No, sadly.

 

Peterbilt and Kenworth have been using aluminum cabs for many years. Here's some of ours.

 

I voted to wait and see. I don't see the issue as the use of aluminum, but how Ford manufactures the trucks. Time will tell if the aluminum holds up, or corrodes. Will the body panels be aluminum clad? I saw a hood on a late model Ford car (didn't pay attention to the model), where it was aluminum over steel- it was corroding away. Looked nasty.
I do not have much confidence in Ford right now, as far as building vehicles that will resist corrosion. My 04, with 31,000 miles, has more rust in deep, dark, places, than the 94 Dodge that I had with 226,000 miles. The Dodge wasn't babied like this truck was by the previous owner. My dad has an 04 Ranger that I had bought new, and he purchased from me. It has been well cared for and garage kept its whole life, and the bed is a mess- holes through the head of it, and the supports are about half gone. Vehicles can be prepped and treated to resist rust; Ford isn't doing the work. My dad also has an 03 Super Duty, with 27,000+ miles, babied and garage kept- the frame is rusted heavy, with the factory coating completely gone. My moms Expedition- it needs attention to all of the lower door pinch welds, and the body mounts. It is also garage kept. And, we don't live in the salt belt. We keep all of our vehicles clean and cared for, and sprayed underneath as much as possible during the winter. I've never owned a series of vehicles that exhibit so much rust. Don't get me wrong- I love my Ford, and I chose to keep up with it rather than go to something else. It is disappointing, though. I paid $14,000 for my Super Duty, and I accepted the rust. NO WAY would I pay $50,000-$60,000 for a truck, and fully expect to be a slave to it to barely keep rust at bay.
So, for me in regards to the original question, will aluminum be a game changer for corrosion, or will it be a new series of issues? Time will tell.

 

Saying rigs use it in cabs doesn't neccessarily inspire confidence in me. Those are made with the lightest material available and are exempt from crash standards.

As far as the over ten year old vehicles with rust- might have to do with not driving the vehicle. You let the moisture build up and it never gets burned off - this is even worse garaged... Unless you garage is HVAC, temp and humidity controlled. It's better, but still not as good as sitting outside in the sun. Not making excuses for Ford either... They still shouldn't rust like that.

 

That doesn't explain things. We also have a Hyundai Elantra, a VW Jetta TDI, and a 75 GMC K15. None of them exhibit the rust that the Fords do, and they are in the same environment. Same with the 94 Dodge that I just sold. It had a small amount of rust at the bottom of the doors, but nothing like my F350. When the environment/conditions are the same, the difference has to be how the metal is/isn't treated.

 

Other than you drove the other vehicles a whole lot more. My VW Jetts TDI the first year we had it and we bought it new, all the doors had rusted thru. One fell off because the screws holding the door skin on rusted off. I lemon lawed the vehicle successfully for that - it was a widespread issue too.

I am not saying the Fords don't rust - I just haven't had that issue. I just moved from Florida to Alaska so we shall see if that makes a difference.

 

What do you mean? The 04 Super Duty is new to me, but the 03 Super Duty, the 02 Expedition, the 04 Ranger, and the 98 Ranger are not new. All of them have rust in similar places- that is too much to be a coincidence or mileage-related.

 

This may be Ford's solution (FINALLY) to their rust/corrosion problem, assuming they can resolve the dissimilar metals issues). My 2008 under carriage looks WAY worse that my 20 year old GMC and the GMC plows snow every winter! I could go into the painful details of what Ford WON'T fix under warranty or ESP because they don't cover corrosion damage. Let;s TRY the aluminum and see what happens?

"Built Ford Tough"? or "Build Ford TRASH"?

 

It seems to work well on the H1 Humvees.

 

Unless the EPA start requiring fuel economy figures for the SD. I see no reason to go to aluminum. The weight savings will have minimal effect on fuel economy. The biggest effect would be on start and stop city driving but once up to speed an extra 600-700 lbs won't make much difference. As much as the price went up on the F150' due to the aluminum I don't think you would pay for it unless you run 50k miles a year. The aluminum caused a F150 to increase in price thousands of dollars. A king ranch went up from about $55k to $62k. Ford packages new electronics with the aluminum so you the customer feel you are getting your money's worth; where in fact you are just paying for the aluminum and the cheap Chinese electronics didn't cost them much at all.

 

600-700 lbs can make a huge difference commercially, from a regulatory compliance perspective. It can mean that 700 more pounds of cargo instead of carcass can be moved for the same amount of fuel and vehicle registration expense. It can mean the difference between adding a welder on a service truck or not. It can mean the difference between an overweight citation or not. It can open the option to step down in truck class to reconfigure fleet compliance calculations more favorably, while still falling within GVWR ratings. There is more to the truck business than just fuel economy. Compliance costs and complexities are a factor even in light trucks nowdays.

 

I don't know what percentage of SD's Ford sells for commercial use vs personal use but it's cheaper on the rest of us if the commercial guy jumps up from a 450 to a 550 if he needs more payload vs making the rest of us pay for an aluminum body that is going to be more expensive up front, cost more to repair and I bet my cows can tear the heck out of it.

 

I'm not sure what wall the various GVWR options are for future trucks, but in earlier years past, the jump from a 450 to a 550 meant the difference between 14,000 GVWR versus OVER 14,001 GVWR. That meant the 550 had to be factored into a fleet reporting calculator which directly effected the total horsepower of the operating fleet, and the percentage of emissions compliance on a phased in schedule over a multi year period.

With a light truck on the threshold of medium duty, if I can select a truck rated at less than 14K GVWR that can legally carry the same weights/equipment, then that might work better for my fleet compliance strategy, as well as registration fees and road tax cost control. It really depends on the situation, and on the state(s) a commercial entity operates in. Some states are more onerous than others, which may explain why some people wouldn't even think these issues are factors in the decision of what model to purchase.

Unfortunately, the mere capacity and capability of the actual truck itself is not the sole determining factor of whether and why to purchase it. And I think that is a shame, because people are essentially penalized financially for choosing a more capable vehicle with a larger safety margin. Like many things with bureaucracy, it doesn't quite entirely make sense, but one can still see what the initial logic behind the madness was.

I'm not sold on aluminum bodied Super Duties... not so much because I fear the material, but because I fear the cost cutting measures of this particular implementation. And I am admittedly obsessed with the unsafe "cab crush" inherent in most pickups today. In yesteryears, the thickness of the steel used in cab construction was not as prone to complete deformation. Look at the small windows and thick profiles of the B and C pillars of a 1940's and 50's era pickup. The cabs were smaller also, so the bridged expanse of open area was not as great as it is with today's popular crew cabs.

That being said, I think Ford will win MORE commercial customers with higher payload capacities delivered with lower curb weight vehicles. This can only come about using lighter weight cabs, so the decision makes business sense. One can now see why Ford bought Jaguar (to hone the aluminum bodied manufacturing experience) and other nameplates for a period of time. This move to aluminum for a work vehicle is huge.

Some manufacturing cost savings for the new Super Duty will likely come from the number of common cab parts and processes shared with the new F-150.

 

We'll you should see the Fords rust here... My wifes 211 Escape with only 60K is rusting at the bottom of the rear door and rear fender well's. I get nausea looking at all the expensive rotted vehicles around.
I'll take the chance knowing Ford knows what they are doing at this point with these Aluminum trucks.
I should of waited for the 2017..

 

New Hamsphire must use a lot of that salt mess?