I don't have a scale close by George, but it's been close the times I've weighed them. Subtracting the two gives you the curb weight if the stickers are accurate.

 

You really should get close, but I've never found it "that" close. There is usually a fairly large margin of difference. There was a long thread some years back where F150's with 20" wheels had really low payloads (like under 1000 lbs of payload) and I don't think the GVW's were lowered. My new Grand Caravan has about 400 lbs of difference based on advertised curb weight.

George

 

Well there was a time when trucks were rated as such.

1/2 ton =1000 pounds of load capacity
3/4 ton = 1500 of load capacity
and so on....

So that F150 was remaining true to it's roots. However, my old F150, I had a few weight records from dump runs, I only had 800 pounds of legal weight capacity. So that means I was more of a 1/4 ton truck. My father had 1.1 tons of pea gravel in his Ranger which 1/4 ton rated truck at point.

So 1/2 ton is a hold over from an earlier time.

 

I'm a holdover from an older time myself, Fordman.

But the world changed a long time ago. In 1975, the F100 and Chevy C10 gave birth to the F150 and C15 "heavy halfs" which pushed their GVW over 6000 lbs so they could use less restrictive smog regulations. This put their capacity at over 2000 lbs. (I bought a new '78 F100 with a 5400 lb GVW package and the truck weighed ~3600 lbs, so I had 1800 lbs of capacity.)

And the E150 vans after 2006 became 8-lug vans with GVW's over 8500 lbs (again to get into a higher category under smog rules) so a short 2007 E150 cargo van has a payload over 3300 lbs... The E350 maxes out at 4000 lbs of payload.

So the half, 3/4, and one ton ratings got really approximate many years ago and trucks carry a lot more than these weights. F150's can pull trailers weighing 10k lbs, which means they can carry a half ton of tongue weight alone.

Back to aluminum beds.

George

 

Saw the commercial today on the Velocity channel.

The incredulous look on the owners of the Ford aluminum F150's was priceless in the bar I was in at the time. One of them was a landscaper and was clearly PO'ed. His exact words were "I just bought a POS and it's going back to the mother beepin dealer in the morning!".

That was enough to tell me that the ad is a huge success for GM and on heck of a problem for Ford.

You know the nasty thing about aluminum sheet metal is that once it damaged it will tear and crack at crazy rates.

I think aluminum F150 are going to have serious rebates quick fast and in a hurry as Ford tries to stop the hemmoraging.

Ain't lookin so hot right now for the 17 SD either. Certainly don't see the BS aluminum marketing for those trucks...

 

Right, but I'm not talking advertised curb weight.

2013 F150 - GVWR 7,650 lbs. Sticker payload 1,794 lbs.
2015 F150 - GVWR 7,000 lbs. Sticker payload 1,830 lbs.

I have images of all stickers of both trucks, I'm happy to post them if you wish.

Advertised curbs aren't anywhere close to reality for anything but completely stripped down base trucks. I've never seen two door stickers with the same payload, and I've heard from some that they are weighed at the factory before printing. Can't corroborate that, but I'm absolutely certain the door sticker payload is MUCH more accurate than any published curb weight.

 

I'm in rep jail with you, Tom, but if Ford is able to do what you suggest with regard to sticker payload netting out of GVW, it's more accurate than I've been led to believe. I'll have to see if I can find that old thread on disappointing F150 payloads and see what the GVW's looked like.

Back to aluminum---

As for the disappointment with the aluminum beds, superrangerman, this specific kind of incident might poke a hole thru an aluminum bed, but I have a few 3 lb aluminum bicycle frames with tubes barely thicker than beer cans that I have ridden 5000-10000 miles each, with my weight being 230+ lbs. Pretty impressive IMO. No holes or cracks. I have cracked a steel frame and my bicycle racer son has fatigued the crap out of a couple carbon fiber frames. Watching bicycle races for the last 20 years, I am really impressed at how strong and reliable 6000 and 7000 series aluminum alloys are in frames and wheel rims.

I am also impressed by aluminum in high end cars, in airplanes, aluminum semi trailers, aluminum boats, etc. Think of aluminum radiators, AC condensers, intercoolers, etc. they are under more than a bit of pressure and stress. Think of your pistons and engine block.

I suppose I would be worried about dropping a tool box in an aluminum fishing boat, for instance, but that just does not happen very often. As a Boy Scout dad, I watched and participated in blasting river rocks in rental aluminum canoes that keep going for years.

Our local ANG base flies A10 Warthogs which are primarily aluminum and those planes have come back from combat with more than a few holes in them from anti-aircraft fire. Heck, they make aluminum dump truck bodies (although they use 3/16" floors per the specs on this site) http://www.rstruckbody.com/godwin-al...odies-land.php

I have lost many steel vehicles to rust in my 46+ years of driving, so I like the idea of body panels that won't rust away. Rust is a far bigger worry for me than the potential of holes in a pickup bed due to abuse. If you do poke a hole in an aluminum pickup bed, you could have a patch welded in, or epoxy and rivet in a patch just like they do in semi trailer tears.... I'd just protect the bed if I was gonna dump square concrete blocks in from 6'.

