First 2017 Super duty pic?
#136
09-09-2015, 08:28 AM
Cargo Master
Funny.
PACCAR has been using aluminum for their cabs and Peterbilts hoods for decades. Mack, who used to be all steel finally switched over to aluminum before going out of business because no one would buy a steel bodied tractor.
Some of these class 8 trucks have millions and millions of miles and decades of use on a single aluminum cab and hood. I don't remember a Peterbilt hood falling apart, especially since there are a couple dozen of them outside of my door.
I wonder why enormous truck manufacturers like PACCAR or Freightliner stick with long lasting and proven aluminum when your local body shop is obviously so much more intelligent than educated class 8 design engineers with millions of examples running up and down the road every day.
It's also amazing to see 99% use of Alcoa aluminum wheels on almost everything on the road today, when steel is so much more appealing and longer lasting..
Puzzling....
PACCAR has been using aluminum for their cabs and Peterbilts hoods for decades. Mack, who used to be all steel finally switched over to aluminum before going out of business because no one would buy a steel bodied tractor.
Some of these class 8 trucks have millions and millions of miles and decades of use on a single aluminum cab and hood. I don't remember a Peterbilt hood falling apart, especially since there are a couple dozen of them outside of my door.
I wonder why enormous truck manufacturers like PACCAR or Freightliner stick with long lasting and proven aluminum when your local body shop is obviously so much more intelligent than educated class 8 design engineers with millions of examples running up and down the road every day.
It's also amazing to see 99% use of Alcoa aluminum wheels on almost everything on the road today, when steel is so much more appealing and longer lasting..
Puzzling....
#137
09-09-2015, 09:37 AM
The aluminum hood on my '09 F150 still looks new, as do the aluminum fenders, hood and trunk of my '04 Thunderbird. (The other panels on both are steel and they look new as well.) Both seem to work just fine. If the aluminum drops 700#-1000# off the super duty (and adds as much payload), that sounds great to me.
Same strength, less weight, more payload, more trailering capacity, better mileage, faster... hard call
Same strength, less weight, more payload, more trailering capacity, better mileage, faster... hard call
#138
09-09-2015, 02:19 PM
I seen the picture above, that's enough.
I don't have to see Caitly Jenner in person to know he's fugly, just like I don't need to wait to see a new SD in person to know the picture isn't lying about those weird head lights.
I don't have to see Caitly Jenner in person to know he's fugly, just like I don't need to wait to see a new SD in person to know the picture isn't lying about those weird head lights.
#139
09-09-2015, 03:37 PM
Senior User
#141
09-09-2015, 04:55 PM
Senior User
ok my friend you win, I'm done. You're just saying stuff to try and get a rise out of people now, nothing you just said makes any sense. You want repetitive get a Dodge, they've gone virtually unchanged since 94'. The new Superduty's have different body lines, hoods, grills, lights ect. I had a 99'... nothing alike. Sigh...anyway, I just can't argue with or waste energy on incompetence. ...you may now have the last word.
Incompetence would be buying a turd to be different. To the rest of us, especially when investing $50-75k into a truck performance, durability, and options is what matters. If Ford wants to retain sales they better start checking the bread and butter sales or they can just put out whatever and watch their sales plummet. I'm not going to buy a car or truck just because it's a Ford, or Dodge, or Ferrari. Diehards really kill engineering progress and forward thought.
#143
09-10-2015, 12:37 AM
Fleet Mechanic
Mack is still very much in business, though they were taken over by Volvo (truck, not car) some years ago. Mack still uses a galvanized steel cab as do many Volvo's. International uses a steel cab on the TerraStar, DuraStar, ProStar, TranStar, WorkStar and LoneStar. Oh yeah, and all the Western Stars have steel cabs too. Nothing wrong with a steel cab on a class 8 semi, though there is a weight penalty. In fact, steel cabs are generally preferred on heavy duty on/off road vocational trucks for durability reasons.
Of course this has nothing to do with Ford's choice to go with aluminum on their pickups, it's an apples and oranges comparison.
#144
09-10-2015, 05:00 AM
Don't worry about aluminum boys. GM has signed contracts to start aluminum body production by 2018. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...S5Q_5o_vUDhOJw
There's a dozen or so links all dated for Feb 2014 that confirm this.
There's a dozen or so links all dated for Feb 2014 that confirm this.
#145
09-10-2015, 08:49 AM
And everyone will know the secret that's really hiding under the fenders.
#146
09-17-2015, 11:37 AM
#147
09-17-2015, 12:45 PM
Hotshot
The reality is that you now own a brand new, over weight two decade old designed truck that looks the same when parked next to a 1999 SD.. As soon as the new one parks next you yours, you will know what I'm talking about.
It hauls less, is very inefficient and takes more effort to stop.
If you understand trucking, class 8 fleet trucks are speced for the load they carry.
A tanker for example will be paid on the amount of weight it delivers. The more liquid cargo it can carry, the more money it makes.
Same can be said by any LTL freight.
That's why you see stripped down tractors and trailers running light wide based singles dominating the highways today, and nothing added that interferes with actual cargo potential. Even the engines are now smaller to save weight, hence the CGI Paccar MX series. Aluminum fixed 5th wheels, under body exhaust, light weight cabs and hoods. Everything done is a more efficient manner. The Peterbilt 389 and the Kenworth W900L sales are falling off the charts. Light weight doesn't change the safety habits at all, in fact it's much safer by having less unladen end weight to have to stop.
Removing 700 lbs will enhance the amount of weight the new truck can tow, and it will haul more, handle better, use less fuel and will never rust. GM is now rumored to be going aluminum on their next gen large SUVs in 2018.
Guess what will follow? Probably everything.....
Today, GM may be using the "strength of rolled steel" ad campaign to plant doubt in your head, which they have successfully done, but they will be singing a different tune shortly.
It hauls less, is very inefficient and takes more effort to stop.
If you understand trucking, class 8 fleet trucks are speced for the load they carry.
A tanker for example will be paid on the amount of weight it delivers. The more liquid cargo it can carry, the more money it makes.
Same can be said by any LTL freight.
That's why you see stripped down tractors and trailers running light wide based singles dominating the highways today, and nothing added that interferes with actual cargo potential. Even the engines are now smaller to save weight, hence the CGI Paccar MX series. Aluminum fixed 5th wheels, under body exhaust, light weight cabs and hoods. Everything done is a more efficient manner. The Peterbilt 389 and the Kenworth W900L sales are falling off the charts. Light weight doesn't change the safety habits at all, in fact it's much safer by having less unladen end weight to have to stop.
Removing 700 lbs will enhance the amount of weight the new truck can tow, and it will haul more, handle better, use less fuel and will never rust. GM is now rumored to be going aluminum on their next gen large SUVs in 2018.
Guess what will follow? Probably everything.....
Today, GM may be using the "strength of rolled steel" ad campaign to plant doubt in your head, which they have successfully done, but they will be singing a different tune shortly.
#148
09-24-2015, 01:48 PM
Hotshot
#150
09-24-2015, 02:37 PM
I think you're right. However, it seems like whenever Ford announces some change that will bring about "increased fuel economy"....it translates into BS in real life....take the 2015 upgrades for example...not only did they fail to deliver better economy, they actually made it worse.