Aluminum body damage video

Maybe we should go back to wood PU bed floors!

"Sheetmetal" includes any kind of metal...aluminum too... :S


Military grade is similar in misconception...6061T is used by the military and can be marketed when used in non-military applications as "military grade" aluminum...pure marketing to those not in the know (not educated on the matter)

As said in the initial days of Fords announcement...aluminum is a GREAT material in the proper application, but...IMHO...not for a pickups bed

Why Ford made (according to this video) made the bed thicker than steel 'sheetmetal'... :R

Tensile strength and hardness/toughness for this application is not up to that task

Anyone have a aluminum shovel used for dirt/gravel/etc...other than one made for snow/horse poop/etc ?

Or a chisel, center punch, hacksaw blade, pocket knife blade, etc ? There is a reason for that...

Carbon fiber is nothing more than fiberglass (think window glass spun into fine fibers), but with a higher tensile strength fiber. The binder resins are better than the stuff in fiberglass, but still a resin Bill thanks for bringing that into this discussion...and wonder if folks believe every word... :B

Ditto any of the other materials that are *WONDERFUL* for another application, but IMHO, not a good idea for a working pickup bed

I thought I saw recently GM was going to carbon fiber, for the beds anyways. The article was talking about when they dropped bricks into the bed they had to chain them together because they were bouncing out and almost hitting the observers.

Bill