OK, as soon as the 2009s came out I've liked the new style emblems. So I switched them on my 2003. First shot is the truck pre-switch. The old ones were OK I suppose but the cool 3-D look of the new ones begged me to take on that little project. Getting the old emblems off wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Fortunately it was a warm 111 degree day in AZ which seemed to soften the old adhesive underneath them. I tried using the piano wire method behind the emblem to "saw" them off. This worked fairly well but seemed to mush the foam as much as cut it. I got about half of it loosened with the wire then took to a thin-bladed knife to carefully slip it between the body and emblem. It can take a while so be patient. After each emblem is off you'll have the residual adhesive/foam left over which can be removed by pushing and rolling with your fingers and thumb. Don't use anything harder than your fingers or you may leave scratches. Again, this will take a while. Once 99% of it is removed, take a cotton ball moistened in 91% rubbing alcohol (get at drug store) and you should be able to wipe away any remaining residue. I'll get to the tailgate emblem in particular in a minute but I must mention that the alignment pins on the 2010s, of course, don't match up with the holes on 97-03s. Once you have your new emblems the alignment pins must be sawn off of each one so you again have a flat surface to apply. The left and right fender emblems are pretty straight-forward. Just make sure they are level before you commit to any pressure on the adhesive. Now to the tailgate piece. The OEM emblem has an extended area on its back which fits into the decorative notch on the 09-10 tailgate. This won't work with our 97-03 flat tailgate. So... I just purchased an additional right-side fender emblem. This has the trim level extension coming out the "0" side of F-150. I thought this would be the least visible when completed since it's tucked under a bit from the slant. First I covered the entire "0" with a couple layers of electrical tape to protect the emblem while sawing off the unwanted extension. Mask it off with tape especially where the "0" meets the extension. You need to cut close to this juncture and don't want to scratch the chrome. After hack sawing the extension off as close as possible to the "0", you can take a fine file and smooth it down as close as possible without, again, digging into the tape you've applied. You can then use a nail file to fine-tune it. Once you've filed it flat you'll ve left with a small gap from the removed extension piece. Fill this with epoxy then use the files again to smooth it all down. During this time the electrical tape should have been protecting the edge of the "0" but you will need to remove the tape to do the final filing.sanding. Don't worry at this point if the edge gets a few light scratches. Once the new edge is flat (like it never had the extension) it's time to paint it. I used Krylon chrome. Not true chrome, of course, but close enough. Mask off the edge of the "0" at the upper and lower corners as well as the top edge and adhesive edge. So you'll just be painting a little rectangle of sorts. A couple light coats and it should be looking good. Add a few coats of clear gloss if you like. Peel off the mask and revel in your mastery. I decided to mount mine slightly left of the old emblem so it was the same distance away from the gate edge as the Ford emblem.

 

nice work man. I have the new emblems to just haven't had time to take the old ones off. I got the tailgate emblem for the new flareside and it is flat across the back so there was no modifying. your tailgate emblem looks pretty damn good for cutting and fillin.

 

Looks sweet.

 

Where can i get the new 1's?

 

^FORD DEALER they run $33. plus tax

 

for all 3? and thank you for letting me know.

 

no sorry $33 each thats for three of the ones he used. if you get the actual tailgate emblem like i did it runs $37

 

that looks great I was thinking about changing the emblems yesterday but I wanted to see how they would look first and they look pretty damn good on your truck

 

I might get some I gotta have spare $ laying around for that price but I'll get them when all of the body work is done.

 

Thanks. Yeah, they do look pretty sweet after the effort and I've gotten several compliments already from those who notice and know the difference. As others mentioned they are available from your Ford dealer but are pricey. I got all three emblems for a lot less on eBay. $24 each for the fender emblems and only $7 for the extra right-side one. All were sealed in factory packaging and new. So check eBay. All trim levels (on the extension piece) are available there.