. I chose to go with black because of the price (it is so much cheaper than the chrome). Also, the Westin comes with a five year warranty. Go with the one piece welded grill guard it is a lot stronger than the modular one. I bought mine from Explorer Express because it is only an hour from where I live. However, I saw them in Pep Boys for $50 less about two days after I installed mine. No complaints and no rubbing, even when four wheelin'!

Maxxus, welcome to the site. I have one on my 98 XLT and its great. The only problem I have had is the light guards are starting to rust. I can get it fixed because of the 5 year warranty, but I have to send them back to Westin via the store I purchased the guard from, so no light guards for a while. I haven't sent them yet, because I may get them powder-coated locally so I get them back sooner. Like JM said, its easy to install yourself, although you may need an extra set of hands to help out when you first put it in place.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1254494&a=9276113&p=37370274
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1254494&a=9276113&p=37480831

[Edited by RytM1 on 01-08-2001 at 03:19 PM]

ya...that brush guard looks mean....very beefy looking/ best i've seen on an explorer yet!

Same thing I thought once it was installed. From the side, it looks like it might be better off on an Expedition. The uprights are wider, compared to other guards I've seen on explorers.

Originally posted by RytM1
Same thing I thought once it was installed. From the side, it looks like it might be better off on an Expedition. The uprights are wider, compared to other guards I've seen on explorers.

YES...But I think the front end looks beffier because of the wider uprights/ many other grill guards look wimpy on the explorers, not this one though. Are you happy with your choice?

Absolutely!! The only thing I did to it was to take a piece of black rubber hose, and lay it across the upper edge of the upright, underneath the airdam. I only did this for appearance reasons. The airdam was rubbing across the top edge of the guard and starting to scratch up the airdam, and I'm just kinda picky about stuff like that sometimes.