ok now that I handed you all a loaded gun I put a westin grille guard on my 14 F150 yesterday and was looking at putting the air dam back on this am when I noticed you can actually see the oil filter and how much easier it would be to change with out the air dam in there. I'm having a hard time convincing myself to put it back on. any thoughts or words of wisdom? Jim

 

mine mounts with half a dozen twist plastic/ locks ? You can take it half way off in about 30 seconds .

 

ya Steve sounds like yours is ecoboost, my 11 had that . This is what I would call a chin spoiler in the old days, hard plastic side to side roughly under radiator. it's only held on by 2 bolts so as you say on yours it wouldn't take long to get it out of the way. I suppose this is for areo dynamics, probably cost a half percent on fuel mileage without it it stick down low enough I can't get under it on a creeper to reach or even see the oil filter, I'm getting to old to be a contortionist.

 

So is yours different because it is a 2014, or because its a 5.0 or ??

 

yes 5.0, my 11 eco had the rubber access that came open easily but I don't recall that it had the air dam or it didn't hang down as low perhaps. I cut it down to clear new brackets for grill guard and put it on, if it gets to be a pain I'll take it back off. I just wondered if any one had removed theirs and noticed any difference, I drove mine for 2 days and can't say it was noticeable?

 

When handed a loaded gun, keep your finger well away from the trigger, point the muzzle in a safe direction and keep it there. Then, safely unload all rounds from the weapon. Then, thoroughly chastise the idiot that handed you a loaded weapon as you should never be handed a loaded weapon outside of some emergent situation. It takes only a second or two to unload a weapon, even including muzzleloaders (CO2-powered unloaders are plentiful, quick, and safe.)

There are two plastic pieces that are underneath the bumper. The lowest one is held on by two nuts and is about 7" from the ground. I removed that one quickly as in my previous locale, it did nothing but act as a snowplow and I lived in an area that had snow on the ground 6 months per year and it really got in the way. The second part is the bottom of the front bumper and does not appear to come off easily.

On my '11 5.0, the bottom edge of the oil filter is located at about the top of the metal part of the front bumper. Removing the entire bumper would speed access but other than that, nothing really affects access, which is fairly decent, particularly by modern standards.