74 vs 75 GMC pickup grill

[Itali83]

So can I get a confirmation that the '75-'76 GMC grille mounts the same as the Chevy and later grilles? Or is the '75-'76 GMC it's own mounting design?

That I do not know for sure as this is my first round eye and it’s a gmc. I’m going to say from looking at brackets and grills lately that that is a true statement. Only the deep 73-74 Chevy and GMC grills take the special brackets.

I have no clue as to the 1980 where they had the different headlight surrounds and either round or square headlights.

Ben

 

[OldBlueDually]

AND that you are turning into a driver, not ruining a beautiful green truck by stripping it for parts - right ? Right ?

Not a driver. Yes stripping it of the parts, unfortunately. Now my blue truck has a green tailgate. This one is just a wee bit rusted. Nice part is this truck was never touched/messed with. In fact all the interior ductwork went into mine it was so dang nice.

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[OldBlueDually]

So can I get a confirmation that the '75-'76 GMC grille mounts the same as the Chevy and later grilles? Or is the '75-'76 GMC it's own mounting design?

You are correct sir, the early ones have shallow grill brackets, the later have longer grill brackets. I will take a couple pictures and post them up for you..My grill in my 76 GMC was a 77'ish Chebby grill. To get the 76 grill to fit, I had to remove brackets from my parts truck and put them in my blue one, now the 76 grill fits.

 

[OldBlueDually]

I just went out and took pictures. I have swapped the brackets from one truck to another.

Here are the brackets that were on my blue truck for the 77 & up grills (I put them on my 76 parts truck.....trying to put everything on this I take off my blue 76).

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Here are the correct ones to mount my 76 grill, they are quite a bit shallower.

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[bucket]

So the morel of the story is, if you come across a parts truck with a '75-'76 GMC grille, grab the brackets too!

 

[AuroraGirl]

Did your '76 for sure have it's original GMC brackets? And not Chevy?

I had always assumed that the grille brackets changed for both models in '75. But a while back, there was a member here that swore up and down that the '75-'76 GMC retained the earlier style brackets. I believe he said he removed his incorrect, earlier Chevy grille and the correct '75-'76 GMC grille screwed right in.

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My dad has a 75 K25 I could look and show what it has. As far as whats in there, the grille is broken, long gone but the brackets would be untouched. hit something long time ago and just had some grating kind of thing in there for minor improvement in looks, I need to visit old pa anyway here soon so I could check. Its Not going to be changed from stock, The truck always had a non-primary role in its life and its only beeen through two owners. Hell, the original bumper is SHINY and was taken off in like the 90s for good, but it was almost never on because of the plow it always had(interefered with the mounting). So I am confident the brackets would be OE 75 GMC.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I just went out and took pictures. I have swapped the brackets from one truck to another.

Here are the brackets that were on my blue truck for the 77 & up grills (I put them on my 76 parts truck.....trying to put everything on this I take off my blue 76).

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Here are the correct ones to mount my 76 grill, they are quite a bit shallower.

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THATS what those brackets/parts shaped like it are for.. huh... thanks I couldnt figure out what parts like those were for but I had a few in my 78 parts box. Kept trying to figure out what the hell they did.
Wouldnt be like those specific but im sure the general idea was the same

So the morel of the story is, if you come across a parts truck with a '75-'76 GMC grille, grab the brackets too!

I didnt see that before I posted my dads truck thing. He is never going to worry about a 75 OEM grille or anything that specific, so if someone needed a 75 GMC brackets I am 99% certain we could sell those to someone who needs them for a 75 gmc. At worst I would just fit a late 70s brackets and use the aftermarket grille hanging in my shed(shiny horizontal bars, pretty basic dime a dozen kind).

 

[AuroraGirl]

That I do not know for sure as this is my first round eye and it’s a gmc. I’m going to say from looking at brackets and grills lately that that is a true statement. Only the deep 73-74 Chevy and GMC grills take the special brackets.

I have no clue as to the 1980 where they had the different headlight surrounds and either round or square headlights.

Ben

i believe a 79 had the surround bezels too. just needs a special valence to my understanding. Unsure of brackets, could snap a pic of whats inside my grille area, since no condensor its not too hard given my plow mount in front even

 

[squarelyfe]

I can tell you that when I replaced my core I made the huge mistake of not removing the mounts first! The later ones do NOT work, they stick out further. The org are made to inset/flush mount the 75 grill. They are shorter and smaller overall.

 

[Raider L]

@Sergio729, @bucket,

So the deal is the later grills were thicker and that's what you were talking about the brackets being shallower?
I posted what I got in the mail today a set of those white plastic nut plates to mount the grill to the brackets if you're interested in taking a look.

Go to "Exterior" under "grill hanging off?" so you can replace those missing or broken nut plates. I would think LMC has them to but these I got come with the correct screws and they are the right color black as well.

Those brackets look a lot sturdier than the ones in my truck to, '74 c10.

 

[Raider L]

@Sergio729,

What engine is in it? Wow, you got a tach in it! It's not the Camper Special is it?
How many miles does it have on it? TH350? I'm wondering why it came with a tach. Is there something about it that would warrant a tach being in it?

 

[Raider L]

@Sergio729,

How much for the radio? I'm serious. I'll pay shipping to.

 

[stroganouski]

Necro thread but 110% the grills from 73-74 and 75-76 GMC’s WILL NOT interchange without new brackets and technically a core support. The 73-74 are deep dish and will hit the factory brackets on a 75 and later truck. I just put a 73-74 grill in my 76 knowing of this issue and bought the brackets from lmc and then made my own for the part way in from each side brackets.

Ben

When I picked up my ‘75 K25 it had a 73-74 grill in it. It was zip tied on because the mounting holes were not even close to lining up and it had a weird looking gap around it. Found a ‘75 on Marketplace and everything lines up and mounts properly.