Ford's new idea...

[wildbill23c]

I hear ya. But manufacturers have been using shitty steel and stretching it as thin as possible for decades now. When I was a kid, everyone bagged on Toyotas for having rotted wheel wells because they used cheap, thin steel with bad spot welds. Now everyone does it to pinch pennies and inflate profit margins. They could do far better without going all the way to the aluminum route, but maximum profits take precedence. Now they can jack the price by using aluminum as a selling point. It will work for a while, until people realize that when you have a fender bender, putty won’t fix it. I can only imagine what a dealer wants for a replacement aluminum body panel.

Replacement aluminum body panel? Ehh just flatten out a beer can and a bit of duct tape and its all taken care of...that's what they do with airplanes right?

 

[adsm08]

Replacement aluminum body panel? Ehh just flatten out a beer can and a bit of duct tape and its all taken care of...that's what they do with airplanes right?

I think they put some gorilla glue on there too, just as a redundancy.

I mean, there is no where to pull over and check it at 12,000 feet.

 

[wildbill23c]

I think they put some gorilla glue on there too, just as a redundancy.

I mean, there is no where to pull over and check it at 12,000 feet.

HAHA good point.

They also don't take to kindly to the propellers stopping in mid air either. Or engines exploding during flight either.

 

[rangerenthiusiast]

Replacement aluminum body panel? Ehh just flatten out a beer can and a bit of duct tape and its all taken care of...that's what they do with airplanes right?

As my co-worker is fond of proudly proclaiming, “That right there is what we call a ‘farm fix!’”.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I hear ya. But manufacturers have been using shitty steel and stretching it as thin as possible for decades now. When I was a kid, everyone bagged on Toyotas for having rotted wheel wells because they used cheap, thin steel with bad spot welds. Now everyone does it to pinch pennies and inflate profit margins. They could do far better without going all the way to the aluminum route, but maximum profits take precedence. Now they can jack the price by using aluminum as a selling point. It will work for a while, until people realize that when you have a fender bender, putty won’t fix it. I can only imagine what a dealer wants for a replacement alum.inum body panel.

I have seen some really badly crunched tailgates lately. I am not sure if steel would really take it any better but I don't remember ever seeing tailgates mangled like those with steel tailgates.

Replacement aluminum body panel? Ehh just flatten out a beer can and a bit of duct tape and its all taken care of...that's what they do with airplanes right?

Kinda sorta not really.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_tape

HAHA good point.

They also don't take to kindly to the propellers stopping in mid air either. Or engines exploding during flight either.

They say a propeller is a fan for the pilot. Note, if one stops spinning the pilot starts sweating.

As my co-worker is fond of proudly proclaiming, “That right there is what we call a ‘farm fix!’”.

If you see duct tape on the augers/elevators on a combine... she is either getting a little long in the tooth or does not get cleaned out and stored right.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I know this is a dead thread, but i wanna add my 2 cents...

The aluminum trucks are really just ford saying "we are to lazy to figure out rustproofing, and now we can charge you more"

Ive always felt/tbought that in the 70s ford had everyone beat on rust, dent side trucks rarely rusted to the point they were falling to pieces, they had a ton of galvenized steel and the important stuff (frame, suspension mounts, etc) held up well even to salt.

In the 80s, GM really took the lead, i still see alot of 80s square bodies that are pretty solid.

In the 90s trucks GM also beat ford for rust. Clean 88-97 Chevys are pretty easy to find, finding a rust free ford of the 92-96 vintage is quite the task. Fords paint held up better though, most GMs of the 88-98 era are down to the primer under the paint.

I think the 97-03 fords rust worse then any generation did, the 99-03 (pre cat eye) chevies rot even worse.

Also, google "04 F150 rusted frames"...bout as bad as yota.

Dodge always was inconsisant and hit or miss with rust. But the 94-01rams seem to hold up better the newer ones.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

In the 90s trucks GM also beat ford for rust. Clean 88-97 Chevys are pretty easy to find, finding a rust free ford of the 92-96 vintage is quite the task. Fords paint held up better though, most GM's the 88-98 era are down to the primer under the paint.

That ain't primer, that is bare galvanized metal.

I have seen '07+ GM's with more rust (above the rear wheel wells as always) than my '02 F-150.

Cab corners and rockers on the bed are the hotspots on the '97-03's... pretty much the same as the OBS trucks but they liked to go above the wheel wells too.

