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10 minutes ago, twintornados said:

The fact that Ford continues to invest in E-Series with updates to dash, tele-metrics and the new 7.3L V8 tells me that E-Series will be as close as we'll ever get to a "low cab forward" truck in the Ford line which, I personally don't have issue with. E-Series is a good, enduring design that deserves the updates...what I would really like to see Ford do is to bring back the E-550 as a great, cost effective way to engage the likes of Izuzu, Iveco, Hino, and other low cab forward entrants in the market...hell, create an E-600 for the same reason you created F-600...more capability in a package that fits in smaller areas. 

TT-we've "bemoaned" the death of   E-550 before.  Dealer I know had built up a nice customer base that loved the truck and they killed it.  What would it take?  An old school I beam front axle, the right tire size and my bet is current 450 frames are adequate. Talk about a low cost entrant, this would be it.

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16 minutes ago, Bob Rosadini said:

TT-we've "bemoaned" the death of   E-550 before.  Dealer I know had built up a nice customer base that loved the truck and they killed it.  What would it take?  An old school I beam front axle, the right tire size and my bet is current 450 frames are adequate. Talk about a low cost entrant, this would be it.

Old school I-beam from an F-53 strip chassis with coils and heavier duty leading arms...I don't think you'd need to go to elliptical leaf springs and by doing that, you wouldn't have to create a new nose for the truck. The straight I-Beam would give you more clearance for up-rated tires and brakes for more capability.    

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34 minutes ago, twintornados said:

Old school I-beam from an F-53 strip chassis with coils and heavier duty leading arms...I don't think you'd need to go to elliptical leaf springs and by doing that, you wouldn't have to create a new nose for the truck. The straight I-Beam would give you more clearance for up-rated tires and brakes for more capability.    

Right solid axle and coils-like my 68 Bronco!  But I think the original E-550 was leaf springs was it not?

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Just now, Bob Rosadini said:

Right solid axle and coils-like my 68 Bronco!  But I think the original E-550 was leaf springs was it not?

Ya know what Bob? I cannot find a picture of the suspension layout of it...I always thought it was a leaf spring front suspension and the front bumper was made larger to accommodate, but now I am not sure...not like there are E-550's running around to run out and check....

But, for this iteration, it should be coils and a straight axle right out of F-53 chassis...

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Latest info in Transport Topics says International led in class 6 for January.  No other info was given for class 6.  In class 7, Freight and Intern'l led, and Ford doubled to 341 from 173.  I'll have to wait for Heavy Duty Trucking mag for more details.

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1 minute ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

@Bob Rosadini

he got back to me. He doesn't work there anymore but still knows people who do. He said OHAP builds their own SD cabs on site. 

Interesting.  So they're otherwise unaffected by the switch to the aluminum cabs until Ford decides it doesn't make sense to make that cab anymore.

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20 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

Interesting.  So they're otherwise unaffected by the switch to the aluminum cabs until Ford decides it doesn't make sense to make that cab anymore.

Super Duty cab is aluminum. They make super duty chassis cabs there since they needed to clear out some capacity for increased Exp/Navi production at KTP. 

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50 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

Interesting.  So they're otherwise unaffected by the switch to the aluminum cabs until Ford decides it doesn't make sense to make that cab anymore.

Interesting for sure, I wonder how it makes sense to make a seperate steel cab (from 20 something years ago)  and interior bits rather than just switch over to the new aluminum cab.

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4 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Super Duty cab is aluminum. They make super duty chassis cabs there since they needed to clear out some capacity for increased Exp/Navi production at KTP. 

Fuzzy-can you get this guy to confirm..unless something has changed 450 and 550 chassis are aluminum and 650, 750 are steel.  So they are assembling both?  And isn't this a robot operation?

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1 hour ago, Bob Rosadini said:

Fuzzy-can you get this guy to confirm..unless something has changed 450 and 550 chassis are aluminum and 650, 750 are steel.  So they are assembling both?  And isn't this a robot operation?

450 and 550 chassis cab trucks are aluminum-bodied.

16 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Chassis? As in frame? 

No Ford truck uses an aluminum frame. 

I think he meant chassis cab truck bodies, not the frame.

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17 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Super Duty cab is aluminum. They make super duty chassis cabs there since they needed to clear out some capacity for increased Exp/Navi production at KTP. 

I know it's aluminum.  But the Mediums still use the old steel cab.  So they're making two types of cabs there?  Aluminum and steel?

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1 hour ago, rmc523 said:

I know it's aluminum.  But the Mediums still use the old steel cab.  So they're making two types of cabs there?  Aluminum and steel?

 

10 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

Seems odd to me - especially in cut costs at all costs mode - that they'd make two separate cabs.

The "old steel cabs" cost zip to continue to make.....costs were amortized years ago...same goes for E-Series cabs. 

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2 hours ago, twintornados said:

 

The "old steel cabs" cost zip to continue to make.....costs were amortized years ago...same goes for E-Series cabs. 

Makes you think that the E-Series cabs and 650/750 cabs may merge at some point into an all new cab that would work for both.  

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5 hours ago, rmc523 said:

We've speculated about that for a while and it still hasn't happened.

For sure-but what do we know?  I have to believe that the cost savings of working with one cab structure would very quickly  catch up with the development cost.  In fact I have been told by someone with a lot of industry experience  that with today's technology the cost to develop a new cab would NOT be a huge number.

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12 hours ago, Bob Rosadini said:

For sure-but what do we know?  I have to believe that the cost savings of working with one cab structure would very quickly  catch up with the development cost.  In fact I have been told by someone with a lot of industry experience  that with today's technology the cost to develop a new cab would NOT be a huge number.

Oh I'm with you for sure.  It's just we obviously haven't seen it yet.  And I don't know if the Mediums would follow any sort of normal refresh schedule to predict a potential redesign.

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36 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

Oh I'm with you for sure.  It's just we obviously haven't seen it yet.  And I don't know if the Mediums would follow any sort of normal refresh schedule to predict a potential redesign.

I think the big question is, as we see all kinds of Ford references to the importance of "Commercial Vehicles", what is Hackett's definition of "commercial vehicles"?  Keep in mind, I think this guy thinks "heavy duty" is an F-250!  And my fear is he thinks "commercial vehicle" stops at Transit.

IMO, the big winners in  the "Commercial Vehicle Market" will be the producers who offer the fullest range of vehicles. 

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