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Old 06-10-2016, 03:42 AM   #11
trueweb
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Central VA
Posts: 146
Seems like a no-brainer. Steel is a superior material when it comes to strength, but not strength to weight and certainly not rust resistance.

The aluminum bed can be scratched until all the paint is gone and it will not rust. It also saves real weight over the steel bed which adds to max towing and capacity loads. If you will mostly be pulling a 5th wheel, horse trailer or large tractor that towing capacity could be far more valuable than puncture resistance in a bed. if you punch a hole in your aluminum bed get a patch welded on it and, oh yeah, don't worry about painting it, it won't rust.

On a side note. I wonder what they are using for fasteners since galvanic corrosion is a serious problem when you mix aluminum and steel. I wouldn't be surprised with the way composites are developing that we see a composite bed in the near future.
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