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New Ford Bronco will feature aluminum body?

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Mustang313

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Explorer built on the F-150 bones?
I thought it was the Expedition built off the F-150 platform and the Explorer had been built off the Ranger platform. That was the past , and I have to plead ignorance about the current Explorer platform compared to the F-150.
Lol mistyped. Yea I meant the Expedition. Explorer definitely won't built on the F-150 platform but both it and the Expedition are rumored to get aluminum bodies.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/fut...be-candidates-for-conversion-to-aluminum.html
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That's what I figured, but knowing the Expedition and Explorer have strayed so far from their truck body roots, I wasn't sure either way.
Thanks for the link.
 

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I read that the next Wrangler will have aluminum doors and hood. No doubt it makes the cars more expensive but the Wrangler is one of FCA's best selling vehicles so the investment is worth it. I'm not sure Ford feels the same about the Bronco. Even at it's height it was never a big volume seller.
 

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I read that the next Wrangler will have aluminum doors and hood. No doubt it makes the cars more expensive but the Wrangler is one of FCA's best selling vehicles so the investment is worth it. I'm not sure Ford feels the same about the Bronco. Even at it's height it was never a big volume seller.
I saw the recent reports about that too. Sounds like Jeep is the impressive weight savings accomplished with the F150's switch to aluminum. This will be interesting to see if the Bronco will stay traditional steel construction or also feature some aluminum.
 

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Have there been any recent updates on an aluminum body for the next Bronco and Ranger? My opinion is that Ford might want to keep the weight down as much as possible on the Ranger so there is a significant fuel mileage improvement as compared to the F-150. Why even bother with a Ranger if there is little or no weight difference between it and the F-150? That would seem to be a good argument for an aluminum bodied Ranger and later Ranger based Bronco.

However, because the Ranger and Everest are currently built and sold in markets other than North America there might not be a good business case for aluminum bodies. Michigan Assembly will be the fourth plant that the new Ranger would be built in and the other three existing plants would also need to be updated to handle aluminum construction. That is a significant cost that might not be justifiable. I also doubt Ford would build an aluminum bodied Ranger and Bronco for North America and steel for everywhere else. Makes no sense from an engineering standpoint.
 

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The last N.American Ranger regular cab weighed 3,000 lbs and the super cab weighed 3600 lbs compared to 4,000 and 5200 lbs respectively for the aluminum F-150. Of course that was 5+ years ago but the Ranger should be significantly shorter and smaller than the F-150 in every way so even without the use of aluminum it should be a big weight difference between the two.

There are limits to how much aluminum can be used in a Bronco. Not only is it super costly to build for a niche SUV like the Bronco but an off road vehicle might do better with mostly steel for reasons of durability, strength, ease of repairs.
 

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One of the reasons Ford stated for not bringing the T6 (current) Ranger here back around 2012 was that it was 90% the size of the F-150 and that was well before the F-150 switched to an aluminum body. However true that may have been I decided to see what I could come up with by doing a simple Google search. What I found was that depending on configuration the current T6 Ranger weighs between 3276 and 4273 lbs whereas the 2017 F-150 ranges from 4049 to 5236 lbs. While this is a weight comparison and not a size comparison it is obvious that the T6 Ranger is not even close to 90% of the weight of the aluminum F-150 let alone the older steel bodied F-150.
So, based on these numbers I have to agree that even with a steel body the next Ranger (which is rumored to be an update of the T6) would probably be significantly lighter than the F-150. I also see no reason why they couldn't use aluminum for bolt-on parts like the doors and hood. On the Bronco they could also do the (hopefully) removable top in aluminum or possibly some type of composite. I think it is safe to say that most new vehicles already use aluminum hoods.
Even though it might not be necessary from a purely weight savings perspective, my personal preference would be an all aluminum body mainly because I live in the rust belt and I also believe it would be a marketing advantage over the competition assuming they could sell it at a competitive price. As Ford uses it on more and more vehicles I have to believe the costs will come down, if they haven't already.
 
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There are limits to how much aluminum can be used in a Bronco. Not only is it super costly to build for a niche SUV like the Bronco but an off road vehicle might do better with mostly steel for reasons of durability, strength, ease of repairs.
They could go with aluminum body panel inners for hood, doors, trunk, roof, etc but keep steel outers for a compromise solution of weight savings and strength. Sounds like thats what the new Wrangler will feature.

I feel like some of this aluminum "switchover" is for marketing / PR but the real world results and improvements aren't nearly as impressive as promised. It cost more than $1 billion to give the F-150 a new aluminum body and lighter/stronger steel frame, but real world MPG results haven't been that impressive.

