Hi, I'm new around here, I have an '85 F250 and was wondering if anyone has seen/knows where to get a grille guard made for this generation of trucks. I've found some online, but they just bolt to the bumper, not frame mounted. Does that really matter that much? What are the pros/cons between the 2?

 

The bumper is mounted directly to the frame, therefore the grille guard would be too.

 

Stosh is referring to a setup like this.



The same bolts that hold the bumper on will hold the guard on as well. I have seen ones that use brackets to grab the edges of the bumper, but not on trucks this old.

 

Welcome Jeremy. I can get you one built but the cost may be higher than you want. There are a lot of companies out there.

 

yeah, the only one Ive found says you have to drill holes in the bumper to attach it ...

 

I bought one for my 84 F150 from JCW years ago, it is a knock-down design but it does bolt directly to the frame via the factory bumper bolts. Last I checked they are around $120, obviously you couldn't use it to push trees over but it provides a nice mounting location for off road lights and it does protect the front end from most damage. I am very happy with mine, it fit nicely and looks great... the black powder coat finish has held up well.

 

I think thats probably the same one I found, and the only one I have found that says it would fit the 80-86 year range, but I thought it said you had to drill new holes for it to mount, but maybe I misread it. how wide/tall is it approximately?

 

Give me a minute and I'll check one that I have. It's a nice aluminum one that I was going to put on my truck but decided not to.

I'll take a pic and some measurements for you.

On a side note: Here are some before and after pics of a factory OEM one that I got for another member of this board.

Nice job on the reconditioning Jerry!

 

Here is the aluminum that I was talking about. It measures about 20" tall and 6" wide and it's pretty typical of these style of push bars.

I was going to put it on my truck, but decided not to clutter up the front and hide the nice black 1980 grille that I put on.

 

The '80-86 brushguards I've seen bolt nicely into the existing bumper bolt holes. I have one that does. Though the particular one I have doesn't accept the factory bumper bolts which was annoying.
I came across a decent used one for my '87-91 truck and got it cheap. Took it home and soon realized that to mount it I would have to drill two holes in the top edge of my rather nice and original bumper. Not. It's laying around somewhere.
I imagine you saw one advertised for the later trucks and they mentioned drilling. It shouldn't be necessary for "80-86 truck. Be sure you get the right one. The uprights are contoured to fit snugly to the bumper. The older and newer bumpers are radically different in shape. This means you basically cannot bolt a later model guard to an early truck bumper. And vice-versa.
I guess you could swap out the entire bumper though. Hmmm....

 

While an 87-91 bumper would bolt to an 80-86 truck, you may have to drill 2 holes in the frame horns to accomodate all the mounting point(IIRC) and then trim a good chunk of metal off the front fenders where it drops down behind the current bumper as the newer bumper will want to occupy the same space.

 

JC Whitney does sell 2 models, one with the wrap around light guards and one without. They also come in black or chrome.

I have found a cool on eBay that there is a company that makes them and they look tough, however I can't seem to find them on eBay anymore and have not seen them for some time now.

Honestly, I have always wanted one like the company down in Texas makes called Ranchhand bumpers, and get their Bull Bar bumper, but they don't make one for our vintage trucks. I even contacted them and a few other companies down in Texas about making one for our trucks, but they don't want to custom make anything and i was bummed out about that.

 

I believe its actually the same model, the light guards are detachable. You can buy just the guard, just the light guards, or the package of both.

and I just looked it up again and it says some drilling required, though thats in the basic description which is for all trucks it "can" fit on (ford, chevy, older, "newer", etc, etc) so it may or may not be required for the 80-86 era ... I might take a poke around my local junkyard and see if I can get lucky and find one, or if I strikeout I may just try for this one and see how it works ...

 

Yep, the JCW one is the some model you just have the option of with or without the light guards. If I find the one I have been seeing on eBay, I will post a link on here b/c it looks really good.

 

Here is the link to the one on eBay I have been seeing. If you scroll down on the add towards the bottom they actually have a picture of our truck with it mounted on the truck, and it looks pretty tough. Let me know what you think of this one.

eBay Motors: Ford Pickup Truck Chrome Grill Brush Guard Push Bar NR (item 370098834966 end time Oct-23-08 20:18:08 PDT)