Dusterdude72

Hey guys, I have an 05 f150. I have a chrome grille surround on my truck with a silver center section. And I just picked up from a buddy of mine a black surround with black center section and my plan was to keep my chrome surround and install the black center section.

I already had separated the black pieces , Then moved onto my truck on removing the grille itself from the hood.

The main outer support bolts (4 of them) all came out without any problems.
Then I moved onto the upper mounting bolts where the grille attaches to the front/middle portion of the hood.
I got one of the nuts to back off but every one of the others was seized onto the studs from corrosion.every one of them is just spinning in the hole (stud is spinning in the plastic mounting location of the grille) I tried soaking them in penetrating oil, I tried getting on the head of the stud with vise grips and turning the nut with a wrench. no luck....them suckers are on there.

Im not seeing any way to get in with a hack saw or anything to chop the studs. And im not sure what other options I have for getting the grille off of the truck.

I was hoping maybe some of you have ran into the same issue and might have some tips or suggestions on what you ended up doing that worked.

thanks in advance.

Dusterdude72

I would have considered just painting the grille center section rather than swapping it for the other black grille center section that I already have and avoided dismounting it from the truck.

BUT.... I plan on putting a bug guard on the truck anyways so I was going to run into this issue sooner or later anyhow.

Any help from anyone who has ran into the issue would be appreciated. Thanks

13Harleyfan

Drill the heads off and remove the grill for more access to the mounts.

FordSilly

Same happened to me, I just busted the center surround and kept the chrome surround intact.

FordSilly

That will work but you won't be able to take the grill off since the mounting bolts go through the front lip of the hood

Dusterdude72

the issue is.....its not a head of a bolt that I am contending with. its the threaded stud thats hanging out that has a nut on it. so there is really no way to drill it out. not to mention the very limited space in that area which wont allow me to get a drill into place. I am not even sure I could get a grinder in place to grind them away.

as for breaking the center section out and leaving the outer section...im not sure how that will help my situation because I need to remove the outer trim aswell (which is what is actually mounted to the truck). because I am going to be installing a bug guard aswell which requires the removal of the grille.

I need to sit and look at it some more and brain storm but the weather is not cooperating at the moment so I figured id post it up here and maybe someone else had some ideas and/or has dealt with the issue before.

thanks for the input though guys

Bubba Sides

Bolt cutters

Dusterdude72

Good idea except I can't get the nut to back off far enough down the threads to get cutters on the bolt itself. I'll give it a shot though and see thanks

Bubba Sides

Bolt cutters

F150guy2

Hey im in the same boat right now. Did you ever get them off? What did you do?