"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 26 Jun 2016 01:44:55 -0700, Gunner Asch

wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2016 22:57:17 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2016 14:02:13 -0700, Gunner Asch

wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2016 12:34:48 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 7:52:04 PM UTC-4, Ed Huntress
wrote:
I just got back from an engineering conference in Detroit on
"lightweighting" cars and trucks, which was an exceptionally
good one,
but one mundane fact set me back in my chair. Ford has four
stamping
plants making body parts for the new aluminum F-150. At the
biggest
one, at the old Rouge plant, their stamping line fills an
11-ton-capacity truck with aluminum stamping scrap every 20
minutes.
The trucks are lined up to haul it back to the mills.

That's a lot of aluminum. All of the US and European car makers
have
high-quantity aluminum vehicles in the works ...

"Chevy's ads show the bed of the Ford F-150 cracking when heavy
or sharp objects are dropped into it, while the [Chevy] Silverado
ends up with just a few dents, scratches and, in one case,
pinholes. In one video, a Chevy engineer drops a large toolbox
into the bed of each truck at such an angle that it dents in the
Silverado and puts a hole in the bed of the Ford. The campaign is
big, too, airing online, on television during major sporting
events and at 2,400 movie theaters"

--
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...uminum-pickups

('GM Airs Attack Ads That Poke Holes in Ford's Aluminum Pickups'
by David Welch June 8, 2016 - 3:30 PM EDT Bloomberg )

"Chevy has several ads which the company says are exhibiting field
tests done internally by GM. In another ad, a load of 55
landscaping
bricks is dropped five feet into the beds of each truck, again
denting
the Silverado and putting a few holes in the F-150. Truck owners
usually don't drop large bricks from such a height."

On the other hand....no one usually drops a tool box or a large
valve
or a piece of steel etc etc into the back of a pickup truck...but
if
you look at half the pickup trucks on the road used for "work",
you
will find dings and dents and places where exactly that happened.
No
one plans on "xxxxxx" but **** does happen. Good of Chevy to point
that out.

Im sure someone with a waterjet or laser could make a reasonable
income cutting a sheet of 5/16" aluminum or 3/16" steel (plain or
diamond plate), perfectly fit for putting down, in the back of
the
new Fords. Wouldnt add much weight and would prevent bed damage.


---
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The bed on my pickup has never seen the light of day. It has a
tough
polymer slip-in liner that takes any abuse, protecting the steel
bed.

are they better or worse than the sprayed in Rino Liner type
coatings?

I have always had one, too. They are better than the linings
because
the ridges hold the materials away from the bed. When the guy
bought
my 1990 F-150 in 2007, the bed looked brand new, cept for the strips
of duct tape I used to keep the liner from scratching it. I found
that
it had been unnecessary. The liner was 15 years old and had taken
some abuse, but still looked near new. The new one for the Tundra
was
$218, costing me roughly $20 a year so far, and it is in great
shape.
They do last.

I prefer the slippery liner to the sticky Rhino coating because I
like
to slide my freight around, then keep it in place with ratcheting
straps. You have to physically hold the freight up off Rhino lining
until it is in place, lots more work.

AFAIC, poly liners are the only way to go.

The plywood floor I put in when the crane is installed is a reasonable
compromise. I could slide an Atlas lathe or the frame of my surface
grinder to the front on it but they didn't noticeably shift around
while driving.

I added tiedowns on the crane base near the bed bolts in addition to
the 3/8" eye bolts in the stake pockets, which are the only ones
available when the liner is in. Transporting theatre scenery made me
appreciate plenty of well distributed tiedowns.

--jsw