Grille Guard on ‘22 Expy

Well, after making lots of phone calls for the last 6 months trying to confirm if an 18-21 grille guard will fit on a 22 expedition, I finally bit the bullet and bought one to try out. Picked this one up (SteelCraft) that was a scratch/dent special on eBay for $400 after shipping. It went on relatively easy, the hardest part I had was “trying” to remove the rubber trim around the tow hooks. After taking off the valence pieces in an attempt to remove the rubber pieces surrounding the tow hooks, I found out they were scored and made to be cut out. So, note to those looking to fool around with those rubber pieces in the future. Other than that delay, I wasn’t able to get the tow hooks back in with the grille guard brackets due to very tight clearance underneath for the front tow hook bolts. I might could have got the tow hooks in if I disassembled the bumper further, but I didn’t feel comfortable enough breaking down the bumper anymore than what I had. I also wasn’t too concerned about being without tow hooks either. My only concern with the SteelCraft grille guard and the standard headlights for XLT’s is that the uprights somewhat obscure the turn signals but the glow of them is still readily visible even in bright day light. All-in-all, it was a pretty straight forward install, and think it really looks at home of the front of the truck, despite not being made for it. Feel free to leave any questions or comments.

That looks amazing! I wouldn't see having a difference anyway since the 2022s were just a refresh and not a full redesign.

2020FordRaptor said:

That looks amazing! I wouldn't see having a difference anyway since the 2022s were just a refresh and not a full redesign.

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Thanks, and I know that there wasn’t a huge change, just a refresh But with that refresh, some of the stuff changed up on the bumper like the trim pieces I think. Not enough to make it a huge deal but enough to keep the grille guard manufacturers from saying whether it would work or not. Also doesn’t help that there aren’t any YouTube videos on this yet, which I almost always need to get any sort of mechanic work done lol

murrdawg50 said:

Thanks, and I know that there wasn’t a huge change, just a refresh But with that refresh, some of the stuff changed up on the bumper like the trim pieces I think. Not enough to make it a huge deal but enough to keep the grille guard manufacturers from saying whether it would work or not. Also doesn’t help that there aren’t any YouTube videos on this yet, which I almost always need to get any sort of mechanic work done lol

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How does it work with the sensors?

rd618 said:

How does it work with the sensors?

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We don’t have front sensors on our expedition, so we can’t speak on the functionality of the sensors with the grill guard.

Yours looks damn good. I saw Ranch Hand just updated their site to include model years '22 and '23 on the same part number as the earlier models. Hard to find any pictures online of guards on the refreshed front end, glad I stumbled on yours. Here's another one I found to add to the collection in case other people are looking. Looking forward to getting ours on.

Nice, I never saw the point of these. I drove down to Hill Country Texas and noticed nearly every truck had a grill guard and scratched my head. On the way home I saw 20 dead deer in about 30 miles. Seem very useful in certain areas I guess. It's nice yours looks so good on your vehicle.

Man, if you came up behind me quickly I would for sure think I was caught....

A deer hit me last summer and caused what I thought was just a bit of grille damage. $6500 later it was a lot more. A BullGuard would have helped out immensely!

They do help a lot, but so many of these I've had over the years rust badly. Its like the powder coating is never enough. On my last vehicle, I ended up coating my rocker panel protectors and winch plate in some textured undercarriage spray, that helped a lot. I've never heard of this brand, definitely interested in how it does for you. Do they make ones compatible with the front cameras and sensors? Suppose I should shush up and look myself.

Shoot, I'm also one of those folks that put an LED lightbar under the grill in the wide opening, looks like the lower crossbar on this completely blocks that opening. UGH.

The dumb as a rock buck that ran down the middle of the road and hit me head on (I was stopped literally waving go that way idiot ran right into me‍) between the headlights at 801miles on my ODO. Would probably have done frame damage with the brush guard. $15,000 in parts and labor. Didn’t touch the engine, or fenders. Just wiped out everything between the headlights and left a head print in my hood. Big fat dude with a huge rack.