 

[bobbywalter]

aluminum trucks rust. to death. just like steel. and they cost more then simply galvanizing steel.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

That ain't primer, that is bare galvanized metal.

I have seen '07+ GM's with more rust (above the rear wheel wells as always) than my '02 F-150.

Cab corners and rockers on the bed are the hotspots on the '97-03's... pretty much the same as the OBS trucks but they liked to go above the wheel wells too.

The 97-03s, as well as 04 also seem to be way more prone to frame/structure rot then the OBS trucks

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

On my brother's '97 and my '02 it has been the cab corners and front/rear rockers on the bed. Nothing major as far as floor pans and the frames look fine (well his did when he traded it in a few years ago)

Both trucks are north of 160k miles.

 

[JunkCollector]

I'd like to say in the '80s Dodge had everyone beat. Their '70s trucks rusted out god awfully (ask me how I know) but when the "new" Ram trucks came out they put a lot more galvanized steel in them. Dad's '83 is out-living my '78 with ease. I've seen plenty of squarebody Chevy's with disappearing rockers and fenderwells, Fords as well. A good example is my buddy's '86 ram that sat in a field for 10 years. All that rusted out was the front of the roof and the rear fenderwells. The rest is just surface rust. Truck's got 300k miles on it now.

They all rust, how bad really depends on maintenance I do suppose, but it seems in my experience on the east coast with all 4 seasons the Dodge's have it beat. I've had many conversations about this and nobody ever agrees, but it's just what I've seen and what I've been around.

As for new trucks, I've seen all of them just fall apart. I work on fleet trucks most of the day every day, and every brand has it's bad spots for rust. Fords as always is fenderwells, chevys is bumpers, Dodge is both. The aluminum ones haven't been around enough to rust/decay yet, but I bet the bodys out-last the steel frames they're on and in a few years you'll be seeing sagging fords in non-inspecting states/counties with good bodys.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Another thing too, a lot of areas don't use just salt anymore...

My grandfather's '70 Dodge has very little rust... but like most farmers back then if the roads were bad they didn't go anywhere (and they rarely took the truck unless they needed the truck anyway) so it has basically seen no salt.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Back pre 73 the trucks used such heavy steel though, rust (thru) wasnt a huge issue except maybe bed floors and floor pans. It wasnt till the 80s that it seemed things really began rotting. My 77 even is very solid except the floor pans, and its been in salt all its life. Ive driven it 5 years year around and never really washed it, and its no more rusty then it was, the frame and suspension (minus the shock mounts i replaced) are sound.

What gets me is how many of the superduties you see running around with the front bed crossmember rotted and the front of the bed sagging, i never remember any ford doing that in the past

 

[Will]

Thickness of steel doesn't matter. Once rust starts, it's over. In a single season. The rust starts and then holds in water, which oxidizes the steel even faster.

I've had a couple GM trucks and the 88-on were the worst. Eaten up in front and rear wheel wells. My big crewcab Chevy (an '88 but was the earlier body style) was a government truck and had no rust, but was specially treated because the government bought it.

The Dodges I see from the 90's are mostly eaten up.

From what I've seen, the Fords have held up the best of that era. I haven't liked Ford cars since--ever. But Ford always did the best with trucks. I always thought they sprung their F250s too softly, but the build quality was there. Any 90's GM or Dodge I've encountered was basically destined to be a chicken coop after 10 years. Electrical issues and the interior falling apart--plus the rust.

The cool thing about Dodge is they stayed with the solid axle the longest. But that's only because of how weird a TTB handles compared to either the IFS or the solid axle.

I will say, with that in mind, when I was working in West Africa back in the early 90's we had 2 Suburbans. One was a '91 with a straight axle and the other was a '93 with IFS. The roads were totally un-maintained. Back then I was not a recreational 4x4 person, though I has 5-6 years experience in offroad vehicles--big ones, in every clime and place. Anyway, if you got the choice, you wanted to be in the IFS Suburban. Less getting thrown back and forth--violently.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Thickness of steel doesn't matter.

Not directly.

Early imported cars used a thinner steel of a different composition that came out to be as strong as thicker American steel... but had nowhere near the corrosion resistance.

Aluminum sounds great and while IMO it is more stable than steel it has issues too. I kept having a tire go down on my Ranger, in 4 days it would be completely flat. Aluminum wheel was corroded on the bead all around both sides and lost the seal around a wheel weight.

And it does funky things when combined with steel, it will be interesting to see how GM's aluminum bed with a steel floor works out.