Stewart basically dared me to do this...so

Remove the drivers A Pillar trim and you'll find this. Note the area in the pinch seam where there are convenient places to put 4 bolts



Drilled 4 holes in the pinch seam. Then used the OEM grab handle bolts (I had them lying around from my F-250...and the handle). Drilled the hole just a bit under size, and used the bolt itself to tap the threads.




Took the trim inside, used crayon to mark the cutout area and made the recesses.
Back out to the truck and lined up everything. It bolted right up



Put it all together. That's it for tonight. I'm going to pull the handle off tomorrow and do a bit more trimming so it'll fit a bit more flush. very happy with this little mod. now to find some color matching tan paint...or a 2005+ Drivers A pillar trim piece in tan


Here is a side by side of the 2002 vs 2005 style

 

Cool, destined for the famous mod thread.

 

Nice! Curious, does it block more vision while in the drivers seat or does it line up with the pillar fairly well? These pillars are already huge and are a big blind spot.

 

Doesn't restrict my view IMO. But I've had the handle before and am used to it

 

Tylus and his purple crayon.

Nice work.

 

Nice, I like it.

 

Most excellent!

Stewart

 

Love it! Was hoping to do this myself Any reason the f-250 pillar cover won't work?

 

I assume because it would have been a big grey pillar in a tan environment.

 

So as long as I can find a donor in tan I'm good! I'll be looking for a pass. side as well so I can upgrade to the newer style

 

The drivers side will work 100% from a 2005-2007 truck

the passenger side grab handle is smaller. see the pictures above where I show the 2 together. I don't remember what the passenger A pillar looks like under the trim piece...so a 2005 style handle on the passenger side may not work without custom drilling some holes.

but if you have the 2005 trim piece, it'd be easy to just install that piece and use it to locate and drill the holes needed

 

So will the 08+ pillar work? I have a set I bought on ebay that is driver side and pass. side with pillars.

 

No idea. Send them my way and I'll "test" fit them for you

 

I would but you're so far away... to bad

 

Well seems that the rep cannon isn't working and already has sent some rep your way (OP) so I will have to pass more around but great write up and nice clean install too!