This is why you need to understand material properties

mrblaine

mrblaine

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Quail Valley, CA
Shake down run, trying an optional obstacle, had to back off to reset the line, rig dropped about a foot and smacked the corner.
DSC_4843.JPG

505X series aluminum is not a suitable alloy for use in the rocks.
 
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Chris said:
Damn! What grade is ideal for playing in the rocks?
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There are no ideal grades unless you want to really increase the cost. 6061 in un-heat treated condition, formed, welded, reinforced and then heat treated would be about as close to ideal as we could afford. The cost goes way up so we use 6061-T6 and design around its weaknesses.
 
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mrblaine said:
There are no ideal grades unless you want to really increase the cost. 6061 in un-heat treated condition, formed, welded, reinforced and then heat treated would be about as close to ideal as we could afford. The cost goes way up so we use 6061-T6 and design around its weaknesses.
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Good to know! I noticed when look at a lot of aluminum under armor, it's usually 505X series.
 
Fixer6 said:
They don’t fixe them from what I understand. They just replace parts on them. Hard to believe “military grade” anything when you know a lot of stuff was built by the cheapest bidder.
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Yes, I was speaking with a body shop guy recently who had been doing it for 30 years. He told me once the aluminum chassis vehicles started coming into the body shops, a lot of guys had to be completely retrained on how to handle it, since you can't just pull a dent out like you can on the steel ones.

Anyways, long story short, he was telling me that insurance rates are going up on those things considerably just due to the fact that they are twice as expensive to repair if they get wrecked.

I don't know much (if anything about it), only what he was telling me.

At least you don't have to worry about your frame rusting out entirely.
 
There are many factors that most body shops don't tell. The modular design of the f150 makes replacement much easier and faster the typical steel panels.

Ford also keeps the replacement part low in price.

From everything I have read the repair cost is about the same.

Ford even supplied the certified repair shops (not just dealers) with the special equipment needed.

There are many articles on this.

https://www.cartalk.com/blogs/dear-car-talk/has-aluminum-increased-ford-f-150-repair-costs

The high price was started by Edmunds and jalplnik. It was from one on the first trucks to be seriously damaged in 2015.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/jalopn...luminum-repair-cost-17-000-and-1719664610/amp
Being the first major repair means a huge learning curve. Now that shops have had the training and equipment the cost is in line with steel.
 
Sad part is 90% of the Ford “certified” shops really have no clue on how to properly fix the F-150’s. Fords certification process is a 3rd party vendor walks through the shop and checks off the boxes that they have the equipment. The techs have to sit through a 2 hour online class and a 6 hour live classroom session. There is absolutely no hands on training involved. The majority of the panels are replaced and are rivet bonded using self piercing rivets, there is still a good deal of welding involved and most of the guys that are welding the structure back together have little to no experience welding aluminum. After the welds are complete you are supposed to use a dye penetrant kit and check for micro cracking in and around the weld area. The dye kit isn’t on the “required list” when the shop gets certified so no one buys it. I have literally been in 1000’s of shops throughout the country and I own a new F-150. If I ever wreck it there are literally a dozen shops I would feel comfortable that they could even complete the repairs 90% correctly.

These things have been on the road just long enough now that we are starting to see them coming into shops after they have been fixed and back on the road for a few years. The galvanic corrosion and adhesive failure we are seeing is unbelievable. They are great trucks but I would never buy a used one that was wrecked and if they get wrecked I wouldn’t recommend keeping it.
 
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Aluminum vs Rock . . . . . rock wins every time.
We used to run jet boats on the northern rivers. Steel just slides over. Big freighter boats with a string of pack horses aboard. Horses stand side by side in a squeeze. If they're facing the same way, they'll bite and fight. Loaded head, tail, head, etc.
Steel ! :)
 
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Head Lice said:
Aluminum vs Rock . . . . . rock wins every time.
We used to run jet boats on the northern rivers. Steel just slides over. Big freighter boats with a string of pack horses aboard. Horses stand side by side in a squeeze. If they're facing the same way, they'll bite and fight. Loaded head, tail, head, etc.
Steel ! :)
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Not really. The Savvy bumper on the rig with us that day has been over the same trails with the same hits dozens of times and is still just fine. It has battle scars but nothing that would render it unserviceable.
 
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