F-150

Rsurfer

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What do you think about the new (2015) aluminum body F-150? It will shave off 700 lbs.
 
I like them.

I'm not a truck person, but do think the F150 looks better than the offerings from GM.

I'm all for improved enocomy from the weight savings found by using aluminum. My one question would be if they can still get the same rigidity/body strength from using aluminum you could with steel. While many truck owners are "casual" users, there are still a large number of people who push the vehicles to their limits and will test the strength of the materials pretty quickly.
 
Will the aluminum body be "softer"than steel meaning door dings, hail damage could be easier to get. I would think that dark colored cars might stay a bit cooler in the sun. Or maybe they would cool off faster. IDK.
 
Must have been a designing joint-venture between Toyota and Ford.

{And here I thought automotive related joint-ventures with Toyota were reserved for GM.}

:confused:

Bob
 
I love it.:drool:

I just wish they would put more work into producing more efficient V8's rather than going down on displacement and putting turbo's on it. I hope there is a NA V8 to replace the 6.2 in the works since the 6.2 is gone from the F150, for now at least.

The aluminium bed is supposed to be more dent and scratch resistant than the steel ones. It's military grade aluminum they're using (6000 series).
 
It is a military grade aluminum that Ford will be using on the body of the truck.

Excerpt from an article one the internet.
The 2015 F-150, on sale this fall, also gets two new engines, major styling revisions, a plateful of technical updates and a marketing message that this isn't beer-can aluminum; it's military Humvee aluminum.
It'll be harder for a heavy load to dent the bed than in the steel predecessor and harder for a shopping cart to ding the door in a parking lot, Ford swears.

"All-new from the ground up," says Pete Reyes, the truck's chief engineer. "High-strength aluminum alloy for the front end, all the cab, the box, tailgate, he says.

The new frame has more high-strength, light-weight steel, and Reyes says it's "bigger, wider, stronger, but lighter."

Ford won't say how much more it costs to build the aluminum 2015 F-150 than a similar steel model, nor will it telegraph prices............

Ford's no an aluminum virgin. It did much of the development work that allowed Jaguar and Land Rover -- then owned by Ford -- to build their aluminum-bodied vehicles and aluminum panels. Jaguar says the 2004 XJ was its first all-aluminum model.

They say it will be harder to dent than steel.
But the first thing that comes to mind for me is: How much more will it cost to repair in case of and accident or a parking lot accident when say only the door has been dented and the other person has driven off.
 
I think it looks cool, though I prefer the looks of the previous gen.

Supposedly, Dodge is going to be putting a 4 cylinder Cummins engine in the Ram 1500. That's something Ford has said they won't do but I think would be cool, a Diesel pickup that isn't a big dually 3/4 ton or something. The improved efficiency would be great! Plus, the aftermarket in Diesel pickups is always huge as they are generally easy to get huge gains out of.
 
I think it looks cool, though I prefer the looks of the previous gen.

Supposedly, Dodge is going to be putting a 4 cylinder Cummins engine in the Ram 1500. That's something Ford has said they won't do but I think would be cool, a Diesel pickup that isn't a big dually 3/4 ton or something. The improved efficiency would be great! Plus, the aftermarket in Diesel pickups is always huge as they are generally easy to get huge gains out of.
Ram 1500 has a 6cyl diesel for 2014.

2014 RAM 1500 EcoDiesel V6 | Diesel Engine Truck | RAM Trucks
 
Oh, maybe it was Toyota I was thinking of that had an inline 4 Diesel from Cummins coming. Either way, very cool!

I am pretty sure you mean Nissan Titan. It is suppose to be optioned with a 5.0 liter V8 diesel by Cummins.
 
I like them.

I'm not a truck person, but do think the F150 looks better than the offerings from GM.

That's easy, the GM trucks look like they were designed by a 5 YO kid with Crayons while in daycare...

Don't know what happened to GM, their trucks used to look much, much better than they have in the more recent years.

But then I like the 60's and 70's trucks better overall anyway, they had style back then. :xyxthumbs:
 
No more rust...i've always liked the looks of a Ford. It's the mechanics of it that drive me nuts. I'd like to take all the trucks and make a Frankenstein blending them together with the best of all worlds.
 
Awesome, makes my 13 look dated. :buffing:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA right?

I like the idea.... not sure how I feel about the giant grille tho :rolleyes:
It seems MINI and Ford designers got together and tried to figure out how to put the biggest grilles on their vehicles.

That being said, I'd definitely buy another F-150... can't say the same for the MINI. Don't like the new generation at all.
 
I like the thought too, but salt and aluminum doesn't play well together and salt and calcium chloride and magnesium chloride play even less well together. So, in that regard I hope that Ford has a plan in place because otherwise it'll be just a different form of corrosion that we'll end up dealing with.

As far as strength, the steal they use now for doors and side panels is so thin it's pitiful, so I have no reservations in that regard.

As far back as 1996, and perhaps further back, Ford has been experimenting with aluminum hoods in their Mercury Marquie and Ford Crown Vic lines. No surprises that they've taken it a step further to me.
 
I've seen plenty of aluminum panels corrode. Its very similar to rust, it will make the paint bubble and Peel just the same. A small rock chip is all it takes, mix in some water and salt, and its just as devastating as rust. The up side is it does seem to spread slower than steel corrosion.

I like the weight savings of it all over. Ford has been using aluminum hoods on most of their vehicles for the past 6-7 years.

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