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r carl · 11-12-2014, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TinTin

The big question in my mind is will the all AL bodies be as resistant to dings and dents as in the past.

I wonder if you just go to the Ford parts counter and buy a new $1200 fender.

**DKB_SATX** · 11-12-2014, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terryV

Maybe you city guys will get along OK with an Al body truck, but out here in the country it ain't gonna work.

I've owned 3 Al airplanes and several cars with Al body sections, and I can tell you they do not wear well on the streets and country roads (gravel) out here.

Mercedes had Al trunk lids back in the '60s. If you leaned on it, shut the trunk with you hand on the top of it , or slamed it a little too hard, you had a big old dent.

I guess you will have to put rock guards all around your new truck to keep it nice.

You can't seriously think that Ford has built these with only "city guys" in mind, can you? They built some largish number of previous-gen trucks with body panels in the particular aluminum they're using to stealthily test them out in the field in real use to see how it performs. Their marketing materials refer to it as a "military-grade" alloy, whatever that means.

"Regular" people driving them at Ford's driving road show events and posting about it on the F150 forums have been banging on body panels and reporting them to "feel tougher" than the previous-gen steel panels, for whatever that's worth.

TinTin · 11-12-2014, 04:34 PM

It'll be fascinating to see how the all AL body plays out. It's certainly a risk for Ford. I'm a little surprised they switched over completely all at once, perhaps a phase-in with AL as an option in year one might have worked.

It may pay off big-time; it may turn out to be the Edsel 2. We'll know in 6-8 months.

Landrum · 11-12-2014, 04:41 PM

I read an article that stated Ford has had aluminum F150s in circulation for awhile in various industries (in leased fleets) for testing and the results have been very good.

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ukulele2010 · 11-12-2014, 05:15 PM

It is quite possible that Ford is using upgraded aluminum alloys compared to '60s vintage Mercedes vehicles... And, duly noted, I'm pretty sure Ford expects this truck to be used as a truck in many contexts - city, suburban and rural. Planes are still mostly made out of aluminum alloys, aren't they? And the modern plane fuselages are not made out of steel now, aren't they made of carbon laminates?

BoldAdventure · 11-12-2014, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terryV

Maybe you city guys will get along OK with an Al body truck, but out here in the country it ain't gonna work.

I've owned 3 Al airplanes and several cars with Al body sections, and I can tell you they do not wear well on the streets and country roads (gravel) out here.

Mercedes had Al trunk lids back in the '60s. If you leaned on it, shut the trunk with you hand on the top of it , or slamed it a little too hard, you had a big old dent.

I guess you will have to put rock guards all around your new truck to keep it nice.

And that's Dodge's thinking in sticking with steel. These customers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

You can't seriously think that Ford has built these with only "city guys" in mind, can you? They built some largish number of previous-gen trucks with body panels in the particular aluminum they're using to stealthily test them out in the field in real use to see how it performs. Their MARKETING materials refer to it as a "military-grade" alloy, whatever that means.
.

KEY WORD, MARKETING.

No one goes around calling the internet military grade, but you could argue that. Military grade is just marketing BS designed to make you think it's some how more tough or better.

hickory · 11-12-2014, 06:02 PM

I have a 97 Dodge dually. When the bed got restyled ( don't ask). I put a aluminum flat bed on it. I never weighed either one but the flat bed is certainly lighter. My truck doesn't ride nearly as good as it did with the original bed. Rear end is much lighter.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Hickory

Bruce B · 11-12-2014, 06:20 PM

I have read a couple of articles in the past few years where It has been said that Ford believes that the cost of a diesel in the F-150 both in terms of initial cost of the engine upgrade, maintenance and additional cost of the fuel makes the diesel unlikely. Now that Ram has one perhaps that will put market pressure on Ford to reconsider.

