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Removing the grille

I have a 2014 base model, and would like to have the grill painted. When I remove the front bumper fascia from the vehicle, how difficult is it to remove just the grill from the fascia, or does it come apart at all?
Ive taken many front bumper fascias off Utility PI's over the last couple years, and never paid attention to how the grill is attached, because I have had a reason to take one apart until now that I have my own.

The grille and bumper can be separated. In fact, the grille itself (once removed) can be disassembled (via unlocking the tabs) for effective painting.

There are two ways people have removed the grille. Both ways involve opening the hood, and removing the top cover off of the grille and removing the bolts connecting the top portion of the grille to the body--but one way involves leaving the front bumper on and the other way involves removing it.

After removing the top cover off of the grille and top bolts connecting the grille to the body, the grille is still connected to the bumper. You can attempt to access the bolts connecting the grille to the bumper by slightly pulling the grille forward and reaching back, etc. But some have complained of needing small hands, scraping up their forearms, forcing things and breaking tabs, etc. Hopefully you can find a thread that details this method.

The second method involves removing the bumper. Remove the cover and top bolts as mentioned before. But don't remove any of the bolts connecting the grille to the bumper. Instead, remove the screws/bolts from the bumper that run all along the bottom of the truck and along the wheel well. The bumper's plasticity allows you to pull it forward and remove the entire bumper along with the grille in one piece. Removing the bumper and grille in one go seems to work for a lot of folks--just keep in mind the large and odd size and weight of holding and removing the two connected pieces. Once both the bumper and grille are removed, you can easily separate the grille from the bumper, etc...

Hope that clears it up a bit.
 



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Thats a nice canadian tire 10mm socket you have there!
Nice write up
 






I do love my CT socket set haha
 






Great write up and pictures.....
 






Thanks for taking the time for the pics and the great write up.
 






Ive removed many a bumper fascia on the Police Utility, and Im sure ours is the same so I think I will just do that to make it easier to get to the grill.
 






swap 2013 XLT grille for a Sport grille

Do you have to take off the bumper to change 2013 XLT grille to a Sport?
 






how to replace front bumper grille on a 2014 explorer

does anyone know where I can find directions on how to removed front bumper grille on my 2014 ford explorer? just bought a new sports grille and would like to swap it out. thank you for your help!:D
 






Youtube is amazing . I'm sure you can find something on there .
 






Welcome to the Forum splopez.:wavey:
I merged your thread with this one where you may find your answer. I have advised Drako99 that his very helpful pictures are no longer available. Hopefully they may be reposted.

Peter
 












Some may disagree with me but I think its easier to take the bumper fascia off to do anything to the grill. And its not hard to do.
 












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