The 2019 Silverado frame is simply an engineering marvel: not only is it significantly lighter than before, but it’s also much stronger. Here’s the low down on the bones of the all-new Silverado 1500.
Like its K2 platform predecessor, the frame of the new trucks is fully boxed, while 80 percent is made from high-strength steel. But here’s where it gets interesting: the levels of high-strength steel in the 2019 Silverado frame vary from two to five millimeters in thickness, with every millimeter optimized for performance. This is done using a variety of processes, including hydroforming, roll forming, conventional stamping and tailor-rolled blanking. This approach enables frame sections, gauges, grades, processes and materials to strategically vary in order to maximize strength, durability and stiffness, without adding unnecessary scrappage, waste and mass.
The frame of the 2019 Silverado 1500 is 80 pounds lighter and 10 percent stronger than before
The end result is that the 2019 Silverado frame is 88 pounds (40 kg) lighter than its predecessor, while offering 10 percent greater torsional rigidity.
The lighter frame enables the 2019 Silverado to shed significant weight over its predecessor – being up to 450 pounds lighter – all while being a larger vehicle with a longer wheelbase, bigger cabs and more cargo volume.
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Comments
Parts of the frame are 2 mil?…like 2/32nds (or so} of an inch?
No. That’s the content/amount of high strength steel within the frame, which is much thicker than that (unless it’s the wall thickness).
Why do people care about how thick it Is? As long as it is strong enough to support the truck and it’s activities!
Corrosion from salt caught in that “box”.
Ignore brian. He lives in Arizona and doesn’t understand the purpose of road salt.
Where I drive has zero effect on what the new frame is made of. This frame will make the new truck the best in the industry.
And he has no ability for objective critiquing of anything GM. He even said many times “all that matters is the emblem” and that he “would never even put foot on non-GM dealership lot” which objectively means he doesn’t know about any other manufactures offerings. Sad and pathetic!
What’s sad and pathetic is seeing people in this world who grow up and never have a once of loyalty
People today have zero soul and just bounce around picking what’s popular of the day. Have the back bone to pick a brand and stick with it.
Actually many agree that it takes more “backbone” to stand up, do objective research and change brands where needed. Or at least point out where something can be improved – like rear AC in a $60,000 Crew Cab.
And “loyalty” is for personal relationships….not for use with automakers.
I do give GM huge congrats for the new design (exterior) but interior needs improvements.
Wrong loyalty should be applied to every aspect of your life. It’s easy to run to the competition, what’s hard is to stay loyal when things don’t look very well.
Do you drop your favorite team because they are struggling. If you do then your the pathetic one! It’s called being loyal for a reason!
No *you’re* wrong.
Try accepting that we all have preferences / opinions…what’s pathetic is to expect everyone to agree with yours or mine.
Can’t you see how easy it is to jump to the competition because you don’t like something. And how hard it is to stay loyal their the good times and the bad?
No. Maybe it’s because I don’t pledge loyalty to vehicle manufacturers.
I’m going to take Grawdaddy’s advice here now and ignore any further comments from you. And agree that we disagree!
“And how hard it is to stay loyal their the good times and the bad?”
It’s an automaker, not a wife, you loser.
No wonder you’re still on that dating website.
It’s the wall thickness of the frame… 2mm is about 5/64″, or a little more than 1/8″ – in some non-critical areas. In other, more critical areas, the wall thickness approaches 1/4″ (5mm).
If the frame is strong enough then why is it a issue?
Missing word in this sentence —
“The lighter frame enables the 2019 Silverado to be significantly (?!?) than its predecessor”
Better
John – that’s fixed now. Thanks for pointing it out.
– Alex
We’re at a point where the frames have been strong enough for awhile. It’s become a marketing gimmick. With stiffer frames come new problems like shaking and vibrating that older, more flexible frames didn’t have to worry about as much.
The current trend now is to spend more money to make them lighter but an automaker just claimed “we made it 88lbs lighter!” people would wrongly assume the frame is weaker unless its announced they’re stiffer…However in the grand scheme of things, chassis torsional rigidity is only small part of the “stiffness” felt in the seats…
You are correct, strength is related to the yield strength of the material and al it’s placement. Sectional modulus is the engineering term for “placement” or geometric cross section.
For example, a rectangular box is a lot stronger than a channel when both are the same weight per unit of length But…………you can get a lot of salt, sand and crap in a box which will lead to internal corrosion if these trucks last as long as GM says they do.
You guys are obviously chevy engineers.
One wonders will the application of this new technology lead to a Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Denali or Cadillac Escalade that will fall below a curb weight of 5,000 lbs; one has to think this being possible especially with aluminum doors and hood.
Sounds great until it rusts in the salt of Northern Michigan.
It should be hot galvanized dipped and coated on outside for rock protection.
Really looking forward to how the lighter weight and greater space will be leveraged in the new SUVs – I’ve been looking for a nice used Yukon Denali or Cadillac Escalade to replace my 2001 Tahoe LS, but now i’m wondering if I should hold out for a base Tahoe on the new platform, instead.
found a nice article on high strength steel for anyone who wants to know a little more about metallurgy:
http://bestride.com/research/buyers-guide/high-strength-steel
An interesting note in the article states that high strength steel isn’t as easy to repair after an accident, makes you wonder if the car companies are going to issue new frame straightening procedures.
Yes, good article.
High strength in general is harder and less ductile leading to cracking more easily than traditional A-36 type steels. It’s good stuff but has downsides.
When you combined thin wall frames with box construction, you need to worry about corrosion whereas a traditional channel type frame tends to shed dirt and salt better. Toyota experienced this in the about ~ 1990 time frame with it’s midsized truck frames causing an expensive buyback program.
In my view, box frames should be galvanized internally and externally then a heavy dip paint applied.
Somehow I feel that we will be talking about rusted out frames in 20 years, history repeats itself with new engineers.
Hopefully, they’ll use good protective coatings, but any scratch or stone chip will expose the bare metal and rust will spread from there.
And Toyota must still be re-framing trucks, the dealer in my town always has a stack of new ones on the side of the building. That sure has to be a big project to swap one out, labor is probably more than the parts.
Have also heard of numerous Silverado and F-150 owners with 10 plus year old trucks with frame rot issues. These frames should be coated from the factory for the prices they are charging and frame rot should never be an issue within 10 years of ownership.
So, this is a nice frame to put a new Chevy Express body on…