The other thing that pops into my head about aluminum is that Ford has probably absorbed a lot of knowledge on the use of aluminum in body panels from their ownership of Land Rover before they spun the company off. Rovers have had aluminum body panels forever! True they used steel for parts of the body but things like paint should be nothing new... I believe that the hood on my 2010 F-150 is aluminum already. no paint problems there...

Lastly, at some point (probably in a couple of years?) they will switch to the 10 speed transmissions GM and Ford are co developing. That is when I will become tempted to step in.

Should be fun to watch this develop in the mean time.
Bruce

terryV · 11-12-2014, 06:20 PM

Well, Guys, I hope you're right. I guess time will tell, as they say.

Personally, I see this Al body thing as a flash in the pan. I don't see it catching on for several reasons.

If it would help, I'd be glad to donate all my beer cans each week to FoMoCo.

Bruce B · 11-12-2014, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hickory

I have a 97 Dodge dually. When the bed got restyled ( don't ask). I put a aluminum flat bed on it. I never weighed either one but the flat bed is certainly lighter. My truck doesn't ride nearly as good as it did with the original bed. Rear end is much lighter.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Hickory

Does it surprise you that when you removed hundreds of pounds of weight from a suspension calibrated for the additional weight it rides worse?
The tests of the pre production F-150's all claim that in spite of the additional weight carrying ability of the aluminum truck the ride is the best ever for the series.

I am curious to test drive one.
Bruce

KJRitchie · 11-18-2014, 12:55 PM

What happens when you need body work performed on an aluminum body? Are body shops able to handle this situation? I imagine the whole panel would have to be replaced.

dznf0g · 11-18-2014, 01:00 PM

The info that we have right now, at work, indicates that 10% of body shops, nationally, are equipped and trained for aluminum body repairs.

Soyboy · 11-18-2014, 03:08 PM

Many of those "real" trucks passing you on the highway are aluminium with steel frames (they even used to have some alum frames in previous years), the trailers have a lot of alum in them, some are mostly alum, dump bodies are quite often alum. There is nothing new under the sun about this. If Ford can make the paint stick, and they should be able too, I am sure this truck will be a success. Some body shops have been working on aluminium in cars for years, it will likely become less expensive to repair as more shops, better techniques and more competition arrive on the scene. I'd buy one in a heart beat, and likely will in a couple of years when 2/3 year old late model used ones hit the market (I don't buy new vehicles, I let somebody else lose all that moo-laa on them - this would include Airstreams too LOL - which are, guess what, mostly aluminum. ;-) )

KJRitchie · 11-19-2014, 07:33 AM

I too may do the same, wait a couple of years, for some preowned 2015s. However, I've been looking at 2011 thru 2014 and the used market is hard to find one with the payload package and rear end. If 7200GVWR and a 3.31 rear end is good enough there is ample but if you are looking for max trailer packages and higher GVWR they are rare. Buying a preowned Tundra is much simpler as they all have the maximum towing when you search for the 5.7L. Maybe the only thing you have to add is the towing mirrors. The prices of 2012/2013 and even 2011 are close to new 2014 prices. Maybe there is a lot more wingle room on the preowned.

With the 2015 my understanding the 3.55 rear end will be standard and with the aluminum weight savings maybe trying to find one with the right GVWR won't be so hard.

Kelvin

m.hony · 11-19-2014, 12:46 PM

More of the 2007-2008 Tundras had the trailer towing mirrors. I haven't seen any 2014 Tundras with towing mirrors.

Soyboy · 11-19-2014, 02:42 PM

It is hard finding F150's with the max tow (used). Even harder with both max tow and payload. I ran the numbers and for my use, a SCREW shortbed with the max tow 7650 GVWR worked for me. With the max payload you have to get the longer wheelbase. Nothing wrong with that, but we camp in a lot of state parks in the mountains with fairly tight campsites at times, a longer wheelbase just makes it hard to crank back into those tough sites.

