Alright, so I fixed my grille

[General Stalin]

So I fixed the new broken grille that replaced my OLD broken grille...

This was a slightly frustrating process, but I did it. I took the grille off, Gorilla-glued the broken seam together and held it until it was firm, then I got about an 8" long piece of 16 ga. aluminum folded over and bent to conform to the inside of the grille, used sand-paper on it to roughen it up, then I use some loctite plastic epoxy to adhere it to the back of the broken grille section to hold the structure.

It was pretty simple, but this is why it was frustrating: I let it sit in my house for about an hour while I painted the plaster bumper filler piece (was blue as it came off of a blue '94 suburban, so I painted it flat black) then went and put it on my truck after the paint dried. I got it all clipped in nice and perfect, and I made sure to do it right. The fix held strong as I clipped in the grille and tightened the screws on top. Looked great. I close the hood down and *snap* It broke again. Looked like I didn't even do anything to it. What a waste of a day.

So, not to be discouraged, I tried again yesterday. Took the grille off again and all that. Gorilla-clued the seam back together, but this time used more Gorilla glue and more pressure. One side of the aluminum backing held, but the other side did not, so I reapplied epoxy to that side, and I made sure to be generous with it. I applied good pressure to it for 8 - 10 minutes, then let it sit in the house for about 3 hours. I went and attached it to the truck and let it sit in the driveway overnight with the hood still up. This morning I went out there and closed the hood down as gently as I could (it's not all that easy trying to close the hoods of these trucks "gently") and the structure held thank god. I noticed a new small crack along with the glued seam was, so I applied some different epoxy to it at work during lunch-break. Looks to be a pretty good hold now. It will get stronger with time, and hopefully I won't have to deal with this headache down the road... but I am fearful that that will always be a weak spot and will break easily if jarred or shocked at all. Will I be able to slam my hood closed ever again? I'm too afraid to try it haha.

Photo extravaganza:

This is good stuff (I hope)

Can you see it?

Once it is sanded and painted over, you will never know anything even happened.

Now a few glamour shots (sorry the truck is so dirty, New England winter is murder on vehicles)

 

[Sepiroth]

OMG, that is hideous. I wouldn't even drive that truck, much less be seen with it in person!!
































J/k seriously. I think you did a good job. Cant really tell unless you're actually looking and being nit picky.

 

[sasquatch094]

i think i would of sent it back to the company and said shipping pl f*cked it up.. lol.. imean how can they prove anything..

 

[General Stalin]

Everybody told me to do that, but I know it wouldn't work. the dings, dents, and marks all over the tabs and screw-eyes of the grille would give it away that it was already tampered with and obviously installed.

I'm happy with how it came out, like I said though, I'm just really wary of it and wicked afraid that it's gonna break again with the slightest provocation.

Here is a before pic, for those who are unaware of how bad it was before:

A clean break.

 

[sasquatch094]

hm well if it happens to break again, id try to get all that crap off that you put on there on the backside and try some SEM/or Duramix.. the 2 part plastic repair stuff. that sh*t will hold anything together. that's what i use on a lot of plastic repair stuff in my shop.. just sand it with like 80 like what you did and id put some plastic repair sheeting behind it. That stuff is like like weaved cloth and it doesn't rip or anything and its like a reinforcement like how u used aluminum. its guaranteed to hold. only thing that sucks is you need a special gun when applying the 2 part stuff. the gun costs 80 bucks and i have a couple playing around in my shop. maybe u could rent one off a body shop for a couple hours.. and id wait until it gets reasonably warmer out too. doing it in 20 or 30 degree weather takes alot out of it..