Beer can pickups

I am also waiting to see how these hold up a few years from now.

dodge guy wrote:

Retired JSO wrote:
I hope Ford gets their act together. A friend of mine had his new f150 smacked in the bed. Body shop tried to repair it but instead, ordered a new bed. Took from January 18 to March 9th to have a bed shipped to Jacksonville. That way too long for such a major part.

Sounds like they either weren't familiar with aluminum repair or had to wait because it's a brand new product! The same would happen with any manuf with a brand new 1st year product aluminum or steel!

As I was complaining to the insurance adjuster about how fragile my fiberglass pick up bed was he explained it wasn't so bad because the fiberglass sides were bolt on parts. He said to be glad I did not have an all aluminum body F-150.
I imagine it will get better but currently there were a lots of issues getting the aluminum bodies fixed in a timely fashion.
Lots of specialty tools and clean rooms required. The fear was corrosion down the road if the trucks were not re-assembled correctly.
Lots of dissimilar metals worries.

Since aluminum sucks so bad why did chevy build the new corvettes frame out of aluminum? I think id rather have a truck that the bed dents and maybe punctures than one where the upper a arm welds are failing

dodge guy wrote:
So, am I to assume that GM owners don't know how to load a load of bricks into a pickup?! And GM is keeping the steel bed for the half witted mouth breathers that say " hey joe bob, just dump that load into my new pickup!" Anyone that would do that deserves to have there license (any type) taken away! Not to mention the fact what contractor worth anything would be using a 1/2 ton for HD work. More than likely every single one of those actors will never put anything more than a couple bags of manure in the bed. An who puts a tool box on the edge of their bedside?!

Ford is moving ahead while GM is hanging by its own noose!

I guess you never owned a work truck, only a grocery getter. While we are always more careful with a new truck, if you have a work truck on a farm or job site stuff happens and things don't always get laid softly in the bed.

Charlie D. wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
After the aluminum Ford got the highest rating in the front crash test and Chevy got a lower rating, they had to come up with something to try to save face.

Not all Fords are created equal. There have been reports here and elsewhere that not all trucks had the reinforcement in the doors that increased the protection.

The 2015 supercab did not have the extra reinforcement that the crew cab had. But it was added for 2016 and earned the highest rating. All other pickups had a poor rating for foot and lower leg protection.
Crash test

Searching_Ut wrote:


Actually most aluminum alloys corrode quite rapidly. If it wasn't for all the corrosion problems with aluminum aircraft I would'nt make the money to buy the camping toys. Out of all the maintenance actions I'm involved in corrosion is probably the most costly.

That's interesting. I wonder what's different about aircraft.

Anecdotally, out here it seems aluminum boats and trailers hold up far better against corrosion than steel boat trailers. Lower quality steel in the boat trailers, perhaps? 30-40 year old aluminum boats are pretty common...

Funny, when I saw the title on this thread, I thought about my GMC.

I am a Chevy guy, but I like Fords too. If anyone thinks aluminum is the greatest thing for trucks they should think a little harder. Aluminum may not rust from salt, but it does corrode ! I will say the best era for Chevy when it came to rust was the mid to late 90's. The new ones seem to rust faster. My 98 with 372,000 Minnesota miles has less rust then many newer trucks. I do try to wash every nook and cranny and flush every weep hole I can get water into though.

A bed liner will firm up the bed quite a bit, especially when sprayed on thick.

BB_TX wrote:
After the aluminum Ford got the highest rating in the front crash test and Chevy got a lower rating, they had to come up with something to try to save face.

Not all Fords are created equal. There have been reports here and elsewhere that not all trucks had the reinforcement in the doors that increased the protection.