Yeah...I haven't had to change a bulb yet and I was reading this thread and was like.......

"I have to remove the grill to change a damn head light bulb!!!???"

Next thing ya know, I'll have to remove my fenders to put air in the tires.

 

You only need to remove the grill if you want to change the headlight itself.

However, you will still need to remove some stuff from the back of the headlights (e.g. horn) to reach the bulbs if you want to change them.

 

I dont see the big deal. The grill comes off in two minutes.

 

You don't have to remove the grill if you have a flexible driver to remove the torx on the headlight ring.

 

Yes, another JEEP innovation - make it as difficult as possible to change a light bulb!
When I think of JEEP, I think of ...utility vehicle, tough off road, easily fixed, simple :-)
Well, not on the newer one's anymore!

 

This. On my CTS-V, the whole bumper and headlight assembly had to be removed to change a headlight bulb. Then it was an expensive HID one at that. I can get a JK grille off in 2 minutes, and have the bulb changed and back together in 10 minutes tops.

 

Excellent. Can you drive to my house in Michigan and make sure you bring your tools with you, since you're so good at it? The last time I changed a bulb, I didn't need to remove a grill or even pull out a wrench. It took me all of 30 seconds to hand twist the plastic clip from the back of the lens and then hand twist the bulb out of the light socket and hand twist the new one in and then hand twist the bulb socket back into the lens. So that was 20 times faster than what you described.

It only takes me 5 seconds to unscrew the value stems off my tires to fill the valve stems with air. I suppose if I had to remove the fenders to fill the air in my tires, I could have all the right tools on hand and remove the fender within 10 minutes also.

The point that seems to be missed is the increased inefficiency to do what used to be a very simple task.

 

Swapping headlamps on my old 2004 Avalanche took 2 minutes per side, very easy. My 2007 Avalanche was about a 90 minute process that involved removing the grill-bumper facia... Not so easy. My 2012 Jeep grill looks like it would normally be easy enough except I have a Warn CTI winch behind the AEV bumper. The winch is very close to the grill and it doesn't look like there would be enough room to pop the bottom out.

Has anyone with a similer setup removed the grill without removing the winch?