I found this interesting. it may be a repeat here or over at the F150 side. what are your thoughts if they were to do this on our 7.3 ?
https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motora...161112760.html

 

Ford has been testing aluminum bodies (across many platforms) since the 90s. I didn't know that until after the new F150 came out.

 

I would wonder why Ford was in my shop changing body parts on my 15 year old pickup.

 

All kinds of problems would prairie dog - electrolysis. Any time you mix metals, you have to insulate the metals from each other to prevent electrolysis, or strategically install and maintain a sacrificial metal - like a zinc anode. People in the boating world are very familiar with this, because sea water hurries the corrosion process along.

If you have an aluminum frame and body, that simplifies things - a bit. You still have to deal with grounding the engine to the frame, which is counter to preventing electrolysis. People in the desert would fare better, but those in humid climates and places where they salt the roads in the winter would be lucky to keep their vehicles as long as they do now.

 

Back in the 80's Kenworth experimented with an aluminum frame. And for some years afterwards, used aluminum in various places like crossmember mounts in an attempt to reduce weight. Electrolysis was a big problem. I still see that today where people run steel wheels on the inside with aluminum wheels on the outside. Also steel wheels on aluminum hubs. Aluminum is good for recycling, but not much else. It's terrible for cooking, bottling softdrinks and beer, and can't conduct electricity as well as copper.