George

 

I have lost many steel vehicles to rust in my 46+ years of driving, so I like the idea of body panels that won't rust away. Rust is a far bigger worry for me than the potential of holes in a pickup bed due to abuse. If you do poke a hole in an aluminum pickup bed, you could have a patch welded in, or epoxy and rivet in a patch just like they do in semi trailer tears.... I'd just protect the bed if I was gonna dump square concrete blocks in from 6'.
YoGeorge, I mostly agree with you, but, I work in a large truck fleet in s.e.mi, around 12 to 14 years and the aluminum semi trailers start to perforate in the frames and the panels, the aluminum cabs and fixtures in those cabs start to rot out in about 10 to 12 years and do require sheet metal repairs, mind you these are fleet trucks and live a very tough life, do not get treated like a persons personal vehicle, they are in the salt and muck far more than non commercial equipment, that said, I bought a 2015, I understand what maintenance is required to get long life, real world, most people will not do that to their truck like shown in the Chevrolet commercial, not at the prices these things cost.

 

If you believe the GM commercial that much than you probably fell head over heels for this one: Throwback Video: Jack Palance Introduces the 1997 F-150 in Grand Fashion - F150online.com

 

[QUOTE=Hootbro;16343652]Engineering trick or are these aluminum beds that crappy?

I put a line-X bed liner in my 2006 to stop rust and damage. I learned the military used the product to spray on cinder block walls to help bomb proof them. I had the liner for 10 years had no rust no dents. I put the liner in my 2016 F150, not to stop the rust but for the impact protection. It seems to do the job. I have dragged dropped and carried some heavy stuff, with no ill effects. BOTTOM LINE: I had to put a good quality liner in my steel bed, I did the same with the aluminum bed. The only difference I noticed with the Alum. is that my new truck is getting 14 mpg city, before it is broken in, and my old steel body got 10 mpg on a good day after break in.

 

Look at this logically for a moment.
Most airplanes and helicopters for decades and decades have been made of aluminum.
Peterbilt semi trucks for some 50 plus years made from aluminum bodies.
How many trailers are aluminum.
Boats take such a beating its crazy how good they stand up fo it.
If my aluminum jet boats and all the people who I know all have aluminum jet boats and we smash them over logs, gravel bars, bounce them off of huge rocks and river banks and more...if they were fragile we would smash holes in the bottom and sink every time we were out.
I don't slow down to hit stuff, i speed up to make sure I have the momentum to slide across it.
See a gravel bar ahead and only doing 40 mph I hammer the throttle and make that supercharged 6.2 scream and slide across it from momentum.
Next time you are on a jet over the ocean and nearest land is 1000 miles away and its getting bounced around hard in a storm and hit by lightening, remember its a tough plane its made of aluminum.
So sit back and relax.
My helicopters are only aluminum.
As are my fuel trailers that get towed an incredible amount of miles each year behind the Peterbilts with 62000 liters of Jet A1 on each trip.
They are aluminum tanks not steel.
But without a doubt what convinced me that aluminumis incredibly strong, is boats.
We don't even try to be gentle to them.
If they can handle the beating of a river boat....the rest is nothing.

Ps. To all spelling police sorry for the typos and them getting your panties in a wad.

 

ok heres how i look at it,as a past bodyman and now a landscape company owner,first,its easier to change body mount bolts that cab corners and rocker panels. sencondly, if you are getting loader buckets full of stone in the bed of your f150 you bought the wrong truck! you need a cab and chassis...even with my f250 i would never load the truck with a loader,pickups are not meant to take that abuse..have you looked at how most bed rails are made?and floor supports?

 

I hauled about 7 pickup loads of dirt in my 2016 f15 3 weeks ago all loaded by a Cat skid steer loader.....difference is I am not a retard and i lower the bucket down as low as i can without hit the box side, then tip the bucket as I gentle lift it.
6 loads and no holes or dents.
If you're dropping it from that height the beating is to more than just the box.....imagine when the weight lands what the suspension takes for a hit as well, and the frame etc.
Only a total moron would drop stuff from 6 feet into their pickup....so don't let a moron load your truck.
Why not drive your truck around a motocross course jumping it as well if you want to wreck it so bad.
See how well it does landing from jumps after its 10 feet in the air.

The most telling part of that ad is this....notice they didn't try to drive off with anything in the chevy after...probably couldn't get it to start so just end the ad.
Oh and for spelling cops here is the word in a capital C.....Chevy....or should I say Cheby....☺

 

I think there are to "b's" in chebby.

 

When I was 5, my parents built me a sandbox. To get sand, my dad used his 1990 GMC Sierra K1500, extended cab, 6.5' box and got the sand from Cemenstone in Savage. Probably close to 1.5 tons in the bed. It was loaded with a John Deere 3020 diesel with a loader. Not once did the guy have the bucket more than 2' over the bed rails.