Let The Healing Begin!
Our truck is an O.G. custom from 1996. The phantom front end has more than 100,000 miles on it, and the miles have certainly taken a hefty toll on its looks.
The sun turned the clear cab lights yellow in less than two years, and heat also warped the mounting gaskets. Silicone kept the water from leaking in the cab but did nothing to help in the looks department. We'll fix that in 5 minutes flat. The cab lights were replaced by removing the No. 20 Torx head bolts from the roof, swapping out the parts, and then installing the new bolts.
Turn Back The Clock: Teardown...
Turn Back The Clock: Teardown And Install
Ten 16mm bolts held the old front bumper onto the framehorns. We broke the bolts loose with a 1/2-inch drive breaker bar and swivel socket extension.
The valance was already falling...
The valance was already falling off, so we just helped it come off the rest of the way by hand (1b).
The billet inserts used to...
The billet inserts used to be screwed right into the plastic grille shell, but since everything was broken already, we simply cut the zip ties and ripped the inserts out (inset).
The grille shell was removed...
The grille shell was removed by using a nut driver to unscrew the 9/32 bolts (2a).
Four of those bolts were hidden...
Four of those bolts were hidden behind the corner marker lights (2b).
She's naked and dirty. Don't...
She's naked and dirty. Don't stare too long. All kidding aside, this is how far down we stripped it for the new parts.
This shot really shows how...
This shot really shows how faded the old lenses were. Although there are excellent plastic polishing products on the market to bring back the old shine, we ordered new parts to match the new grille shell. If we were keeping the phantom front end, we could have simply polished the old parts.
The grille assembly began...
The grille assembly began with the installation of the new corner lamps. These are retained with 13mm speed nuts.
In order to add the Precision...
In order to add the Precision Grilles billet inserts, we needed to first cut out the plastic center sections of the grille (6a).