EXCLUSIVE: Watch How Ford Reinvests the Weight Savings in the 2017 Super Duty to Make it Tougher
When you build one of the strongest, most-capable trucks on the planet, how do you go about making it better? You consult your customers who use them day-to-day. That’s exactly what Ford has been doing with the 2017 Super Duty, and they’ve been documenting it along the way as part of an insiders video series. Thanks to our friends at Ford, we have an exclusive first look at the latest video in the series, which talks about how the weight savings are reinvested into the truck.
Weight savings reinvestment? What’s that? By switching to an aluminum body from a steel body, the 2017 Ford Super Duty is lighter. But whereas the F-150 lost 700 lbs in the transformation, the Super Duty’s net weight didn’t drop as much. Why? Because Ford went with heavier-duty components to make the truck even tougher.
https://youtu.be/l6uEi1wNzVA
For 2017, Ford is using a fully-boxed high-strength steel frame for the truck. That makes the new Super Duty, if you don’t remember, 24x stiffer than the outgoing frame. That, my friends, is a lot. The chassis-cab also receives the boxed frame, but only back to the C-Channels. But that’s okay, as the new chassis cab is also significantly stiffer.
The insiders also got to drive the new truck, towing 30,000 lbs in the process. They all seemed confident in the truck’s ability as they were driving around Ford’s proving grounds, which aren’t the smoothest roads on the planet.
Be sure to stay tuned as we bring you more and more information about the new 2017 Super Duty, with hopefully first-drive impressions later this summer. In the meantime, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below or over in our forums!
via [Ford]
