I was planning to swap out the grill on my 06 LJ when I install the BL and MML so I picked one up for cheap on CL. I should have looked at it closer before I bought it but at the time I thought that all the grills 97-06 were the same. Since then I found a post on here mentioning some of the differences.
The first thing I should have noticed right off is that this used grill (primer gray) has the latch mechanism bolted to the grill instead of attached to the hood like my 06 (white). From looking at the FSMs it seems this was the normal latch in 97 and 98?
What I can't see in the FSM is what did that old-style latch latch on to on the hood side? Is there loop or something that I can bolt onto my hood to make it work? The FSM doesn't show any part numbers that I see. If anyone has a pic of the underside of the 97-98 hood that matches this grill that would be helpful. The other option is to cut a hole in the used grill and use my existing hood latch. That might be easiest route....
The used grill also has different style grommets for the headlight trim rings. Does anybody have a source for these grommets? The old ones were dry rotted and broken and i need to find replacements if I go forward with this swap.
The used grill does not have the tabs in front of the radiator for mounting the two temp? sensors but that doesn't seem to be a big deal. I think I can fab something to mount them.
That's the only differences I've noticed so far, but as you can see I have not yet removed the 06 grill so there may be other differences I cannot see. Before I go to all that trouble is there any reason why this grill will not fit my 06?
Thanks for any help
The first thing I should have noticed right off is that this used grill (primer gray) has the latch mechanism bolted to the grill instead of attached to the hood like my 06 (white). From looking at the FSMs it seems this was the normal latch in 97 and 98?
What I can't see in the FSM is what did that old-style latch latch on to on the hood side? Is there loop or something that I can bolt onto my hood to make it work? The FSM doesn't show any part numbers that I see. If anyone has a pic of the underside of the 97-98 hood that matches this grill that would be helpful. The other option is to cut a hole in the used grill and use my existing hood latch. That might be easiest route....
The used grill also has different style grommets for the headlight trim rings. Does anybody have a source for these grommets? The old ones were dry rotted and broken and i need to find replacements if I go forward with this swap.
The used grill does not have the tabs in front of the radiator for mounting the two temp? sensors but that doesn't seem to be a big deal. I think I can fab something to mount them.
That's the only differences I've noticed so far, but as you can see I have not yet removed the 06 grill so there may be other differences I cannot see. Before I go to all that trouble is there any reason why this grill will not fit my 06?
Thanks for any help