Can someone tell me the differences between early 97s and the later 97/98s? Honestly I’m just really curious.

 

headlights, I think the grille may have been a little different (not certain on that). im pretty sure front bumper was the same. rear bumper was. chassis is the same just a few styling differences

 

I believe the headlights and the way the mount are different for early 97s but don't quote me on that

 

I don't think this one is considered an "early" '97. its 07/96. btw it only has 26k miles

 

The headlights and the header panel is different on early 97's (up until 7/96 build dates). 98+ headlights will not fit, unless you make some heavy modifications.... and even then, you won't be able to align the lights properly. The A/C system is also a bit different (hoses and accumulator). I had mine converted to the newer setup. Early 97's also had side exit exhaust before the passenger side tire. Seems like there are a couple other things... I'll come back when/if I remember.

 

Nice! Is that truck for sale?

 

Interesting.

 

Hmm. So if someone were to do a 99-03 front end swap, they would need to change the bumper brackets and the headlight panel. Oh so only early 97s has the exhaust come out there? Didn’t know that!

 

Yeah whenever I was on the forum for something headlight related someone would sometimes mention something about early 97s being different. Thanks for the info!

 

The headlights wind up in the same spot.... so I'm not sure if that stuff would need to be swapped out or not. I'm pretty partial to the 97/98 front end, so I won't be conducting any tests, LOL.