700 pounds lighter, Yikes!!!!! I'm saving for it starting right now.

Ford Plans New F-150 Pickup Truck With Aluminum Body

 

I'm guessing the bed will steel be steel, or at least have steel inserts on the inner walls and load floor.

I don't really see any issue with an aluminum body or chassis as long as it's designed and built correctly. Peterbilt has done/does it.

 

The super structures of Coast Guard and Naval ships are aluminum skinned with steel ribs. Light and easier to maintain.

The hood on my Expy was damaged a couple of years ago by my daughter's basketball hoop. The hood could not be repaired, it required a complete replacement. $1100.00 for the hood alone.

The repairs will kill any savings and will likely force the auto insurance industry to possibly raise rates due to the complexity of repair or the cost of replacing body panels. My personal opinion here.

 

Working with aluminum is really not that difficult. It can be bent, beaten, hammered, ground on, welded and sanded just like steel. It's for the most part actually easier to work with then steel. It just requires slightly different tools and technique.

If aluminum takes off, more body shops will get the tools necessary to work on aluminum.

 

they shouldve done this about 80 years ago

 

I'm not hanging my hat on this one. After seeing how long Ford has had issues with the paint on their aluminum liftgates, I wonder if they'll get the paint prep process right. I can see a year or two (maybe) of wiling on the issue, but after that, it's rediculous. A $55-60k truck with cancer after three years is not right. I'm all on board of they prove themselves. Of course, well all be pushing aluminum someday, I'll bet. What ever happened to the plastic body panels?

 

God I hope not. Ford has enough issues getting their current aluminum panels to stay painted as it is.

FYI, Ford has been running aluminum hoods and rear hatches since around 2004. It's been 8 yrs and they still corrode pretty regularly within the 1st year



the weight savings would be nice though

 

Tim,

I sure hope Ford takes the extra steps to prevent dissimilar metal corrosion if they don't build the entire truck out of aluminum. The Coast Guard has not done a good job with this, and it has cost taxpayers a lot of money in repairs to our ships over the years because of it. Our fine Naval Engineers still haven't figured out the simple things like you can't use stainless steel hardware to attach aluminum components to an aluminum superstructure, and mild steel doesn't work well when you bolt it straight to aluminum without any sort of barrier to keep them from touching one another.

 

Yeah, I know what you're saying bro. Three submarines and four CG Cutters in my resume and they still don't learn. Will Ford?

 

Glad to see I'm not the only Permanent Cutterman on these boards. Lol.

 

Guys, It's not like bolting aluminum and iron/steel components together is something new in the automotive world.

Aluminum heads on iron blocks. Aluminum thermostat housings on iron intakes. Aluminum intakes on iron heads. Aluminum transmissions to blocks, aluminum transfer cases to iron transmissions. Aluminum IRS differentials to steel chassis. Aluminum control arms to iron knuckles, etc...Yes there have been issues, but you are making it sound as if components are going to be falling off within a few years...

These trucks are not sitting in a bath of salt water 24/7.

The Ford hood issue turned out to be from iron particles getting on the aluminum panels before they were painted. My friend has a '98 Ranger with a factory aluminum hood. No excess corrosion on it or peeling paint.

 

I'll buy one. No more rust problems! Good enough for me.

 

Could be wrong but I thought my harley davidson truck has an aluminum hood, and my gf's lightning does too doesn't it? Her dads mustang for sure does and all of them have no paint problems after 12 years, the mustang only 6

 

A couple of things, my 97 f-150 had an aluminum hood, never had any problems with it in the 7 years I owned it, audi has been making cars out of it for at least 10 years on the tt if I am not mistaken, all that said, I work in the trucking industry in s.e. mi, the chemicals that wayne county put on the roads in winter eat the equipment up big time, air bag pedistals, fuel tank corrosion issues etc, I think if they apply the correct paints and primers it may not be an issue for rocker panels and floor boards, but at this point I would be a little skeptical about such a vehicle in the northern tier of states, just my thoughts!

 

my 98 expedition hood is good after 14 years and original paint. but i have repaired/painted a few 03-06 expedition hatches with corrosion issues. weird.

it will be interesting to see if the weight savings will make a marked improvement.