I need to replace the black plastic grille insert on my 97 XLT. I had a "senior moment" and took my foot off the brake while I was parked in front of a railing...luckily I stopped before killing the radiator.

I checked with the dealer and they said they wanted $280+ for the new insert, which just seemed absurd to me so I started checking ebay. I ended up buying an entire front fascia because it could be had for less than a couple of the loose grille inserts that I tried for. It seems like both the front fascia and the inserts are fairly common, there seem to be several of each up for sale just about every day. Most of the inserts are probably leftovers from billet upgrades. I bought the whole fascia assembly for 45 + S/H, which seemed like a good deal since the inserts I had tried for had all gone for over $55 and 65.

Based on the photos of the loose inserts I ASSUMED that the grille could be easily separated from the rest of the fascia. I received the part in the mail today and I was very surprised to see that the insert is actually heat-welded to the front fascia. It looks like the slots on the insert were inserted over the tabs on the back of the fascia then the tabs were melted to lock them together. I haven't removed the fascia from my truck so I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing that the same attachment method is used.

My problem is this - how do I separate the two parts without doing damage and while still maintaining some means to reconnect them?

Without repainting, changing out the entire front fascia is not an option since the colors don't match. My goal was to remove the broken insert and put in the other. One thought I have is that as long as I can separate the inserts from the fascias without doing any damage, I can always reattach the replacement insert to my existing fascia by using epoxy or something like that. It might not look too pretty, but who's gonna see it. I'm very worried, though, about removing the insert from the fascia without damaging one or the other because the heat welding seems to have fused them together pretty well. Since I'm keeping one fascia and one insert, I need a means of separating them that doesn't do damage to either.

I would love to hear from someone who has gone down this road, or even someone who has just removed their stock insert to upgrade to something else. Feedback on the separation process would be most appreciated. If I can at least get that far, I'm sure I can find a way to put them back together.

 

when i changed mine out to my billit grill i just cut off the tabs and used a dremel to grind them down, after that it just popped out.