Header panel fitment?!?

So I am extremely livid. I hit a deer the other night, and recently ordered a new header panel, grille, headlight buckets, and all new marker lights (1997). I went to install the header today, and it fits like absolute TRASH. I paid almost $200 shipped, and it fits like a $20 part bought at autozone. The construction is excellent, hard solid abs, no defects or mold imperfections, but it's almost like it's way too small all around. I would have to take a hammer to the fenders to get the bolts to line up, and the hood is a good 1/2-5/8" above the top of the header panel. I even compared it to the original and it looks way smaller. Any ideas or suggestions? Anyone else have these problems? I emailed the guy asking for a replacement that fit, and if not a full refund. This is absolute ludicrous, there is just NO way to make it fit.

You sure the engine bay (where the header panel attaches) wasn't bent? I can't imagine hitting a deer and the only damage done is to just the plastic header panel.

Yea the frame, hood, rad core, and fenders are all straight. The impact was at maybe 25 mph, so it cracked the header panel, did away with the grille, shattered a headlight, messed the condensor, and ripped off one of my hellas (didn't crack, surprisingly).

Even when compared next to the original one, it looks way too small

Here you can see the two vertical studs, both no where near lining up.


How much narrower the panel is that the fender


The unbelievable hood gap



And the overall shitty, well, not...fit...

I had heard bad things about those plastic aftermarket header panels. So when I put a 97+ front clip on my 92 MJ, I waited until I could find a factory fiberglass piece.

Yea, I'm half tempted to sand down and try to fix my old one. A new one from the dealer, painted and ready to go was around $400. F that.

I got mine from a 97 that was parted out. And I just pulled another one from the junkyard because a couple of local guys were looking for one.

I wish I knew who made the fiberglass header panel I bought, it fits almost perfectly. I bought it from jeep4x4center.com but they have changed vendors since then and I don't think the Crown parts they are offering now are the same. I think it was from Omix-Ada, and they list one for your series (http://www.omix-ada.com/productInfo.asp?itemNo=55055233AD), which you could ask Quadratec to special order

ehall said:

I wish I knew who made the fiberglass header panel I bought, it fits almost perfectly. I bought it from jeep4x4center.com but they have changed vendors since then and I don't think the Crown parts they are offering now are the same. I think it was from Omix-Ada, and they list one for your series (http://www.omix-ada.com/productInfo.asp?itemNo=55055233AD), which you could ask Quadratec to special order

Click to expand...

Didn't read clearly before...so edit. What part numbers and/or markings are on the box?

On my box?

I feel your pain. Did the same to my '90. I got my replacement from the salvage yard, paid $100 for the panel, grille, and one bezel. I'm switching to no chrome - it was a Laredo, and most of the trim is pulled to paint. All gloss black if ever done. Salvage yard parts are almost always factory - and green. You recycle using them. You have to paint them anyway, new aftermarket is very apparently not such a good deal.

Jeep front ends are very shallow, and the grille is less than 6" from the condensor. I'm really thinking about a 'roo bar or brush guard to keep from damaging the cooling.

Just wish I had the bucks to replace the E-code, but employment is a chancy thing right now.

Yea I was pretty blown about the e-codes and the radiator. Both were near new and got trashed. I almost bought some xenarc's today, but though you know what I'll put the bumper on first.... Should help a little more than the plain iron scorpion.

Just installed my header panel yesterday - and it was a little short too. I guess I deserved that. Needs about another inch to be flush both sides.

I noticed a lot while in there - the attachment panels from fender to radiator support looks adjustable, or could be more so with longer holes. I see being able to narrow the fender to fender distance by loosening and retightening bolts.

The header is held on by just four studs and nuts. How easy is that?! I see removing it a lot more for radiator work, lights, running a wiring harness, etc. With the black trim, removing both headlight bezels will allow you to drop the whole header complete with lights in less than five minutes!

I also found the RF had been hit before and dent-pulled out. Multiple holes and slight body putty remain. Never saw that on the title search. Hmm, the PO must have done that on his own. Makes the wierd lay of the back glass gaskets more understandable . . .

That bumper looks nice - I want to mount a winch too, but like everyone else, the perfect style to match all my want-to's hasn't come up yet. I appreciate the pre-runner style a lot more, as it looks like it could keep deer out of the grille or from flipping into the windshield.

Just need a LF black bezel and a complete paint, it'll look good again.

I hope this is a warning to everyone looking to replace/retrofit a front end. I also purchased an abs aftermarket header panel after rear-ending someone like an idiot. Like others, mine was slightly too small. I loosened all of the fender bolts and managed to get all the holes to line up after some jiggling here and there. It went on, but it's about 1/4" too small all around, which looks a lot less crappy then some of the others. Additionally, the shape doesn't quite match, and the hood has varying gap (and touches in the middle).

Anyhow, I lived with it that way for quite a while, until it started to fall apart. One by one, the plastic sleeves that hold the studs started to come unglued. I took it off to glue it back up and realized that they were all broken/cracked, so it was much more than a simple gorilla glue. Eventually my header panel just fell off, as the plastic couldn't hold all that tension the jimmied-into-place fenders were putting on it.

Right now, I'm held together with packing tape (yes, packing tape...it's what they had at the 24-hour grocery when my headlights suddenly pointed directly at the ground, suspended by the header panel and their wiring harness.) When I fix it proper, I'll be looking at the junkyards for a complete 97+, wiring harness and all. When you peice it together, surrounds, a grille, markers and turn signals, and then if you have a 84-96, you have to rig the additional marker lights and the buckets/adjusters aren't quite the same. In my case, my plastic nuts are all worn out on my old stuff, I hadta hit up Kragen for more of those.

It's a PIA. Recycle, go used OEM.

Yup, use OEM - and inspect those stud slots for cracks and breaks.

20 million Cherokees built, go to the salvage yard and recycle factory parts for less. Of course, they are crushing them as fast as they can . . .

And almost EVERY Cherokee in our local yard has gotten there by some sort of high speed head on collision.

That's common in high density urban areas.

Out here, side impacts, rear enders, and rollovers. But most are just worn out from poor maintenance.

How about posting the brand of unacceptable parts, or where your purchased them from ?

I bought a header panel replacement from www.certifit.com. It was white plastic, but was very well finished and fit perfectly. All I did was sand it and paint it. The plastic was thick enough that the header panel didn't flex or bend at all. I meet another Cherokee owner and his replacement header panel was flimsy black plastic that you could flex by just pressing on it. He didn't recall the brand name on that one.

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Umm I got it from ebay, a guy/store called autopartsdepot. I'll try and look up the brand.

did you even price one from a dealer, it may be a bit more expensive but at least you wont have to fight it or rig something to make it fit. aftermarket= junk