2015 Ford F-150 Aluminum Bed

[Community Alumni]

Here's a video from Ford displaying the strength of their new aluminum bed when compared to the steel bed. They got a few athletes to throw and shoot a few things at it and compared the damage from each. It's not a practical test, but interesting nevertheless. The action starts at the 1:30 mark.

The 2015 Ford F-150 takes on Top Athletes

[hone_eagle]

N-Trouble wrote:

gmcsmoke wrote:
Toyota should feel proud ford copied a tundra and called it a 2015 F-150

Huh???

check the date and time

[AlmostAnOldGuy]

JIMNLIN wrote:
Time and miles and body repair shops charges will tell the tale on Fords move to aluminum to save weight.
However unless Fords raises the small 4050 RAWR on the max tow package the new owners won't be able to carry 700 more pounds in the bed with out exceeding RAWR/tire load capacities.

Its going to be interesting to see the GAWR/GVWR specs for this new truck.

Here are the numbers.

Ford 2015 F150 specs


P.S. JIMNLIN - I like your Will Rogers quote.

[womps]

Let me guess. Ford has taken their best selling vehicle, wait, best selling vehicle period and redesigned it using aluminum. Do we actually think they would have taken this huge gamble without doing their research? They make from $5,000. to $8,000. profit on every F150 sold. You can bet your bippy tons of research went into this vehicle and it's use of aluminum before it was given the green light for production.

[colliehauler]

Haven't they used aluminum hoods in the auto industry for years?

[jevanb]

MARKW8 wrote:

otrfun wrote:

MARKW8 wrote:
I want to see one after 5+ years in the rust belt. See how it holds up against corrosion.

Mark

Don't need to wait. Look around the salt-infested parking lot of any boat ramp on the east and west coast. The difference in corrosion between steel and aluminum trailers is pretty hard to miss--especially on the boat trailers that use a combination of steel and aluminum components.

I would expect Ford to make more effort than most any trailer mfg to deter corrosion.

Mark

Acft manufactures know the best when it comes to corrosion prevention, and in my field (maint manager for a airline) we deal with this issue all the time, I don't see a aluminum body truck lasting 5 plus years in MI, if the base metal is exposed it will corrode, so unless they can keep it covered and the rocks or what ever gets thrown at it from chipping the paint/primer, it might be ok. Time will tell..

[hone_eagle]

Large yacht builders have been making steel hulls with aluminum decks since the late '50s.The problems and solutions are well understood ,isolate or bond (perfectly) both work,its a matter of keeping oxygen away.
simple

[N-Trouble]

gmcsmoke wrote:
Toyota should feel proud ford copied a tundra and called it a 2015 F-150

Huh???

[MARKW8]

otrfun wrote:

MARKW8 wrote:

otrfun wrote:

MARKW8 wrote:
I want to see one after 5+ years in the rust belt. See how it holds up against corrosion.

Mark

Don't need to wait. Look around the salt-infested parking lot of any boat ramp on the east and west coast. The difference in corrosion between steel and aluminum trailers is pretty hard to miss--especially on the boat trailers that use a combination of steel and aluminum components.

I would expect Ford to make more effort than most any trailer mfg to deter corrosion.

Mark

Aluminum deters corrosion all by itself without any help from Ford 🙂

But the truck isn't likely assembled with only aluminum or stainless fasteners. And we'll have to see how well they isolate the aluminum parts from the steel frame. I expect they won't get it all right the first time.

Mark

[JIMNLIN]

Time and miles and body repair shops charges will tell the tale on Fords move to aluminum to save weight.
However unless Fords raises the small 4050 RAWR on the max tow package the new owners won't be able to carry 700 more pounds in the bed with out exceeding RAWR/tire load capacities.

Its going to be interesting to see the GAWR/GVWR specs for this new truck.

[hone_eagle]

Think of aluminum oxide, very hard grey coating that forms almost intantly.
Now rust ,swelling, flaking and discolloring which would you rather deal with?

[otrfun]

MARKW8 wrote:

otrfun wrote:

MARKW8 wrote:
I want to see one after 5+ years in the rust belt. See how it holds up against corrosion.

Mark

Don't need to wait. Look around the salt-infested parking lot of any boat ramp on the east and west coast. The difference in corrosion between steel and aluminum trailers is pretty hard to miss--especially on the boat trailers that use a combination of steel and aluminum components.

I would expect Ford to make more effort than most any trailer mfg to deter corrosion.

Mark

Aluminum deters corrosion all by itself without any help from Ford 🙂

[rexlion]

ScottG wrote:
Or plastic beds. Seemed like a novel idea when GM did it some years ago but since they abandoned it there must have been some kind of problem.
Still, it seem like an injection molded bed would be very durable and light.

Toyota Tacoma has a composite bed. It works fine, but one cannot mount a 5th wheel hitch in the bed without making mods. That could be a big detractor in a full size pickup like the F150.

[MARKW8]

otrfun wrote:

MARKW8 wrote:
I want to see one after 5+ years in the rust belt. See how it holds up against corrosion.

Mark

Don't need to wait. Look around the salt-infested parking lot of any boat ramp on the east and west coast. The difference in corrosion between steel and aluminum trailers is pretty hard to miss--especially on the boat trailers that use a combination of steel and aluminum components.

I would expect Ford to make more effort than most any trailer mfg to deter corrosion.

Mark

[otrfun]

MARKW8 wrote:
I want to see one after 5+ years in the rust belt. See how it holds up against corrosion.

Mark

Don't need to wait. Look around the salt-infested parking lot of any boat ramp on the east and west coast. The difference in corrosion between steel and aluminum trailers is pretty hard to miss--especially on the boat trailers that use a combination of steel and aluminum components.

[MARKW8]

I want to see one after 5+ years in the rust belt. See how it holds up against corrosion.

Mark