When I walked out to my old truck last Saturday, I was thinking about changing the oil, but I noticed some rust on the rocker panel on the drivers side. I went around and saw some on the passengers side too. Since I had been thinking about pulling the trigger in the near future that did it for me. I didn't want to go another nasty, salt infested winter and just have it look worse in the spring so I hit cars.com and started looking. I found one Saturday evening, a 2012 Platinum shortbed SCREW with 22k miles ( turned out too it was in perfect shape). Max Tow, 7650 GVWR, 3.73 Elec. Lock Diff. So Sunday morning (dealers are open in Montgomery Co. MD on Sundays) we hit the road to Gaithersburg. Bing, boom, bam a couple of hours later we were headed home in our "new" truck. Its kind of a dark gray/silver that should look great towing the Safari. It has the grey leather interior (not just heated seats but AC too!, looking forward to trying that out (the sooner the better with the crappy cold weather we have had). Even had the bedliner and a nice, hard tonneau cover (both of which I would have purchased myself if they wern't on the truck). This one has all the bells and whistles as we will also use is as our "family car" on non-towing roadtrips. Kind of a pre-retirement splurge. It was owned by a guy in the Navy and spent most of it's life in SOCAL. I dont think it has seen snow yet, but it will this winter1

Now to hook it up, get the Equalizer set up and try it out. Of course the weather is not cooperating around here this week! To freakin' cold for that nonsense (at least as far as I am concerned LOL). The engine specs aren't that far off from my trusty 2003 Duramax that I traded in....and got a great price for BTW, so I think it will work out just fine. I thought about another diesel, but spending time on the forums and reading about problems with the DEF systems etc., I thought I would go with a gasser. Maybe I'll go diesel again in a few years...but in reality, we are thinking about downsizing to a 25' at some point and if the Ecoboost works out, I would likey go with an F150 again. However, I expect to drive this for a few years first!

blah blah blah, that's my new truck story LOL

KJRitchie · 11-19-2014, 03:09 PM

Sounds like you found a great buy. The preowned Plantinums in my area are as high as the brand new 2014 XLT that have better towing specs. I'm kinda thinking I need to make a purchase soon while I'm working because I know as soon as I retire in the next 4 years I'm going to turn into a cheap old miser to make my money last into retirement.

graysailor · 11-19-2014, 05:43 PM

I ordered a 2015 Platinum which has a higher trim level then my 2013 Lariat. Ended up being about $1000.00 less actually.

KJRitchie · 11-20-2014, 07:20 AM

When you order a vehicle can you negotiate with the price?

Does the ordering process give you any idea of the payload your new truck will have?

I went through the Ford website build to order just for fun on a 2015 and it appears the only way you can get a HD Payload option is at the expense of many options. I didn't see any GVRW options like I see on the stickers of 2014. There is a Max Trailer Towing option but when it comes to the summary it doesn't give you any stats that give you a possible range of payload, at least I couldn't find any.

Kelvin

dznf0g · 11-20-2014, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

When you order a vehicle can you negotiate with the price?

Does the ordering process give you any idea of the payload your new truck will have?

I went through the Ford website build to order just for fun on a 2015 and it appears the only way you can get a HD Payload option is at the expense of many options. I didn't see any GVRW options like I see on the stickers of 2014. There is a Max Trailer Towing option but when it comes to the summary it doesn't give you any stats that give you a possible range of payload, at least I couldn't find any.

Kelvin

Kelvin,

IMO and experience (industry, not brand specific), if you got to a commercial dealer (one with a lot of white paint and F450s, cab and chassis, and cargo vans) you should be able to find a sales consultant who has the data for weight on EVERY little option and get real close to an actual production vehicle weight and payload etc.

If you walk in the front door and ask, you'll get the deer in the headlight look. Find the fleet department and ask if they will help. They're not retail sales folks, but if you're serious and try and coordinate with the retail sales dept...and talk real nice (maybe to the general manager), maybe they'll spend time with you. Remember the fleet guy probably isn't making a dime on the retail sale, so be nice!