Chevy aims to demonstrate F-150's aluminum bed is pathetic

[hclarkx]

I would hope folks would use their pickups this nicely! If you need to put a 3/4" piece of plywood or a liner in to give yourself a truck you can use.......that's not right. I'm a huge advocate of LineX liners, but even with that said.....it's very wrong to make that a necessity to use your truck. yeeeesh!

 

It would be nice to be able to buy a truck that will take the kind of abuse we are discussing here, but I'm not sure every truck should be made that way. Those of us that don't abuse our trucks or balance a heavy toolbox on a 3" wide bed rail just don't need the extra weight or cost. How about a bed liner that really works (has plywood under it or some such) or a heavy duty bed option for those that need it. I sure don't need that to tow a 5th wheel.

[hclarkx]

 

Keep in mind the new F150 is only 80lbs lighter than the Chevy. Not 800lbs...

 

That's disturbing. Why vulnerable aluminum if it only saves 80#. Is Ford engineering so weak they could not design a truck that would complete with GM without resorting to aluminum?

[kstruckcountry]

If you want a tough bed, a plastic liner is the best way to go. You can hit it with a 5 pound sledge and it won't dent.

 

That said, I still don't trust the aluminum, because of fatigue. I wouldn't be surprised to see people with otherwise immaculate beds having them crack at the seams from driving on rough roads in a few years. Or even cracks around the mounts.

 

I think GM's next big step is composite body panels.

[barry G]

GM's stronger steel is great and all, but my last 2 GM's trucks have rusted to shit, both on the body and in the bed. I'm looking forward to aluminum just so I can stop having to repair rust bubbles in my paint.

 

a real truck user is so far beyond rust due to repairs..

there is a sports truck category for a reason:

 

people who don't use a truck.

 

 

the aluminum boasts that the frame is strong, this means drive with no bed at all to a steel flat bed maker and put this nonsense to rest.

 

I took off my 96 chevy bed by myself, flipped it upside down, added 17 hours of weld and 55 pounds of cross sills, and put it back on the truck myself.

 

A hidden 2000 pounder, cannot be done without steel.(don't tell anyone, its a "sporty" half ton 1 ton now)

 

I just watched this welder today:

 

 

made his own flatbed.

 

the percentage of bed strength to steel frame is in the engineers equations.

the ford in a way is boasting the frame can do anyhting you want.

 

thinking back to 25 years of the wimpy tail c-rails, the bed removed would break the frame.(98 was the last of those)

so, in my case, the bed has to be hellacious to make up for less than stellar rails.

[Gorehamj]

I worked in landscape construction for four years. During that time most of the trucks we used were in good shape but a couple were old and beat up. The truck beds in those days were all steel. They all rusted (we plowed with them in the winter). I have seen workers step through the beds while standing in them shoveling gravel and stone dust out of the beds and tear up their legs. Even liners get torn and ripped, so they are no guarantee. I see the upside of aluminum in vehicles where the trucks see a lot of salt. So does GM. It uses aluminum to make the hoods for its trucks.

[mooseye]

While that number for a replacement bed for a GM is ridiculous enough, can you even venture a guess what a replacement for the ford would run? Aluminum ain't cheap.

 

And then there is this fact;

 

[truckofwinandawesome]

While that number for a replacement bed for a GM is ridiculous enough, can you even venture a guess what a replacement for the ford would run? Aluminum ain't cheap.

 

And then there is this fact;

 

 

which pretty much explains why an F150 in XLT Trim (which is pretty much the same as the LS Trim for a Silverado) is $44k! I STILL can't wrap my head around that fact: the SECOND TO BOTTOM Trim Level in a Ford costs 40 GRAND!

[mooseye]

 

which pretty much explains why an F150 in XLT Trim (which is pretty much the same as the LS Trim for a Silverado) is $44k! I STILL can't wrap my head around that fact: the SECOND TO BOTTOM Trim Level in a Ford costs 40 GRAND!

 

In about 1994 you could buy that level for 1/3 the price now.

Thanks EPA and NHTSA and whatever other government entity!

For every gain they make in MPG some regulatory agency will come up with some rule to shoot it down.

