When did it change, or what years are different, for the center honecomb grill insert piece?

I had to replace the whole front piece (the body color piece that goes all the way across the front of the truck, around the headlights and all that; the piece above the bumper) on my 2002. Got it painted, went to install it, everything is perfect, BUT, the honecomb center piece from my original front end does not fit the new piece! They are clearly different. I did not know the shape of that ever changed during the body style run. No, I do not know what year truck my new front end part came off of. Grabbed it out of the junkyard. I've already spent the money to have it painted, so now I need to find the right size center insert.

 

97/98 are the same. 99-03 and the 04 Heritage are the same.

 

A picture of the shell and what grille you have will help narrow it down. You could have an Expedition grille and shell. As Whitey said, the 97-98 are different (much smaller insert) than the 99 up. If the grille itself is recessed, it's a 150/250 insert. If it is raised out, and honeycomb, it's an Expy. That is if it is a painted surround, that isn't an STX or non-honeycomb grille type surround. Pics will help narrow it down for you.

 

There is no grill centerpiece in it. I got the surround from the junk yard with no grill. It matches my stock 2002 perfectly; sans the difference in size of the insert, obviously. So I have no idea what it came off of. All I know is the grill opening is different, and my ‘02 stock XLT grill will not fit in it, but everything else is the same.

guessing now all I need is the correct size grill, yeah? Nothing else should really matter.

 

Pictures would help. There are same-year trim levels differences as well. Namely XL vs higher trims.

 

OK, here’s your pictures.

The photo off the truck is the junkyard surround that DID NOT come with a grill.

the photo on the truck is the stock, original, surround and grill.

The grill from the original surround does NOT fit in the salvage one. Aside from the difference in the grill opening size, they are identical.

Now I’m curious to know what you can decipher from these pics. Cause at a visual glance, I never noticed the opening difference.

 

Well, after some more homework, the 97/98 logic isn’t going to help me solve this. The grill surround on 97/98 is shaped completely different, which surely drives the grill size difference for the first years. As you can see in the attach pic, the surround is flat along the bottom. So even within in the 99 and up surround, we have some different grill shapes. I have no clue what to order since I have no clue what my surround came off of. And having already spent money to get it perfected and painted, I really don’t want to start over. So now what? Junkyard visits to find the right fitment?

 

Yep.