Ford Aluminum Body

Jebby14 wrote:
I love mine. no issues. bed liner sprayed in. I actually use it as a truck. Love that chevy attacked ford so hard when the current gen came in 2015 and the new Silverado is a knock off f150. Blue oval all the way.

There it is.......ROFLMA.......

Knew it was just a matter of time lol.

Ford and Chevy have been attacking each other in the marketing dept for what? 50 years? Owning both currently, I can assure you a new Silverado is not even close to a knock off F150, that's an hilarious claim and made my morning. These threads that turn into brand wars are the most entertaining reading you'll ever find on a board.

I love mine. no issues. bed liner sprayed in. I actually use it as a truck. Love that chevy attacked ford so hard when the current gen came in 2015 and the new Silverado is a knock off f150. Blue oval all the way.

Groover wrote:
I have a 40 year old aluminum canoe in my barn right now with no visible corrosion, Yes, aluminum is more likely to burn

Has to be a Grumman? I have a 1978 17' that's been outside it's whole life and other than light surface oxidation that cleans right up if I was not lazy, its perfect. Grumman knew what they were doing.

How do I get aluminum to light? I could save lots of firewood by burning my beer cans.

I had a steel bodied Class B RV burn. End the end, it didn't matter if the skin of the truck melted to the point of a pool of aluminum, or if the steel skin is just charred. In the end both will be totaled, so what does it matter?

Unless you are saying an aluminum skinned vehicle will burn quicker and more often than a steel skinned one.

Charlie D. wrote:
The picture that I was unable to post was an aluminum body F-150 that had caught on fire. It is from the Spirit Lake FD of North Dakota. It can be found on their Facebook page; Spiritlakefire50. Scroll down to March 21, 2017. Perhaps one of you can post it.

mich800 wrote:

Charlie D. wrote:
The picture that I was unable to post was an aluminum body F-150 that had caught on fire. It is from the Spirit Lake FD of North Dakota. It can be found on their Facebook page; Spiritlakefire50. Scroll down to March 21, 2017. Perhaps one of you can post it.

The aluminum body caught on fire? Usually it is something electrical or fuel related that starts a fire.

I am being facetious. I am guessing the vehicle was a total loss much like steel bodied vehicles that burn up.

Or something like a water pump :D

There are lots of alloys of aluminum and while it is correct that the aluminum used in aircraft is not very corrosion resistant many alloys are. I have a 40 year old aluminum canoe in my barn right now with no visible corrosion, a 12 year old horse trailer with the 90% that is aluminum in mint condition while the 10% that is steel is rusting and my brother just took a 1956 Feathercraft boat to the river to pull skiers and it is in great shape. I don't expect my aluminum truck body to rust and as much as I hate to admit it I have put several scratches in the paint but at least none have corroded so after 2 years. Aluminum absorbs more energy when bending than steel so your odds of surviving a wreck in a car with lots of aluminum is better than in an all steel car even though the car itself may suffer more damage. Yes, aluminum is more likely to burn but anybody in the truck at that point probably wasn't going to survive anyway.

Charlie D. wrote:
The picture that I was unable to post was an aluminum body F-150 that had caught on fire. It is from the Spirit Lake FD of North Dakota. It can be found on their Facebook page; Spiritlakefire50. Scroll down to March 21, 2017. Perhaps one of you can post it.

The aluminum body caught on fire? Usually it is something electrical or fuel related that starts a fire.

I am being facetious. I am guessing the vehicle was a total loss much like steel bodied vehicles that burn up.

The picture that I was unable to post was an aluminum body F-150 that had caught on fire. It is from the Spirit Lake FD of North Dakota. It can be found on their Facebook page; Spiritlakefire50. Scroll down to March 21, 2017. Perhaps one of you can post it.

Hammerboy wrote:
Well let's talk about it anyway, Seen a couple videos on YouTube from Big Truck Big RV I believe where they did in experiment tearing the metal on a aluminum Ford and a steel Chevy I believe. I was amazed how easy the aluminum tor in comparison to the steel. Ford owners, what has been your experience with dents and such?

Dan

The Aluminum on my 2018 has been a non issue so far. Waxed it just like I would any other vehicle.

The aluminum hood on my 2002 Explorer has also been a non issue. I suppose if the hood has survived 16 years of service without issues, the body on my new Super Duty doesn't keep me up nights. No dents so I can't speak to that thus far.

If the Aluminum is hit hard enough to be torn, the damage will be significant to the steel body as well, so I guess I don't really care about that. My aim is to avoid accidents and body work, no matter what alloy the metal is made of.

wilber1 wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Even if it dents easier, at least it won't rust away.

Yeah, if you use the bed really hard that's not great but put a bed liner or a sheet of 1/2" plywood in the bottom and throwing cement blocks in the back is not an issue.

Pure aluminum is quite corrosion resistant but alloys aren't. Alloy manufacturers often put a thin layer of pure aluminum on top of the alloy for corrosion resistance, called Alclad. Even so, float planes in salt water are a continuous battle against corrosion. Still, more manufacturers will be using more aluminum. Land Rover has been using it for bodies since the forties, believe it or not because there was a steel shortage in post war Britain and they have been using aluminum ever since.

I understood that pure metals are rarely used in manufacturing, as alloys combine the strengths of the metals to create more desirable characteristics. Of course chosen to exploit the strengths, and mitigate the weaknesses of the metals present.

valhalla360 wrote:
Even if it dents easier, at least it won't rust away.

Yeah, if you use the bed really hard that's not great but put a bed liner or a sheet of 1/2" plywood in the bottom and throwing cement blocks in the back is not an issue.

Dents don't really bother me. The steel bed in my Ram has some and it seems to dent pretty easily. But who cares? It's a truck bed.

Holes would bother me. That seems to be the bigger problem with the aluminum bed and body, whether it's from dropping something in the bed or tearing off your antenna.