New to the board as I was recently SCrewed.
Can anyone tell me why in the heck the bed body panels on SuperCrews are plastic or fiberglass? The inside of the bed is metal, however the outside panel is not. I am not pleased by this fact.... I cringe evertime when anyone gets close to me for fear I will have to have the entire panel replaced if in an accident.

The F-150s have a metal bed, why not the SC?? Overweight problem with the steel perhaps?

 

I beleive its weight. I'm glad they did that. In New York theres a new law for Pickups on parkways. You can put a pickup on the parkways if your registered as a non commercial/passenger vehicle. The catch is you have to be under 5000 lbs. My Screw weights in at 4895. A buck O five is not much room to spare...

 

Welcome to the board SWScrew... What I want to know is why are you worried about someone hitting you plastic bodywork? What's the difference if its metal or plastic.. It's junk either way And the way I see it you would rather have the whole panel replaced than have it bumped out bondoed and painted. And Yes Ford is trying to save weight by doing this that's why the hood of your super is made out of aluminum. And the new Ford exploreres have the option of a all aluminum block. Have to try something to get better gas mileage.

Hey at least you don't have to worry about the box or hood rusting on you new truck. AAhhh life got easier.......

Beardog

 

had to replace my passenger side bed panel at 3000 miles. somebody hit me. hey i was as happy as a pig in S??t when i found out it was fiberglass. my dog even scratched the side of the bed with her paws and it compounded right out. so i am pretty dam happy about it being fiberglass. panel only cost 600 from ford anyway. the glass in the screw that was broken into was more than that. curt

 

The rear bodyside on the Screw is in fact a composite. It is compression-molded fiberglass-reinforced thermoset plastic.

Just to clear a few things up:

It has been used for years, it is basically the same material the Corvette has always been.

The ranger edge hood, navigator hood, mustang hood and decklid, continental hood and front fenders and decklid, the new thunderbird hood, front fenders and decklid...I could go on...are all composite...people just don't realize it.

Oh yeah, the flareside rear bodysides...including the "L"

Same goes for the sport-trac rear bodysides...and the box inner too (slightly differend material resin and more glass for the box-inner)

While it's true it does save a little weight....the main reason it is chosen over steel is that the tooling (molds, etc.) required to manufacture it is much less costly compared to steel stamping dies. It therefore makes sense on lower-volume vehicles. That's why it's used on navigator...but not expedition for example.

By the way...it is painted exactly the same as the steel panels...the whole body is painted together.

It is probably a lot less suseptible to minor damage than steel...but possibly more easy to destroy in a signigicant fender-bender.

It doesn't rust!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Wow logical,

Haven't heard from you in a while.

Damn that was a disertation, but a good and interesting one.

I guess you read all that in a magazine article or, better yet, you were on the design team at Ford or one or Ford's major suppliers for the outer body panels?

I would have never guessed that there were so many models using composite panels.

Actually, I would like to learn more about that process and the tooling required. The request is for work related reasons so I wouldn't want to use this forum. I think you know how to find me if you want to help.


See Ya,
DaveMan

 

Thanks for all your replies! I appreciate it. I guess I've been accustomed to the use of sheet metal use in all my previous vehicles. Never thought about the fact that the SCrew would have composite materials being used on them. Didn't even think about the hood being aluminum as mentioned. Damn, I hope I don't get in a hailstorm!

I must admit that I have always been a fan and owner of Chevy and GMC and this is my 1st FORD truck. Turned in my '99 GMC towards the purchase. I'm having a little difficulty in being able to truly enjoy my new truck at present , however over time I think this pass. Need to take in to the dealer for some repairs this week. Also have the Class III trailering option, but only have the single row radiator. Whats up with that?

Looking for some support from all you SuperCrew owners.....

 

SWSCrew,

I think Ford stopped advertising the 1.42" thick radiator core with the towing package. I think the only way to tell what you have is to measure the width and not by visual inspection of single row vs something else.

The standard size radiator core for most V-8s is 1.02". Last I heard there were a ton of folks who got the trailer tow package and Ford was supposed to include the heavy duty cooling as part of the installation.

In the '02 literature there is no reference to the heavy duty cooling that Ford used to include with the trailer tow package.

my $.02
DaveMan