If they wanted them to be stronger they should have gone with billet aircraft grade alloy it suffers a lot less to wear and tear than cast alloy does. Cast alloy really is a joke for strength.

 

Ford was praising the aluminum LCA back when the 04's first came out, saying how much stronger it was than the competitor's stamped steel LCA's.

 

There are several more advantages to steel from the manufacturing process to performance and durability properties to recycling after the vehicle is done than aluminum imo. I can see why Ford went to the steel and it probably is better for a generic application such as 500,000 trucks a year or whatever the number is. Having said that, aluminum can be made easily as strong if not stronger than steel even at similar or slightly less weight though it is more 'brittle' and while I'm sure examples will come out in this thread, the aluminum LCA's of the 04-08 have not been a widespread issue. IMO the aluminum LCA looks much better but I also think they both suck because at least on the 4x4 models it should be a straight front axle.

 

Wow what the heck do you guys do to your trucks. We have 6 in the family and through work I know of personally another two dozen at least and no one's ever heard of this... Either had my dealer.