Down side to aluminum bodied F150

[2LaneCruzer]

As a side note: My brother is a retired assistant fire chief. His job was fleet maintenance; the fleet was being replaced with aluminum bodied fire trucks...although they were more expensive, they withstood the rigors of constant water exposure much better than steel bodied trucks and so were less expensive in the long run.

http://www.marionbody.com/fe_blog/steel-vs-aluminum-fire-truck-cabs

 

[ray66v]

I've seen hail dents on steel pop out after sun exposure but never on aluminum.

TBS

During one of my aluminum repair certification classes, I saw a video where a guy removed some hail dents from an aluminum hood, with nothing more than a propane torch.

But, I've never seen it happen in real life. :confused3:

 

[two_bit_score]

During one of my aluminum repair certification classes, I saw a video where a guy removed some hail dents from an aluminum hood, with nothing more than a propane torch.

But, I've never seen it happen in real life. :confused3:

ICar training video? I've heard long time body men talk about raising hail dents on steel panels with a grinder. Lots of good tricks out there.

TBS

 

[lexluther]

Think it's expensive now, wait until ford abandons the aluminum idea, then try to find replacement parts for a truck that only ran a few years...

 

[KennyG]

Think it's expensive now, wait until ford abandons the aluminum idea, then try to find replacement parts for a truck that only ran a few years...

Interesting theory but after 2017, it will be three years and well over 2 million aluminum trucks with no end in sight. As a point of reference, I have a 1976 MG Midget. Over a 20 year production run, about 200,000 were built. Today you can buy virtually any part for it, including new body panels at a reasonable price.

 

[ray66v]

ICar training video? I've heard long time body men talk about raising hail dents on steel panels with a grinder. Lots of good tricks out there.

TBS

Yes, it was an ICAR video.

Because steel panels are so thin today, the temper they put on them is about all that stiffens them. Using some of the old school tricks with heat, to repair them, doesn't generally produce good results.

 

[ray66v]

Interesting theory but after 2017, it will be three years and well over 2 million aluminum trucks with no end in sight. As a point of reference, I have a 1976 MG Midget. Over a 20 year production run, about 200,000 were built. Today you can buy virtually any part for it, including new body panels at a reasonable price.

Unless the government backs off on the new CAFE fuel mileage standards, and that is a possibility now, I don't see how manufacturers get away from using more aluminum. And, that has been a trend that has been going on for a long time.

We restored more than a few MG"s over the years. You can get all kinds of steel body panels for MG's. But, since they are all aftermarket, none of the ones I ever used fit well. And, all of them required more work to install than the OEM panels did. Which is, unfortunately what you get more times than not, with aftermarket body parts.

I don't doubt the Chinese, will make knock off aluminum panels for F150's. Aluminum is harder to shape, and since they quite never perfected making steel parts, I hope I never find out how the aftermarket aluminum parts fit.

 

[roadhunter]

Tough deal for the owner. Makes me wonder if the softer aluminum requires less force to pull out the antenna versus a steel panel. I hope someone does a hail damagecomparison at some point.

Hard to abandon car washes with brushes if you want your car clean as we all know that simply spraying will only remove so much. If you really want it clean you need to scrub and most people are too lazy to scrub a vehicle from top to bottom manually.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

That's what the lazy bum gets for not spraying it off himself.

Indeed, that is why when the lawn service also mows the flower garden, I say, Heh, they had it coming!

And when the carpenter installs the new entry way door upside down, I say, hah, that's what you get for being so lazy!

And when the mechanic charges $15,000 to replace your engine, I say, hehe, too lazy to buy tools!