Happy new year guys! I'm working on this 48 1 ton and will have several questions during the project but today's Q is a little subjective I suppose? Is there a "rule of thumb" for deciding to rechrome or buy after-market replacements? Most of the chrome on mine is pitted pretty bad.
I don't know of any "Rule of Thumb" But I was personally would try to keep the original and rechrome it! The aftermarket replacements are not nearly as durable or heavy duty. ~Nick
If you plan to keep the grille guard, you'll have to rechrome it as no one I know makes a repop of that. Personally, I agree with Nick about aftermarket parts. If you decide to rechrome, make sure the shop is a reputable one, as you can get taken to the cleaners with some shops and end up with shabby quality rechromes that look like crap in a couple of years.
That grill guard is junk!!! ...And I would be glad to take it off your hands and dispose of it properly. Re-chrome all the way, but as said before the shop better be a good one. Some of your pitting may never come out with the re-chrome. I have an original chrome grill on my truck that had been re-chromed by a previous owner. Nice job, it came to me in pieces because the P.O. was going to repaint the splash bars and took it apart. I'll tell you it is much better quality and fits Soooo much better than the repop that was on the truck when I bought it. Andy
Isn't some of the trim stainless? I know on mine, I have started sanding and polishing my window trim. I know that doesn't really work for chrome, but some of these parts are a fortune to replace. Just curious as to what may have been stainless, and or chrome on these trucks........Mike
AD Brightwork The window trims are stainless as were some of the DeLuxe grilles . As mentioned , your old dented , pitted parts will always fit better and last longer too , have them re-chromed . At all costs , avoid ' bumper boyze ' ~ as you'd expect from a Ghetto named shop , they not only do bad work , they STEAL any good parts you send and replace with bad cores , poorly chromed . ASK folks you see at cruise ins and shows , who they used and who they got burned by . BTW : beware of using overly coarse medium to polish your stainless steel trims , they're not very thick to begin with and it's easy to ruin them . -Nate
Thanks for the tip. I am pretty fortunate in that my trim is not too bad. I'm only sanding enough to take out the bad scratches, and shine them up. So far it looks pretty decent. At least better than before........Mike
