Grille Install- Out Of The Box Thinking...

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dbbd1

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So, after being flat on my back for a week with influenza-B (strongly recommend that you don't try it), I had too much time on my hands and mind. Probably with the exceptions of Denali or other OEM grilles, the aftermarket ones seem to require cutting out your old and mounting the new into the front end plastic. My thought is, why not cut out your grille while it is still mounted? You start out cutting some openings so that you can get your hands in there, and some eyes, and enlarge as needed until you can actually access the grille mounts and remove the grille in pieces.

I know that should I try to remove the front plastic there will many, many cuss words, a metric butt-ton of broken clips and a few broken plastic parts. So, to those of you out there that have replaced your grilles and/or had your front end plastic off, does this sound doable?

I figure, if you loosen the top of the grille, at radiator support, that should help too. But, would you still be able to access the areas that you need to for the new grille install? My thinking is that the companies have you remove the plastic to remove the fasteners holding the stock grille in but that putting them back in could be done relatively easily with the plastic still in place.

Thoughts?

Thanks...
 

Doubeleive

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I have pulled mine out before, all it takes is a small flathead screwdriver, the clips are hidden but it's easy enough, no need to cut anything, I pulled it off installed a flex a light transmission cooler and snapped it back in.
 
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dbbd1

dbbd1

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I have pulled mine out before, all it takes is a small flathead screwdriver, the clips are hidden but it's easy enough, no need to cut anything, I pulled it off installed a flex a light transmission cooler and snapped it back in.


Oooooo, nice!

Thanks.
 

chicagofan00

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I replaced the grill on my Tahoe a while back. I went the route of removing the whole front bumper to do so and it really wasn't all that bad. Tons of clips to remove but I think I only ended up breaking 1 or 2 in total. I've read on here before that someone was able to remove the grill without taking off the bumper so it's definitely doable.
 

Doubeleive

Wes
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I replaced the grill on my Tahoe a while back. I went the route of removing the whole front bumper to do so and it really wasn't all that bad. Tons of clips to remove but I think I only ended up breaking 1 or 2 in total. I've read on here before that someone was able to remove the grill without taking off the bumper so it's definitely doable.
I did mine without taking off the bumper, just have to reach inside is all, not hard to do
 

Thomassyukon

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2019 Yukon XL SLT 4WD 5.3L

All,

I am looking to upgrade our standard grill to a Denali grill. The OEM and better aftermarket Denali grills look to be full assemblies. From one video I watched for replacing the grill it looks like actual screws holding the grill in place are 6 across the top (one on each end passing through the bumper cover extension by each headlight) and two underneath. The video then identifies 20 screws to remove the bumper cover. Can someone please provide more details on how they swapped grills without removing the bumper cover?

Thanks for any help.
 

ThomasD22

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I found a grill on Amazon for my 2016 LT. It just snaps on over the stock grill. Literally took 2 minutes to install and it looks awesome. upload_2021-1-13_17-52-51.pngupload_2021-1-13_17-51-59.jpegupload_2021-1-13_17-51-59.jpegupload_2021-1-13_17-51-59.jpeg
 

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