New Truck Frames (are they doing it wrong?)

[K10 STEPSIDE]

This is something that has bothered me for a while and maybe I just don't have enough experience with them but it seams to me that the new frame being fully boxed in will lead to rust and they won't last long. Am I missing something or did the designers overlook what seems like a great place for dirt to build up and compromise structure. If an old truck is of the ground it normally has a good frame being channel, but will it become common for trucks to fold like Toyota's?
I started to look in to the old Toyota's that have frame issues and they seem to have a full frame for at least part of the way.

[D13]

New frames are formed by pressurizing box tubing from the inside.
The chassis dip keeps the rust minimal. The hydroformed frame on my 99 GMT800 looks good, while the box sides are MIA.

[richards72chevy]

I was shocked when I seen how crappy some of the welds looked under the newer cars and trucks.I guess they hold up though.

[andrewmp6]

Richard they are mess production and union made.

[crossfire84]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

Richard they are mess production and union made.

ouch!

[andrewmp6]

I mean being mass production most plants want a car or truck rolling out every 15 mins or less.When you are in the big of a hurry stuff gets a little out of wack sometimes.And its nothing new i have seen cars from the 60s have wavey inter fenders or firewalls before.

[Axle]

No one over-builds anything any longer. Build it to spec and not a bit stronger.

Obviously they do it to save on material costs, and they can legitimately argue it'll hold up to X conditions, however to the end user is who see's the negative side of building to spec. 12 less spot welds in a vehicle may mean the difference between having a rattle free vehicle for 12 years instead of 10 years. Speaking from what I've seen at one manufacturer, they where always checking vehicles and spot welds, seeing if they could move a spot to another location to eliminate one, etc. Each spot weld not done adds to the bottom line.

You want the forever vehicle, the manufacturer wants planned obsolensence, and spec gets you all that much closer to that without calling it by those two dirty words. Doesn't matter what it is, electronics, buildings, cars.

Alex.

[jimbonice]

Originally Posted by crossfire84

ouch!

I doubt the robotic welders are carrying a union card.

[andrewmp6]

The frame rot isn't not just the old toyotas the 95-04 had a recall on frame rust not that long ago,There fix is to bedliner the frame rails.