Actual cost of repairing aluminum F150
With all of the debate going on about how much it costs to repair on the the new F150's I found the new article from Consumer reports (link below, I really need to figure out how to do a clicky) to be...
Forum Discussion
IIRC and correct me if wrong...it has been decades since my materials classes...
CRS is worked cold and therefore has a higher strength than HRS from
work hardening and costs more.
There is a 'skin' from the cold rolling process and has some semi protective properties
Hot rolling will leave a scale of oxide that is NOT protective at all
Here is how old my IP is...dealt more with SAE10-20 and 1018 is the closest to an A36
and has a higher tensile strength than A36
Again...IIRC
Again...this is all speculation on my part of how aluminum bodies on ladder frame
for pickups will do in the long term
My main issue is that the bed is also made of aluminum, of which I think not
a good idea
Then the corrosion potential. Not so much for those who live in non-salted
areas.
Even with galvanized steel body panels...there is a huge rust issue. Aluminum
is more reactive than iron and more so in the presence of iron...made worse with
an electrolyte connection...AKA H2O with dissolved minerals (salts)
Back on the OP's question of repair cost...not enough info yet...till more of
them are out and about for several years. Folks who trade every few years will
dodge that bullet...to pass it onto the next owner(s)
Ask how many of you have dents in your steel pickup beds?
The biggest dent in my 1980 Silverado is from someone (don't know who) who
left something untied or not properly tied down...to brake and it slid up to
dent the front of the bed in about 2 inches.
Now hidden by the drop in liner...but many, many years worth of scratches and
dents from using it as a pickup...from the garden supply guy dumping a front
loader's worth of cobble stones (many, many times), etc
Since only on the F150...more for the fashion statement crowd who DOES NOT use
their half tons as pickups, but more as 'cars'...like the guy down the street...
Helped his neighbor build a cobble stone planter and used my Silverado to pick up
the cobble stones at the local garden supply
He loved how it came out and went to the same garden supply and came back almost
in tears...
He went nuts when they dumped that load of cobble stones into his 'car' and that
is how he explained it...well your were using it as a 'pickup TRUCK'...which
then asked me to pick up the next two loads...
CRS is worked cold and therefore has a higher strength than HRS from
work hardening and costs more.
There is a 'skin' from the cold rolling process and has some semi protective properties
Hot rolling will leave a scale of oxide that is NOT protective at all
Here is how old my IP is...dealt more with SAE10-20 and 1018 is the closest to an A36
and has a higher tensile strength than A36
Again...IIRC
Again...this is all speculation on my part of how aluminum bodies on ladder frame
for pickups will do in the long term
My main issue is that the bed is also made of aluminum, of which I think not
a good idea
Then the corrosion potential. Not so much for those who live in non-salted
areas.
Even with galvanized steel body panels...there is a huge rust issue. Aluminum
is more reactive than iron and more so in the presence of iron...made worse with
an electrolyte connection...AKA H2O with dissolved minerals (salts)
Back on the OP's question of repair cost...not enough info yet...till more of
them are out and about for several years. Folks who trade every few years will
dodge that bullet...to pass it onto the next owner(s)
Ask how many of you have dents in your steel pickup beds?
The biggest dent in my 1980 Silverado is from someone (don't know who) who
left something untied or not properly tied down...to brake and it slid up to
dent the front of the bed in about 2 inches.
Now hidden by the drop in liner...but many, many years worth of scratches and
dents from using it as a pickup...from the garden supply guy dumping a front
loader's worth of cobble stones (many, many times), etc
Since only on the F150...more for the fashion statement crowd who DOES NOT use
their half tons as pickups, but more as 'cars'...like the guy down the street...
Helped his neighbor build a cobble stone planter and used my Silverado to pick up
the cobble stones at the local garden supply
He loved how it came out and went to the same garden supply and came back almost
in tears...
He went nuts when they dumped that load of cobble stones into his 'car' and that
is how he explained it...well your were using it as a 'pickup TRUCK'...which
then asked me to pick up the next two loads...