[mooseye]

I need to let them look at my '88 chevy pickup. It has 297,000 miles on it and it gets 23-1/2 miles to the gallon of real gasoline on the highway. And that is a 350, not a veesexy or little bitty veeate.

Bone stock and it has had engine blocks dropped in the bed with no holes, lol.

[Imcrazy]

If I can't drop a tool box in my truck bed, forget it. It's a truck I'm gonna toss heavy stuff in the bed. W/ that said my truck is immaculate in all other ways and washed 1-2x a week but, that bed needs to take a beating.

[Chevy Joe]

If you want a tough bed, a plastic liner is the best way to go. You can hit it with a 5 pound sledge and it won't dent.

 

That said, I still don't trust the aluminum, because of fatigue. I wouldn't be surprised to see people with otherwise immaculate beds having them crack at the seams from driving on rough roads in a few years. Or even cracks around the mounts.

 

 

Nothing beats the plastic liner, I've seen some of our trucks with plastic liners get mauled by a front end loader and they are tough as hell !!

 

Totally agree about the aluminum fatigue !! I was wondering about the constant moving stress of good size 5th wheel....

[duramax041]

My buddy showed me his ford truck and something went through bedside behind the rear tire from the road.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Nargg]

If you want a tough bed, a plastic liner is the best way to go. You can hit it with a 5 pound sledge and it won't dent.

 

That said, I still don't trust the aluminum, because of fatigue. I wouldn't be surprised to see people with otherwise immaculate beds having them crack at the seams from driving on rough roads in a few years. Or even cracks around the mounts.

 

I think GM's next big step is composite body panels.

 

Um, no, plastic liners increase the occurrence of rusting in the bed. Not good. I personally have fallen in love with "Bed Rug" for liners, though I also coat the bed area too. That has proven to me to be the best over all protection. But even with all that, dings and dents do occur from the "careful" use I engage my truck with.

[darkfox1]

I mean.. if they're gonna tear up an LTZ truck like that.. I'll take the grill, and headlights, and taillights..

 

This is a fairly realistic test, I know growing up dad used to take us out to get gravel and they'd just dump it in our 86 K10's bed (and the 73 C20's before that.. with NO A/C!) So getting loads dumped like this is gonna happen, if not now then in 10 years when the trucks older.

 

The holes in the bed from bricks didnt surprise me, but the toolbox test did.

 

I know I personally will never use my truck in this way, but lots of people will, this is going to be a problem for this generation of ford trucks in the future.

 

However.. aluminum is lighter, rust resistant, and IF ITS SUFFICIENTLY THICK is very strong and rigid when properly made. I think the issue here is probably thickness in the material and the way the floor is designed. (It seems like they took the CAD file for steel and just loaded aluminum into the machine..) Aluminum needs to be made to different specs to meet the same strength as steel. I'm not AT ALL a structural engineery or metalist or anything like that but.. well thats just my opinion..

 

Ford can fix this in future models. As these trucks get older though, I predict a lot of beds being replaced. Flatbeds, sheets of steel welded over the top.. ya know the stuff you find today on old wood bed trucks from the 60s and 70s.

[Nargg]

 

In about 1994 you could buy that level for 1/3 the price now.

Thanks EPA and NHTSA and whatever other government entity!

For every gain they make in MPG some regulatory agency will come up with some rule to shoot it down.

 

I agree on the government stuff, but that's not all the brings the price up. Competition for features is the #1 reason prices go up. Actually inflation is, but aside from that.... From technology features, step bumpers, and well, aluminum, and so many new safety features which many are NOT regulated by government mandate, just needed to stay up with competition and make newer trucks more enticing to buyers. If it were just to inflation and not features, new basic truck prices would still be near double what they were 20 years ago. What's really missing though is the "premium basic" models. The "LS"s that you could add a couple of special items to easily. GM and Ford fixed that a little lately, but the prices went up way too much still. I had an "LS" back in 2000 new that had a few power options that made that truck fantastic. Dirt cheap truck with not too much to break or wear down (as many optional features do...) a real rock solid truck. Miss that one.