That is disappointing about the grille. You should not have to modify any stock part to fit onto a stock mounting location.
Fatal Manufacturing Flaw with Cruiser Parts 62 Grille
- Thread starter LCnAZ
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- Thread starter
- #22
An update for you and others. I did get the grille and headlight bezels installed late yesterday. It takes some effort here and there, but is generally successful. I needed to get this done because the ARB bumper goes on tomorrow and would make this task more difficult.
I sawed off the bottom center post that will not permit the grille to be installed. I put a small foam pad over it to prevent rattling around. The other four posts fit into their securing points with little effort, but... With the bottom center post not there, it is rather important that the other two bottom ones install securely. One bottom one didn't want to click in. What I had to do was carefully "move/re-position" the opening into which the post secures. Slightly adjusting the bottom and top edges of the opening allowed the slots in the post's fasteners to grab.
For the headlight bezels I used the top attachment to get it roughly in place, then worked on the two side screw points. These don't line up great, but the structure is flexible enough that one can get both screws started, then hold the aft edge against the vehicle with one hand, and snug down the two screws with the other. I recommend only lightly snugging them down. The headlight bezels do not line up with their bottom screw holes at all; a good 3/8" off. Fortunately, the orange blinker assemblies overlap this attachment on the bezels, and upon completion each feels secure.
Fitment appearance is good on mine except the driver side bezel does not overlap the grille to seat where it should. I'll post photos this morning when there is sunlight.
- Thread starter
- #23
Here's photos that show the general good appearance...and a bit of fitment imprecision. Notice where the bezels overlap the grille. Notice that the top and bottom of each are different. I'll call that acceptable, but keep my originals as spare parts.
I forgot to mention that the black plastic trim on the edge of the bezels was hanging off about half of each. Some careful work with super glue gel and a toothpick secured those.
I forgot to mention that the black plastic trim on the edge of the bezels was hanging off about half of each. Some careful work with super glue gel and a toothpick secured those.
Looks great. Thank you for providing the installation details. Now that CCoT doesn't carry grilles for FJ62s (and may never again), this is the only grille choice we have. (Note - your driver's side high beam bulb is fogged - might want to replace that).
- Thread starter
- #26
Thanks. Yes, the low beam on the passenger side is also fogged. I have to evaluate voltage and lumens to decide whether to spend on a conversion or stick with the sealed beams.
I was getting ready to order the grille and headlight valence set from them, but will have to wait and think about it a bit. It is a bit dissapointing to hear this, as I have purchased items from Cruiserparts.net before and been completely satisfied with them. The only part I've ordered recently that arrived in a less-than-acceptable-for-installation condition was a new OEM License Plate Light from a place in California. (Well, it came in a Toyota box and they claimed it was OEM.) Even with that, I was able to remove a couple of failed rivets and replace them myself.
As far as the installed replacement grille pictured earlier in this thread, it looks a lot better than the one it would replace on my FJ62.
And about the headlight having water intrusion: don't they all? I've never had sealed headlights last more than a few months without water getting into them.
- Thread starter
- #28
That license plate assembly replacement was one of the more expensive parts in my fairly small scale restoration. I dug it up on ebay from a dealer/vedor in Dubai! It came in two days via DHL. Seems that's how it ships from there. It was one of the few parts that cracked $100. But I could see no way that I could possibly mask the Toyota letters and paint the black background. Had to suck it up on that one.
I paid a a good bit north of $100 for mine, and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that they earlier imported it from overseas for resale here in the US.
I couldn't mask the paint on it, either, but my big issue was the amount of rust on mine. I would need to not only mask and paint, but also have my old one re-chromed to get it looking like it should.
As of now, I'm thinking of either burchasing the Cruiserparts package or just cleaning the original and having it plastikoted chrome.
I have had mine for 3 years now and it has held up fine. It still looks new. My old one the chrome was flaking off everywhere.
- Thread starter
- #32
It's held up perfectly. It's in storage.
It's a backup part now. I stuck with the original due to fitment problems with the new.
- Thread starter
- #34
Yes. I couldn't tolerate the poor fitment appearance where the sides of the grill meet the headlight bezels...as can be seen in the photos in post #23. Factory/OEM visible imperfections are nowhere near as objectionable as the lousy fitment appearance.
