Johnnymossville

It's next generation. GM and RAM have a lot of catching up to do now that Ford took the plunge. That said, if for some reason the Aluminum has problems, which I doubt, GM and Ram will have a heck of a good marketing campaign.

pb65stang

I think it's a great move, and I really don't think MOST of us would have even noticed it if Ford hadn't made such a big deal about it. They tested aluminum bodied current generation F150s for a couple years to make sure that it would hold up in heavy industry, and they apparently did just fine. I can't wait for my 2015.

big mike

Hi all. I owned a lincoln ls for 13 years. It had an aluminum hood,trunk lid and two front fenders. Had zero issues. Also, remember Ford owed Jaguar with lots of aluminum full bodied cars since 2005. I have no fear of the new F-150.

OldFlick

Living between Atlantic Ocean(.8 miles) and the Delaware Bay(2 miles) plus the winter snows every steel vehicle I owned has rust starting in a couple years. My other vehicle has aluminum hood and is perfect after 9 years. The change also saved weight. For these reasons I opted for a '15 over a '14. The other improvements put me over the top.

MattN03

I don't have any concerns about the aluminum either. I'm more interested on if the EcoBoost issues with moisture have been resolved.

All Hat No Cattle

Maybe that is what Ford means by "military grade aluminum"?

As long as no one opens up on your 2015 with an AK-47, you will have no problems. If the military can't beat an aluminum vehicle to death, using it in all 50 states and 200 or so countries, for 30 years, does anyone plan to beat their truck up even more?

Aluminum has been around in vehicles for decades, we just did not see it.

http://www.paintgages.com/List-of-Ca...anels-s/51.htm

Folks, we are beating a dead horse here, big time.

gone postal

The frames on the hummers are fine. It's the rest of the truck that falls apart, including the body. In addition, when a unit is in garrison, the vehicles sit, maybe drive a mile or ten on Thursdays, and then sit being maintained. US Military vehicles see a short ton of abuse, but they get more meticulous maintenance than damned near anything on the planet.

eng45ine

Fire apparatus switched from steel to aluminum a decade ago, the negative issue was oxidation when steel was affixed to the aluminum panels. I'd like to think that Ford has something like this under control, the bubbling paint on our fire trucks was very un-sightly.

Ron AKA

I think it is a great idea. I gather the steel industry has lobbied long and hard to keep it from happening. I only have two concerns. One is that there are unforeseen issues, likely with galvanic corrosion due to the dissimilar metals. I'm sure Ford understands the issue perfectly, but wonder if they design and assemble it perfectly to avoid the problem. Time is the best measure of how close to perfection they get. Would prefer not to be buying the first model year, but it likely will take 5 years to get the real field experience, and I can't wait that long for a new truck.


The second concern is that I will use it for 5th wheel trailer towing. That means you have to drill through the box (aluminum), attach brackets to the frame (steel), and then attach the 5th wheel hitch (steel), with through bolts (steel). The current issue is that hitch manufacturers don't know what the frame looks like, and I suspect don't have a good plan to do all of this without setting up a galvanic corrosion issue. In time, but I'm not sure how long this will all be solved, with electrical isolation gaskets, bushings, etc..


Short story, is that I'm sure the first adopters will have some issues. As I may be one of them, I hope they are not serious...

Misterwlm

Lots of good stuff here, but in any case, we can buy an aluminum truck now or buy one later. They'll all be aluminum in 5 years...every manufactuer.

If you choose to wait, take the 50K you would have spent this year, buy Alcoa shares, hold it for three years, take the proceeds and buy your new truck.