Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any issues with the aluminum body Ford F150 trucks

I’m looking at a decent looking used F150 4x4 supercab with the aluminum body. I retired from Ford in 2003 so I’m not aware of any issues associated with them

Any pros or cons? Thanks.

My neighbor said insurance was expensive because they cost more to fix.
I would get one myself, I like mileage.

That's not what the insurance institute says. They claim there 19% less expensive to repair.
Love all this hear say, My so and so says.
We just bought a 2015 Lariat with 30 k miles, looks like new. Best truck I have owned so far .
Tows great behind the MH. Not that much heaver than the 2012 Colorado I traded in.

Love my 16 F150. Tough ol truck. The aluminum body wears well. Gas mileage is a ++

What kind of real life mileage are you getting?

My 2016 F-150 Super Cab has the 8' box 5.0 l V-8,6 spd auto, 3.73 gears with electronic locking differential in back. 36 gal gas tank. I took my daughter on a 5 day road trip around Montana for a total of 1995 miles with a trip average of 19.5 mpg. We went to see the sights not go as fast as we could. Around town it runs 15.5-16.5 mpg throw in some highway and it runs close to18mpg. On one of the fill ups on the Mt trip I put in 32.8 gals with 655 miles on the trip meter. 36 gal tank ruins $100 every time you put over 30 gals in it but it sure is nice when you spend a lot of time " out in nowhere" like I like too. The truck is not to fancy but well equipped, smooth and drives damn nice. MB

The one thing we are noticing with my friends who are buying the new aluminum fords is you can't bolt tool boxes, headache racks or diesel tanks in or on them. The vibration driving down the highways and field roads are causing the bolts to break out and the boxes are cracking around the boltholes. Had a friend lose his headache rack going down the road at 60 mph. luckily it turned and fell into the bed instead of falling off into the highway.

Be prepared to load at least a couple of bags of sand into the bed if you have icy roads in winter,

I have a BIL with a 16 F150. Mine is a 14, last of the steel bodies. The aluminum isn't causing any issues. It is tougher than steel, but with the same damage does cost more to fix. But with the same type of crash may have LESS damage which could mean less cost overall to repair.

A good video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDQZu8K51ZY

There is less weight difference than advertised. With a regular cab it is only about 200 lbs. A crew cab less than 500. And that doesn't mean more payload. Most of the steel bodies have 7350 lbs GVWR. The aluminum bodies 7000. So while they weigh less, that rarely means more payload.

All things equal I don't think there is any measurable difference in fuel mileage. Maybe if you take it out to 2-3 decimal places.

I've made 2 road trips from GA to CO in the last year. In November for an elk hunt. My 14 Crew cab 4X4 with 5.0 V8 and 3.55 gears got 17.9 for the round trip. And that included 5 days of grinding up and down mountain roads covered in snow in 4X4 and on winter gas. In June my wife and I took our 11 year old grand daughter on a road trip to see CO. We did a loop around the western 1/2 of the state and up into WY. I got as much as 21 on one tank with 19.3 for almost 4800 miles total. Typical for me is almost exactly the same that Magnum Bob reported above.

And the 36 gal tank is great. Wouldn't want to go back to anything smaller.

We have two of them.

I had my 2017 F-350 repaired because a cow with horns got froggy with it when it had 3000 miles on it. Wiped out both passenger side doors. They fixed one and replaced the other.

No harder, nor more expensive to repair than steel.

Insurance isn't any higher on them either.


I do like the no rust problems it solves.

I personally can't really tell a difference in how the trucks drive vs steel.

So far so good.

Unless something changed in the last couple years they are more expensive to repair. Steel is much easier to repair and has less stretch. The parts are typically more expensive to replace and you have more replacements on aluminum than steel. Makes sense to
Me. That ain’t hearsay.

I had no increase in my insurance bill on my 2019 STX with a 5,0L 395hp Coyote motor heres a pic of my fuel economy from day one.file is to big .19.3 mpg from day one the 03 Ram i traded in was 11.9 mpg

That's about the same mileage as a diesel gets empty! The big difference I see is options not offered five years ago! Aluminum has its advantages, and it's drawbacks. Weight is the big advantage. Weak fastener holding is a big draw back! That said I wouldn't think twice about buying a new Ford! There as good as anything on the market, it's just what you like that counts!

But what does Chevy say.... wait, let's wait for them to pay off J.D.Power first... Man, they have the most deceptive commercials of anyone...

I really don’t give a thought that the body is aluminum.
2018, 3.5L EcoBoost, 331 rear, 19,000 mi., 19.3 mpg combined city and hwy since new.

I have a 2018 3.5 ecoboost fx4 crew cab. 20.7mpg but I rarely hit interstate. More 2 lane highway from work to home with some back roads. In sport mode for 2 weeks avg 20.3.

My 4wd vacuum solenoid went out at 5000 miles and trashed the 4wd. Ford obviously covered it. The ford rep gave me 100,000 mile warranty on truck( has lifetime at dealer however that [bleep] actually works). Otherwise no problems

10 speed transmission shifts weird and can be annoying at times. Auto start and stop is annoying me. Otherwise been very good. Have 35000 on it now

My 2018 F 150 XLT Super Crew 5.0L 3.55 axle has averaged 19.8 MPG for 8900 miles. The only problem I have with the aluminum body is the truck bed is in pieces. I put a tonneau cover on it and it sucked in road dust. I sealed up all the joints with flexible rope caulk plus installed Truxedo tailgate seal.

I'm liking mine. I don't get anywhere near the gas mileage everyone here claims, but having some deer damage ironed out on it was a lot less expensive than I expected. Insurance cost is just as bad on this one as the last one. I don't see myself buying another steel truck again.

Most people think I’m lying but I’m really not when I say I am averaging 20.7. When I lead foot it it goes down, but I’m truly surprised at how good it is. Pulls a trailer really well also. SLG888 was just in it yesterday and even commented on the gas mileage.

I’m sure your husband ain’t light.