Edmunds' long term test car, an aluminum bodied 2015 F-150 Ecoboost V6 averaged 16.3 mpg over about 1,700 miles of mixed driving. The pre-aluminum 2014 F-150 with its naturally aspirated V6 was officially rated at 18mpg combined. Doesn't sound like a great return on $1b investment.
 

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Comparing an EcoBoost V6 to a naturally aspirated V6 is not exactly an apples to apples comparison. What is the EPA combined estimate for the 2015 test vehicle? Has the testing procedure been changed since the 2014 estimate? What has been the real world experience with the 2014 that you mentioned? Did Edmunds long term test include towing or acceleration tests? All of these factors can and do affect fuel mileage comparisons.
 

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They could go with aluminum body panel inners for hood, doors, trunk, roof, etc but keep steel outers for a compromise solution of weight savings and strength. Sounds like thats what the new Wrangler will feature.

I feel like some of this aluminum "switchover" is for marketing / PR but the real world results and improvements aren't nearly as impressive as promised. It cost more than $1 billion to give the F-150 a new aluminum body and lighter/stronger steel frame, but real world MPG results haven't been that impressive.

Edmunds' long term test car, an aluminum bodied 2015 F-150 Ecoboost V6 averaged 16.3 mpg over about 1,700 miles of mixed driving. The pre-aluminum 2014 F-150 with its naturally aspirated V6 was officially rated at 18mpg combined. Doesn't sound like a great return on $1b investment.

Thats the downfall of small displacement, turbo gas engines, not the aluminum body. They do great on a dyno for EPA testing, which doesn't come close to replicating real life. The ecoboost is great on mpg for steady state and low load conditions, i.e. cruising down a flat freeway or coasting downhill. Once you start applying a load (i.e. driving up hill, starting from a stop, accelerating), they push more fuel through the engine than a comparable NA motor. 2015 ecoboost v6 would have fared worse with the heavier steel body.
 

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A lot of this will depend on the make up of the next Ranger. I doubt the Bronco will get a lot of aluminum if the Ranger doesn't. In fact I'd expect the Ranger to get most of the good stuff with some trickle down later in the Bronco's life.
The Ranger is only using steel because it's the design made for the international market several years ago (and I wouldn't be surprised if the panels are stamped in Malaysia or whatever too). There is no reason to think the Bronco will share any body parts with the Ranger at all, the common design will probably be limited to the chassis, some portions of the drive train, and random bits and bobs.

I hope the Bronco body is mostly aluminum. Its a great way to save weight, which allows for more robust components in the chassis and drive train where it really matters ... like a nice 5.0 v8 :D
 

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I personally wouldn't want an aluminum body because I go off the beaten path. If I ding it, I want to be able to hammer it back out.
 

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I personally wouldn't want an aluminum body because I go off the beaten path. If I ding it, I want to be able to hammer it back out.
The funny thing is that aluminum is more resistant to those little dings, and if it gets pinstriped it won't rust and rot out. Steel being more malleable when you want to repair it also means it is more likely to get deformed in the first place. Ford has estimated for example, that the F150 body panels in aluminum are actually 30% more dent and ding resistant, in part because the sheet metal is thicker. To top that off, things like doors, hoods etc are cheaper to replace than they are to repair, regardless of what its made of, simply because of labor costs when you're talking about more than minor damage.

Most people willing to take their rig into that kind of environment probably wouldn't even bother to fix it for a little ding or scratch, so the aluminum is probably a better option. In 50 years if they didn't beat the tar out of it, it will look the same as it did new, minus some faded paint.
 

BroncoRevital

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The funny thing is that aluminum is more resistant to those little dings, and if it gets pinstriped it won't rust and rot out. Steel being more malleable when you want to repair it also means it is more likely to get deformed in the first place. Ford has estimated for example, that the F150 body panels in aluminum are actually 30% more dent and ding resistant, in part because the sheet metal is thicker. To top that off, things like doors, hoods etc are cheaper to replace than they are to repair, regardless of what its made of, simply because of labor costs when you're talking about more than minor damage.

Most people willing to take their rig into that kind of environment probably wouldn't even bother to fix it for a little ding or scratch, so the aluminum is probably a better option. In 50 years if they didn't beat the tar out of it, it will look the same as it did new, minus some faded paint.
That's interesting. I've been trying to figure out how bad the down sides are to aluminum but it sounds mostly beneficial. I hope they at least do what Jeep is doing and make the hood and panels aluminum.
 

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I would expect a new model to be lots of aluminum this is the wave of the future. strength and weight will drive this. The flag ship F-150/250 are setting the stage.
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