As the title states, has anyone heard of these additions to the upcoming Super Duty trucks?

 

The rumor that I have heard is that the 2016 will basically be the new aluminum F-150 cabs and boxes on the existing Super Duty chassis and powertrain. Not sure how reliable that is. I assume you are talking about an 11.5" Sterling axle, Visteon does not manufacture axles.

 

Yes I meant the Sterling. That kinda sucks if that is the rumor though.

 

By the looks of the camo Super Duty's running around on various tests' I'm certain that the Super Duty will not share the same body as the F150.

 

I agree with Troy, from the camo picks the headlights and grill are clearly different. Stylistically the interiors are similar looking.

I'm thinking Ford will be joining the boxed frame group to get rid of the embarrassing videos of the tailgates being buckled due to frame flex.

 

The boxed frame paired with the much anticipated aluminum body will serve to enhance the truck's payload and towing numbers. Never a bad thing considering the extreme trucks we are in now.

 

The grille is radically different on various trim levels of the same 2015 model year F150. That doesn't mean that their cabs are not the same.

Heck, the grille and the headlights, as well as the interiors, fenders, and hood.. are all clearly different over the last 16 years of Super Duty production, which still prevailed with the same cab despite all of the facelifts.

Let me set the rumor straight, since I started it last summer (with no inside information). The rumor is that the new SuperDuty will share the same cab structure, floor, inlaid doors, pillars, back panel, roof skin, glass, pull handles, etc as common interchangeable parts with the new all aluminum F-150. Basically, the same cab.

Of course the grilles will be different. Grilles are a relatively cheap dress. New dress, new truck. Ford has done that for decades, with every midcycle refresh between full body redesigns. Ford is doing that with different models of the new F150, so it stands to reason that Ford will take advantage of such a low cost way to distinguish the Super Duty.

Front fenders will likely be different also, to stylistically accommodate some of the wider front axle widths options of the Super Duty. Ford has changed front fenders and hood several times in the current Super Duty, without altering the cab sheet metal.

The rumor suggests a similar type of evolvement here, where the costs to create an all aluminum cab structure are so significant, it made more cent$ to commonize the cabs (like the old days) across the full size truck line, and just dress them up differently.

When the SuperDuty first came out, it shared the exact same tailgate with the jellybean F-150. Never before or since the years 1998-2003 has the distinction between the F150/250 light duty versus the heavier F-250-550 Super Duty truck body styles been more dramatically different... and yet the tailgates were completely interchangeable.

For the upcoming 2016 model year, a similar commonality may take place on a much larger scale, where entire cab pieces are interchangeable, but the trucks still manage to look (and perform) different enough to fulfill their roles adequately in their respective markets.

 

Saw and sat in a 2015 F-150 yesterday. Was really tempted to run out and get my tape measure to check interior dimensions against a Superduty to see how close the two are. Nice truck, no doubt, and more leg room in the back seat. Seats overall were more comfortable than a SD's.

Lots of nice/neat features like LED lights in the bed, 400W inverter, LED interior lights, more info on dash cluster. I think this truck is going to be real hit. Also, the door panels were indeed stiffer than a 2014's panels.

Adam

 

Funny you mention that. The new 150 is about an inch wider and the roof has been raised about a little over an inch. Sounds about the same size as a superduty.

Edit: Checking the Ford website and the width of both cabs without mirrors is 79.9". Headroom for the 150 is 40.8" and the SD is 40.7".

 

2014 F-250/350/450/550 Super Duty Crew Cab
Front Legroom: 41.1" Rear Legroom: 42.1"

2015 F-150 "Super Crew" Cab
Front Legroom: 43.9" Rear Legroom: 43.6"


Which cab would you rather have?

Would it be fair to say that the new F-150 Super Crew Cab is worthy of Super Duty, because it longer from firewall to rearwall than the current crew cab on the Super Duty?


Take a look at this photo, from a shoot of all the King Ranch models lined up in front of the King Ranch barn:






Which cab looks bigger to you?

Ever since the Taurus like jelly bean years of the F-150 styling between 1997 and 2003, Ford has been aggressively evolving the F-150 design back to looking bigger and "truckier"... ie, more like a Super Duty. From the more angular squared off appearance of each new F150 design, to the dropped down window sill line near the outside rear view mirrors that is a straight copy of the Super Duty, the design "lines" between the two have increasingly blurred and blended.

Prior to 1997, Ford was just like GM & Dodge, using the same cabin from F-100 through F-800. The only difference was hood, fenders, fenderettes, grille, and lower cab skirting. Sometimes there were firewall and dashboard differences to accommodate the different powertrains, but from a passenger enclosure point of view, the cabs were the same. It appears this might happen once again.

If GM and Ram are saving design, validation, crash testing, and production costs building just one cab across all trucks, it seems like a fairly obvious way for Ford to save money, given that consumer acceptance of a common cab in a truck has already been established, as long as the cab doesn't look "wimpy."

Industry experts who sell to consumers did NOT accept the wimpy looking jelly bean style F-150 design for the heavier duty F-Series Super duty, and in my opinion that put Ford between a rock and a ram, because once they re-incarnated the "Super Duty" brand, they couldn't demean the "tougher" image they created in the separated F-250-550 by making their subsequent F-150 have the same cab as the Super Duty. Not until a few design cycles and engineering evolvements made the F150 cab bigger and more attractive than the now dated Super Duty cab. I think 2015 is the design cycle where Ford finally got that done.

I've seen the new 2015 F-150 cab, and personally I would wish for a w i d e r cab in a Super Duty. Cabs in work trucks need to accommodate three grown men across. Men who work with their hands and backs for a living. Men with big arms and broad shoulders. Men draped in Carhart and hard hats, with big feet made bigger by chunky Vibram soles under steel toed thick leather boots. Commuting over unpaved rutted roads to a mine, a fire, or a jobsite, there needs to be room in the cab to seat six of these stinky guys comfortably. The 1973 - 87/91 Chevy/GMC Crew Cab 3+3 design had that kind of width. Haven't seen it since.

 

[QUOTE= Men draped in Carhart and hard hats, with big feet made bigger by chunky Vibram soles under steel toed thick leather boots. [/QUOTE]

I've noticed that I can't get my size 14 boot into the back seat without turning my foot a little. Either the cab needs to get bigger or B pillar needs to move forward.

Interesting on the size of the cabs. Maybe they will share cabs between the 150 and SD lines. A slightly smaller cab would help with aerodynamics and mileage, but I'd still prefer more room front to back in the current SD, like a MegaCabish offering. Side to side, I think there is sufficient room.

Adam

 

I sat in a new 150 yesterday. If they want to mimic the interior of the 150 size and overall look, I'd be extremely happy.

 

X2... I sat in a lifted '15 F150 a couple of weeks ago and was impressed too.

 

Would not hurt the profit margins at all.

 

Interesting. I remember threats where the boxed frame option was discussed, and some made it sound like it would be impossible to do without sacrificing the toughness of the super duty.

I just hope the dimensions are close or even better as the GM boxed frame, which is really strong, a lot stronger as the dodge.

A really strong boxed frame + two massive solide axles would be a very nic plattform for a real offroad monster.

Then again: I also read that the only official statement concerning the frame was, that it should be "befier". This could also mean that they will only make the old open c-profile a bit thicker.