2015 Ford F-150 Aluminum Bed
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 ea...
Forum Discussion
Time will tell and know the potential pitfalls and benefits well
Not a good comparison between a monocoque/unibody vs monocoque/unibody
on ladder frame. They handle the forces/stresses differently. Therefore
designed differently.
Aluminum fatigues just like steel and depending on which Al alloy vs
Fe Alloy one will have a higher resistance to fatigue fractures
Boils down to the designers or what the designers were allowed to do
by management. That then boils down to money that the bean counter
management, manage to
On that marketing video...I'd love to see how an Al vs Fe bed would
do with a 100lb box of whatever smack the front of the bad when stopping
HARD...many times. The key is 'many times'... Because Al work hardens
way faster than Fe
That is where the frame flex comes into play. Flexing a Al bed vs a FE
bed would have the Al bed develop stress fractures sooner. jevanb's
comment is something I learned (or relearned) taking flying lessons.
Gotta check for stress fractures and then on some drill a tiny hole to
stop it from cracking further
It can be done...as when Al bicycles came out...that was the cry of
them cracking to impale the rider....and the first ones extremely stiff
and hard on the rider. They learned to go larger dia tubes and thin
out only certain parts of the tubing. My 18 year old Trek 8000 has many
thousands of miles and can not find any cracks, yet. Even the bottom
bracket crank has cracked and finally broke off...while the rest of
the MTB is okay (many, many scratches and dings)
Trek 8000 bottom bracket crank
The key to my Trek 8000 is that it is NOT welded but epoxied together
with solid lugs. That provides some 'give' and think that has allowed
it to survive, while buddies with welded frames have had cracks develop
Ask if anyone knows or have seen the ladder frame to body doughnuts?
Same number and location as the older Fe bed/body?
Not a good comparison between a monocoque/unibody vs monocoque/unibody
on ladder frame. They handle the forces/stresses differently. Therefore
designed differently.
Aluminum fatigues just like steel and depending on which Al alloy vs
Fe Alloy one will have a higher resistance to fatigue fractures
Boils down to the designers or what the designers were allowed to do
by management. That then boils down to money that the bean counter
management, manage to
On that marketing video...I'd love to see how an Al vs Fe bed would
do with a 100lb box of whatever smack the front of the bad when stopping
HARD...many times. The key is 'many times'... Because Al work hardens
way faster than Fe
That is where the frame flex comes into play. Flexing a Al bed vs a FE
bed would have the Al bed develop stress fractures sooner. jevanb's
comment is something I learned (or relearned) taking flying lessons.
Gotta check for stress fractures and then on some drill a tiny hole to
stop it from cracking further
It can be done...as when Al bicycles came out...that was the cry of
them cracking to impale the rider....and the first ones extremely stiff
and hard on the rider. They learned to go larger dia tubes and thin
out only certain parts of the tubing. My 18 year old Trek 8000 has many
thousands of miles and can not find any cracks, yet. Even the bottom
bracket crank has cracked and finally broke off...while the rest of
the MTB is okay (many, many scratches and dings)
Trek 8000 bottom bracket crank
The key to my Trek 8000 is that it is NOT welded but epoxied together
with solid lugs. That provides some 'give' and think that has allowed
it to survive, while buddies with welded frames have had cracks develop
Ask if anyone knows or have seen the ladder frame to body doughnuts?
Same number and location as the older Fe bed/body?
