Maybe Don’t Use Your Cybertruck For Towing

[AbleGuy]

Tesla Cybertruck Testing Shows It Has The 'Towing Ability Of A Pop Can' - Jalopnik

If you actually try to use your Cybertruck as a truck just know that towing will cause the aluminum frame to fatigue and break.

www.jalopnik.com

Watch a Tesla Cybertruck Get Ripped Apart in Tow Hitch Stress Test

Some Cybertruck owners claim their tow hitches have fallen off while in use, so JerryRigEverything decided to see just how strong they are.

www.thedrive.com

According to these two interesting and enlightening stories, the decision to use cast aluminum for the frame on your vehicle that supports your towing infrastructure might not be the best idea.

 

[cricketwagon]

Do you fly places for business or pleasure ? Aren't you concerned that the air frame is made out of aluminum and is exposed to significant stresses like turbulence ?

In all seriousness, what's the maximum dynamic load that a properly setup 11k trailer is going to put on the hitch receiver ?

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Do you fly places for business or pleasure ? Aren't you concerned that the air frame is made out of aluminum and is exposed to significant stresses like turbulence ?

The latest aircraft are in fact plastic, glass and carbon.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[cricketwagon]

The latest aircraft are in fact plastic, glass and carbon.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

You forgot the glue. According to Jerry's video referenced above there was also a bunch of glue on the Cybertruck, so it's all good.

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

I am currently building a new expedition truck.
The habitat is completely glued together. There is no wood and no steel, a lot of plastic and glass and some aluminium.
The habitat is glued to the chassis.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[cricketwagon]

I am currently building a new expedition truck.
The habitat is completely glued together. There is no wood and no steel, a lot of plastic and glass and some aluminium.
The habitat is glued to the chassis.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

In all seriousness, there are adhesives used even in the aerospace industry. When the correct compounds are used in the right context they can perform just as good as the mechanical fasteners while reducing complexity and weight.

 

[cranecamsou]

Do you fly places for business or pleasure ? Aren't you concerned that the air frame is made out of aluminum and is exposed to significant stresses like turbulence ?

In all seriousness, what's the maximum dynamic load that a properly setup 11k trailer is going to put on the hitch receiver ?

Just a guess here, don't shoot me....

11k lbs trailer, should be ~20% tongue weight. Let's say there should be some built in allowances for owners getting this wrong, so let's say 30% is within reason.

11,000 * 30% = 3,300 lbs static load

I would estimate dynamic loads on the highway, potholes, dips, speedbumps, etc could be 3x the static load pretty frequently.

3,300 static * 3 = 9,900 lbs dynamic. So yeah, the subframe breaking off at 10k Lbs seems like a major issue

 

[86scotty]

Tesla Cybertruck Testing Shows It Has The 'Towing Ability Of A Pop Can' - Jalopnik

If you actually try to use your Cybertruck as a truck just know that towing will cause the aluminum frame to fatigue and break.

www.jalopnik.com

Watch a Tesla Cybertruck Get Ripped Apart in Tow Hitch Stress Test

Some Cybertruck owners claim their tow hitches have fallen off while in use, so JerryRigEverything decided to see just how strong they are.

www.thedrive.com

According to these two interesting and enlightening stories, the decision to use cast aluminum for the frame on your vehicle that supports your towing infrastructure might not be the best idea.

I think it's an incredibly bad idea but we're missing the point here. Look at that hideous blue contraption. Isn't the idiot that designed it all about culling from the herd all that isn't the right color or doesn't look right to him and his.......people? I think Cybertrucks should be deported, no matter what work they can or can't do, because they don't look right.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Do you fly places for business or pleasure ? Aren't you concerned that the air frame is made out of aluminum and is exposed to significant stresses like turbulence ?

In all seriousness, what's the maximum dynamic load that a properly setup 11k trailer is going to put on the hitch receiver ?

I might be just an unfrozen caveman lawyer, but are airframes forged aluminum vs this cast aluminum?

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Just a guess here, don't shoot me....

11k lbs trailer, should be ~20% tongue weight. Let's say there should be some built in allowances for owners getting this wrong, so let's say 30% is within reason.

11,000 * 30% = 3,300 lbs static load

I would estimate dynamic loads on the highway, potholes, dips, speedbumps, etc could be 3x the static load pretty frequently.

3,300 static * 3 = 9,900 lbs dynamic. So yeah, the subframe breaking off at 10k Lbs seems like a major issue

I thought tongue weight was supposed to be 10%? 15 maybe?

 

[ThundahBeagle]

I think it's an incredibly bad idea but we're missing the point here. Look at that hideous blue contraption. Isn't the idiot that designed it all about culling from the herd all that isn't the right color or doesn't look right to him and his.......people? I think Cybertrucks should be deported, no matter what work they can or can't do, because they don't look right.

Cant deport CyberTruck. It was born here.

If the goal was to build the Cybertruck as a stand-in for the Delorean in some hopeful reboot of the Back to the Future movies, kind of a fail.

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Some marketing success requires just ONE of the following features....
1. Better.
2. Cheaper
3. Different

Cybertruck has #3. Some people will buy it.
If any product has any 2 of the above it will do very well.
If it has all 3 it will 'clean up'.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[cricketwagon]

Just a guess here, don't shoot me....

11k lbs trailer, should be ~20% tongue weight. Let's say there should be some built in allowances for owners getting this wrong, so let's say 30% is within reason.

11,000 * 30% = 3,300 lbs static load

I would estimate dynamic loads on the highway, potholes, dips, speedbumps, etc could be 3x the static load pretty frequently.

3,300 static * 3 = 9,900 lbs dynamic. So yeah, the subframe breaking off at 10k Lbs seems like a major issue

Yes, your numbers are significantly off compared to the actual the physics expected. This was posted on the CT forum with the citations to the specific standards and testing methodologies:

 

[cricketwagon]

I might be just an unfrozen caveman lawyer, but are airframes forged aluminum vs this cast aluminum?

Airframe components will typically be extrusions and billets (machined parts), castings can potentially be in the engines. I'm not aware of the forged aluminum parts on the airplanes, but just so you have the context - forging is a type of a post-processing method on cast aluminum, famously used for the AR-pattern receivers. To make things more murky, aluminum casting is not a single process. Tesla uses high pressure injection with a vacuum to ensure consistent and high quality castings. For comparison gravity casting without evacuating the air will result in gas trapping and generally wouldn't be suitable for structural parts. So then the final caveat revolves around the aluminum alloys in general, their grainy structure regardless of how the parts are made, and resulting lack of the Fatigue Limit, but that's where we go back to the use of aluminum in more critical applications such as airplanes with a consistently good track record.

 

[rruff]

Some marketing success requires just ONE of the following features....
1. Better.
2. Cheaper
3. Different

It's definitely got some #1 as well.

I said when it came out that it was a modern version of an oversized muscle car, with a zero to 60 of 2.6s. The truck bed and rear seat are bonuses. And the $100k price for that model is far from silly considering what other vehicles cost.

No EV is viable for towing long distances if that is your priority.