Ford Aluminum Body

ol' yeller wrote:

Powerdude wrote:
Hey, you can take those burned out steel shells, reinstall the hardware, paint them, and they'll be as good as new.

A friend of mine got a burned out door shell from a junkyard way back. He just reinstalled all the rubber and plastic parts, the glass, re-painted it, and it was fine !

Can't do that with an aluminum door.

Heat warps steel and also ruins the hardness of the steel. That's why you'd be hard pressed to find a good body shop that would use a burned part from a steel body for a repair. Also prior poster makes a good point about adhesives.

Somehow I think one would be replacing a lot more than some hardware to restore a total burned vehicle. Maybe in a vehicle that had a small fire but not one that was completely engulfed.

I see you are talking about just parts on the entire vehicle. In that case sure no problem.

Now I'm confused, was it the Titan or the Tundra that had brake and rear differential issues?

colliehauler wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
I have never seen a drivable truck after a major fire steel or aluminum so what difference does fire make?

X2. FORD'S getting the same treatment the 2007 Tundra 5.7 got when it first burst on the scene with class leading 381 hp and 401 ft lbs of torque. The Tundra dominated every towing shootout by every major magazine. It destroyed the badly outdated and underpowered F150 so completely that Ford, grasping at straws, launched their "fully boxed frame" campaign. Remember how they showed their frame did not flex and the Tundra'so frame so badly it had to be a "toy truck"? Ford's getting a taste of their own medicine!

Toyota had their growing pains as well, under sized brakes and rear differential if I remember correctly.

True. Then they came out with the second generation Tundra which had the biggest brakes and diff in its class

Hey Fordlover...THANKS for the post and video...too technical for most on this forum...give me a headache trying...

Also lost is the fact that most adhesives never stop hardening over time. More so if a catalyst is involved...to become brittle over time...

Ditto most metals...they become brittle over time...

It has been decades since college classes on metallurgy and strength of materials classes...laws of physics don't change...just new ones discovered all the time...though going down into the nano realm...they do change...

Powerdude wrote:
Hey, you can take those burned out steel shells, reinstall the hardware, paint them, and they'll be as good as new.

A friend of mine got a burned out door shell from a junkyard way back. He just reinstalled all the rubber and plastic parts, the glass, re-painted it, and it was fine !

Can't do that with an aluminum door.

Heat warps steel and also ruins the hardness of the steel. That's why you'd be hard pressed to find a good body shop that would use a burned part from a steel body for a repair. Also prior poster makes a good point about adhesives.

Powerdude wrote:
Hey, you can take those burned out steel shells, reinstall the hardware, paint them, and they'll be as good as new.

A friend of mine got a burned out door shell from a junkyard way back. He just reinstalled all the rubber and plastic parts, the glass, re-painted it, and it was fine !

Can't do that with an aluminum door.

Jeesh, seems like a bit of a reach doesn't it? Is that really how you make your vehicle purchase decisions?

..Well gee let's see, if Brand A catches on fire and is a total loss, the junk yard will be able to sell the tailgate and fender, so that the truck can live on in the form of some other cobbled together disaster project. Brand B would melt to be unusable, so I should get brand A. :W :B

Either way, it's not uncommon for the door shells to be attached to the frame with epoxies and sealants, and sound deadening material, which would be very unlikely to survive a fire. It wouldn't bother me to salvage a door from a 1970's Chevy, but anything modern? no thanks, Burn, burn to the ground I say.

Here is a bit of video for those who struggle with the concept of metal weakening before it hits melting point, or those of us who some time might have elapsed since materials class in college.
Video

TTCrewmax wrote:

colliehauler wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
I have never seen a drivable truck after a major fire steel or aluminum so what difference does fire make?

X2. FORD'S getting the same treatment the 2007 Tundra 5.7 got when it first burst on the scene with class leading 381 hp and 401 ft lbs of torque. The Tundra dominated every towing shootout by every major magazine. It destroyed the badly outdated and underpowered F150 so completely that Ford, grasping at straws, launched their "fully boxed frame" campaign. Remember how they showed their frame did not flex and the Tundra'so frame so badly it had to be a "toy truck"? Ford's getting a taste of their own medicine!

Toyota had their growing pains as well, under sized brakes and rear differential if I remember correctly.

Don't pull the tundra into this mess! BTW - it was the Titan that had brake and rear diff problems.

The biggest problem the Tundra had when it released in '07 was camshaft and AIP problems.

Evidently I did not remember correctly. Did not pay to much attention because they were to small for my RV.

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Fordlover wrote:


But seriously, I don't ever want a vehicle back after a fire, being stolen, or really even a wreck unless pretty minor,

So if you buy a 2018 truck for say 60K, and you whack a deer and do 15K damage to the front bumper, grill, and fender, maybe tweak the frame horn a little requiring them to put it on the jig. Probably both headlight assemblies and a multitude of brackets, coolers and a ton of plastic. You're then going to unload it taking whatever loss which would most likely be huge? Nowdays a 15 to 20K deer hit is not uncommon.

Just curious.

It is true, I wouldn't want it back. I might have to take it back, but I wouldn't want to. I'd say 95% of body repair work isn't done to the quality of what rolls off the assembly time.

I worked at a dealership for several years and I developed a good eye for body/paint work, even good bodywork and paint work was easy for me to spot. I guess you can say my faith in quality and workmanship/pride in my fellow man has waned as I've grown older.

colliehauler wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
I have never seen a drivable truck after a major fire steel or aluminum so what difference does fire make?

X2. FORD'S getting the same treatment the 2007 Tundra 5.7 got when it first burst on the scene with class leading 381 hp and 401 ft lbs of torque. The Tundra dominated every towing shootout by every major magazine. It destroyed the badly outdated and underpowered F150 so completely that Ford, grasping at straws, launched their "fully boxed frame" campaign. Remember how they showed their frame did not flex and the Tundra'so frame so badly it had to be a "toy truck"? Ford's getting a taste of their own medicine!

Toyota had their growing pains as well, under sized brakes and rear differential if I remember correctly.

Don't pull the tundra into this mess! BTW - it was the Titan that had brake and rear diff problems.

The biggest problem the Tundra had when it released in '07 was camshaft and AIP problems.

If my trucks catch fire, I hope they burn to the ground because I don't want them back, either.

As far as dings, they claim it's more dent resistant the the steel models. And based on how thin the sheet metal is getting on trucks to make them lighter, I believe it. You can watch a steel hood flex with the wind on the highway or going through the blower at a car wash. The aluminum is thicker.