Actual cost of repairing aluminum F150

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...

4X4Dodger wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
It comes down to if you want a truck built out of high strength rolled steel or aluminum.

What is built out of high strength rolled steel? Hulls of Submarines.

What is built out of aluminum? Beer cans.

:B :B :B :B

With respect you might want to be careful what you believe from commercials. I've seen that GM Commercial and laughed.

"Rolled" steel comes in two basic types HRS and CRS Hot Rolled and Cold rolled. The kind your car uses is generally CRS. It is the cheapest, weakest and most easily worked A36 CRS.

Submarines Hulls are made of a variety of steels depending on whether it's the inner pressure hull Usually titanium or other high strength steel or the outer hull (NON Pressure.)

All steel is initially "Rolled" into either sheets or plates at the mill. (differing thickness) Often times those plates are "Rolled again to form shapes.

Aluminum is, on a WEIGHT basis, STRONGER than Steel. Think for a minute about the wing spars of the 747. Not only do they hold up the aircraft and its load and fuel, they flex continually and have worked for many many years with NO problems. (there goes the beer can analogy)

I am afraid that you have been taken in by a knowingly misleading marketing campaign designed to play upon the fact that most American Truck buyers dont know A36 CRS from toilet paper.

The maximum takeoff weight of a 747 freighter is 875,000 lbs. Class 8 truck bodies and many other vehicles are made of Aluminum...It is plenty strong enough for a Pick up truck.

T&P prefers his trucks made out of spaghettio cans rather than beer cans. :W

hone eagle wrote:
So call the ford parts desk and prove everybody wrong

Perhaps you could do me a favor and get pricing for Aluminum vs. steel and post it. The You Tube that I could not remember was posted by Edmunds and involved a sledge hammer and had the work performed by a Ford dealer.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
It comes down to if you want a truck built out of high strength rolled steel or aluminum.

What is built out of high strength rolled steel? Hulls of Submarines.

What is built out of aluminum? Beer cans.

:B :B :B :B

With respect you might want to be careful what you believe from commercials. I've seen that GM Commercial and laughed.

"Rolled" steel comes in two basic types HRS and CRS Hot Rolled and Cold rolled. The kind your car uses is generally CRS. It is the cheapest, weakest and most easily worked A36 CRS.

Submarines Hulls are made of a variety of steels depending on whether it's the inner pressure hull Usually titanium or other high strength steel or the outer hull (NON Pressure.)

All steel is initially "Rolled" into either sheets or plates at the mill. (differing thickness) Often times those plates are "Rolled again to form shapes.

Aluminum is, on a WEIGHT basis, STRONGER than Steel. Think for a minute about the wing spars of the 747. Not only do they hold up the aircraft and its load and fuel, they flex continually and have worked for many many years with NO problems. (there goes the beer can analogy)

I am afraid that you have been taken in by a knowingly misleading marketing campaign designed to play upon the fact that most American Truck buyers dont know A36 CRS from toilet paper.

The maximum takeoff weight of a 747 freighter is 875,000 lbs. Class 8 truck bodies and many other vehicles are made of Aluminum...It is plenty strong enough for a Pick up truck.

Charlie D. wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:
Interesting quote from the CR article:

"However, Consumer Reports’ own analysis shows that the aluminum parts on the F-150 cost about the same as steel parts on last year's truck, and because the new F-150 is designed to make replacing panels easier, in many cases labor charges may be lower."

And you believe CR? I have seen several You Tube videos fro reputable (?) sources that say just the opposite.

So call the ford parts desk and prove everybody wrong

I imagine many of the sheet metal parts on the GM models are stamped. I'm surprised they aren't claiming them to be forged. That's gotta be stronger than rolled steel. :)

Ron3rd wrote:
Interesting quote from the CR article:

"However, Consumer Reports’ own analysis shows that the aluminum parts on the F-150 cost about the same as steel parts on last year's truck, and because the new F-150 is designed to make replacing panels easier, in many cases labor charges may be lower."

And you believe CR? I have seen several You Tube videos fro reputable (?) sources that say just the opposite.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Aaaaaa so that's GM's plan!!! To make their next truck out of titanium!! Now that will foil Fords plan to dominate the world!








(of course a truck will then cost me 4.5 million dollars and drive insurance rates up even more) :M

I heard Ford also bought Geico when they bought Cummings? :B Those guy's at Ford are really smart!!

Well if they bought Cummings at least they didn't buy Cummin's Diesel engines.

Cost to do repairs is factored into the amount you have to pay for insurance. Cars and trucks that are more expensive to repair will have that cost passed on to the owners in terms of higher premiums. To bad that is not done with health insurance.

spoon059 wrote:

8iron wrote:
Is "rolled steel" comparable to " high grade aircraft aluminum"? Or merely propaganda created by Madison Ave. targeting the lesser intellects that lap this stuff up?

Why am I picturing Corinthian leather...?

Thanks spoon. It took a lot not to include that in my first fit of sarcasm.