jQuery Grid Plugin - jqGrid

I'm not convinced that the gridComplete event runs "after all the data is loaded into the grid and all other processes are complete," as specified in the documentation.

I've got a grid that is loading correctly. In the gidComplete event, I'm triggering some filtering methods (.extend and .setGridParam) to apply a filter as soon as the grid is loaded. However, although my custom function is firing (seen through console), the filter is not being applied. If I use the setTimeout to delay the execution by a second (or so), then the filter is, in fact, applied. So it seems to me that the gridComplete is firing too early.

Incidentally, the filter function (called setGridFilter()) also fires in an onchange event bound to a select menu (where the user can choose from pre-set filter options). This works perfectly. It's just the gridComplete invocation of this function that is failing.

Any ideas?

$("#list3").jqGrid({
   url: 'blah.php',
   colNames: ['blah1','blah2','etc.','PresentationTemplateID'],
   colModel: [name: 'blah1', index: 'blah1'],
       [name: 'blah2', index: 'blah2'],
       [name: 'etc.', index: 'etc.'],
       [name: 'PresentationTemplateID', index: 'PresentationTemplateID', hidden:true]
   viewRecords:true,
   loadonce: true,
   pager: '#pager3',
   search:true,
   gridComplete: function(){
       //var t = setTimeout('setGridFilter()',1000);   //this works, for some reason
       setGridFilter();  //this does not
   }
});

function setGridFilter() {
   var postdata = $("#list3").jqGrid('getGridParam','postData');
   var text = $("#ddlGridFilterMenu").val(), f;
   $.extend(postdata,{filters:'',searchField: 'PresentationTemplateID', searchOper: 'eq', searchString: text});
   $("#list3").jqGrid('setGridParam', { search: text.length>0, postData: postdata });
   $("#list3").trigger("reloadGrid",[{page:1}]);
}