Grill Support Question...

[terd ferguson]

Are the GMC grill support bars the same for all years? I'm trying to put a '60 GMC grill on my '63 Chevy and it doesn't mount up. The headlight buckets don't come close to touching the grill support in the corners.

So will a '60 or '61 grill support bolt into my '63? Are the '60 and '61 Chevy and GMC grill supports the same?

Thanks in advance for any and all help and/or tips and suggestions. And thanks for this great forum.

[jonzcustomshop]

all the grille supports should interchange, the only difference beng holes in different places for different grilles.
however if you have a big truck grille the mount brackets touch the support differently, and push the grille way out away from the support.
A big gmc grille would fit, but the mount brackets would have to be changed out for a c/10 style.

show us a pic and maybe we can help more.

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

all the grille supports should interchange, the only difference beng holes in different places for different grilles.
however if you have a big truck grille the mount brackets touch the support differently, and push the grille way out away from the support.
A big gmc grille would fit, but the mount brackets would have to be changed out for a c/10 style.

show us a pic and maybe we can help more.

I'm working with the stock '63 grill support. I took the '63 grill off. Here's the grill I've got I want to put on...





None of the holes line up. The inside 4 holes (towards the center of the grill) of the GMC grill have empty space behind them with the '63 grill support. The outside 4 holes (towards the outer edge of the grill) are about 4" away (they don't touch the grill support) from the grill support. It's like the buckets for the GMC grill are "flat" and the buckets for the '63 grill are "v shaped" with a peak in the center.

I see the parts catalogs listdifferent part numbers for '60-'61 than for '63. I'm thinking it's because the buckets behind the headlights that attach to the grill support are different widths from front to back and outside to inside.

So, how can I make this fit? I'd like to do it with the '63 grill support and GMC grill. It would be the cheapest. If not, I guess I'd have to gind a '60 or '61 grill support? I don't know. Has anyone done this swap? I've tried searching.

[terd ferguson]

Can I somehow modify the '63 buckets to work with the GMC grill?

[jonzcustomshop]

Do you know if your gmc grille was off a 1/2 ton or not, if it was off of a big truck, or a bread truck, that might be why the bracket dosent line up.
Joey~ap here on the board put a gmc grille in hih k5 66 that he did, you might pm him , or check his build thread.
I have always been under the impression that the support was the same as the chev, like the fenders, and inner fenders., just the holes different... I could be wrong though.

I do have several pics of chev trucks with original paint, and the gmc grille. ...

[LILRED66]

The '60-'61 grille supports are different than the '63 and it is different than the 4-5-6, but they can all be made to interchange, however, it is better to stay within the same years.

[TwoFiftyShifter]

Great.... I bought a 63 Chevy support to use with my 64 GMC grille.....

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by LILRED66

The '60-'61 grille supports are different than the '63 and it is different than the 4-5-6, but they can all be made to interchange, however, it is better to stay within the same years.

How would one make them interchange? Thanks.

[jonzcustomshop]

I think the 60-61 and gmc grille supports, have 2 indentations in them for the dual headlights.
the pre 63 might be different where the frame comes through, since the frames were different.

the first 2 pics are of joey~ap's truck, he did not mention any problems with the swap***I couldn't get these to load, I will try them later***

the next 3 show a big truck, lcf, and a 1/2 ton.
notice how the front of the lcf is very flat, and the 1/2 ton is angled in.
I think this is where your problem might be.
when I transferred a c80 65 chev grille to my c10 I encountered this problem, similar to yours.
I hope this helps, and I wish I had a gmc grille mount bracket to take a pic of so we could compare it to yours.

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

I think the 60-61 and gmc grille supports, have 2 indentations in them for the dual headlights.
the pre 63 might be different where the frame comes through, since the frames were different.

the first 2 pics are of joey~ap's truck, he did not mention any problems with the swap***I couldn't get these to load, I will try them later***

the next 3 show a big truck, lcf, and a 1/2 ton.
notice how the front of the lcf is very flat, and the 1/2 ton is angled in.
I think this is where your problem might be.
when I transferred a c80 65 chev grille to my c10 I encountered this problem, similar to yours.
I hope this helps, and I wish I had a gmc grille mount bracket to take a pic of so we could compare it to yours.

Thanks a lot for those pics. I think you nailed it. It would seem as if I have a big truck grill. The GMC grill I have is flat, not peaked like the GMC grill in the blue truck from your post.

So, how did you handle this problem with the C-80 grill on your C-10? And thanks again.

[jonzcustomshop]

well.. it will cost you a little bit more money, or some fab time...
the easy way is to get the support brackets of of a little truck grille, they are riveted on(at least mine were), and just grind off the rivets, and bolt the correct ones in.
you might be able to find a junk gmc grille to get the headlight/support brackets off of cheap.
the other is to hold the grille in place, somehow, and then fab up an angled bracket that fills the gap between yours and the support.

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

well.. it will cost you a little bit more money, or some fab time...
the easy way is to get the support brackets of of a little truck grille, they are riveted on(at least mine were), and just grind off the rivets, and bolt the correct ones in.
you might be able to find a junk gmc grille to get the headlight/support brackets off of cheap.
the other is to hold the grille in place, somehow, and then fab up an angled bracket that fills the gap between yours and the support.

Thanks. That's what I thought.