"Raptor-ish" Grille Swap

[Cristian88]

Question, so if you have a pro and buy this grille, would it technically be possible to saw off the plastic lightbar off the default grill and combine that with this new one?

I guess the question is, can you attach the fake lightbar back on the truck without the rest of the grille?

Sponsored

 

[Jake24]

I'm pleased with the appearance.

seriously?

 

[ebanks]

seriously?

Yes. I said I was going to fix that. Thanks for your feedback. Troll.

 

[Jake24]

Yes. I said I was going to fix that.

subscribed

 

[ebanks]

Night shots! Where's the night shots?

Sorry Spiff. Out of town all last week. Here’s a couple.

 

[tearitupsports]

Sorry Spiff. Out of town all last week. Here’s a couple.

I think this looks great, but do you have any pictures taken further back and at different

 

[dustintinsley]

Wish there was a cleaner way to mount the camera or they sold one with the camera hole already there....

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Sorry Spiff. Out of town all last week. Here’s a couple.

That looks awesome, Eric! And that is a stunning F-150 Lightning!

 

[ebanks]

I think this looks great, but do you have any pictures taken further back and at different

 

[asianman35]

if anyone who has made the swap would be interested in selling their old grille, I would be interested.

 

[derelict]

I don't want to hijack the thread but I recently did installed this grill as well and wanted to share a pic. I was going to write up some details but I have been struggling a little with the camera alignment. I have it in a place that I am 90% happy with but I wonder if I need to run some re calibration. But I am very happy with the overall aesthetic.

 

[ebanks]

I don't want to hijack the thread but I recently did installed this grill as well and wanted to share a pic. I was going to write up some details but I have been struggling a little with the camera alignment. I have it in a place that I am 90% happy with but I wonder if I need to run some re calibration. But I am very happy with the overall aesthetic.

Looks awesome. I love the lift too.

 

[dustintinsley]

I don't want to hijack the thread but I recently did installed this grill as well and wanted to share a pic. I was going to write up some details but I have been struggling a little with the camera alignment. I have it in a place that I am 90% happy with but I wonder if I need to run some re calibration. But I am very happy with the overall aesthetic.

How did you do the camera on your install?

 

[derelict]

How did you do the camera on your install?

That's a great question. I took a long time overthinking it, planning and in the end had to improvise and tweak things. I was planning on posting everything when I was done, but it didn't really go the way I thought it would. I bought the raptor housing pieces which were listed in the other thread. Here is what it looks like from the front and back:

I used JB Weld to keep the housing in place. The 2023 XLT does not have the camera washer so the one for the raptor is just cosmetic. Perhaps I can figure out how to add that some day. One issue with using this raptor housing is that it fits almost exactly between the letters O and R. BUT as you can see, that means the camera is not exactly in the center. It is very slightly off but it still bothers me a little. The real challenge is getting the angle correct. From what I can tell by comparing the mounts, the raptor camera points down about 10 degrees more than the Lightning. So you have to take that into account when gluing in the housing. I found that after all my careful measuring and planning, after I welded in the housing I still needed to adjust the angle of the camera while in the housing to get the angle right. I started out with something that looked like this:

I thought this meant that the camera was facing too far down, so I started to adjust it more upright. It turns out that it is the opposite. When the lines are angled in like that, you need to angle the camera down more to straighten it out. This was trial and error over a few days of taking the whole grill off, tweaking the camera inside the mount and then putting it back on and driving it. I will try to take a picture of it in the same drive through when I get a chance but it is much improved over this now.

Edit:

I took a picture of what it is now after a bunch of tweaking. I would say it is much improved, but not quite perfect. However I am not going to touch it anymore unless I have to take the grille off for some other reason.

 

[dustintinsley]

That's a great question. I took a long time overthinking it, planning and in the end had to improvise and tweak things. I was planning on posting everything when I was done, but it didn't really go the way I thought it would. I bought the raptor housing pieces which were listed in the other thread. Here is what it looks like from the front and back:

I used JB Weld to keep the housing in place. The 2023 XLT does not have the camera washer so the one for the raptor is just cosmetic. Perhaps I can figure out how to add that some day. One issue with using this raptor housing is that it fits almost exactly between the letters O and R. BUT as you can see, that means the camera is not exactly in the center. It is very slightly off but it still bothers me a little. The real challenge is getting the angle correct. From what I can tell by comparing the mounts, the raptor camera points down about 10 degrees more than the Lightning. So you have to take that into account when gluing in the housing. I found that after all my careful measuring and planning, after I welded in the housing I still needed to adjust the angle of the camera while in the housing to get the angle right. I started out with something that looked like this:

I thought this meant that the camera was facing too far down, so I started to adjust it more upright. It turns out that it is the opposite. When the lines are angled in like that, you need to angle the camera down more to straighten it out. This was trial and error over a few days of taking the whole grill off, tweaking the camera inside the mount and then putting it back on and driving it. I will try to take a picture of it in the same drive through when I get a chance but it is much improved over this now.

Raptor housing pieces from the other thread? Link to the other thread,, please?