Cybertruck doing truck things. 🦾 Post your photos!

[swinefeaster]

The Cybertruck replaces my F-150 Supercab 4x4 with a 6 1/2 foot bed. I'm trying to come up with one thing that's better about the F-150 for the kind of "truck things" I use it for, any small thing that's better about the F-150, and I'm coming up empty. The advantages of the Cybertruck are numerous and significant.

Note: Some of these comments might make more sense if you look through the pictures below first.

1. Maneuvering for loading/unloading.

No contest, the Cybertruck with its many cameras, rear wheel steering, and easy lock-to-lock steering and effortless gear shift from drive to reverse makes it easier to put it right where I want it, especially in tight spaces like my driveway. The better throttle control of the Cybertruck was much easier to back up my steep gravel driveway without worry about wheel spin. I'm always careful to try not to spin the wheels of my F-150, and I always engage 4x4 to back up my driveway with a heavy load, but wheelspin is still unavoidable sometimes. Then I have to fill in the tire divots with surrounding gravel. No need with the Cybertruck.

2. Bed height.

I used the "Entry" suspension setting for loading and unloading heavy items. It makes it a ton easier. I'm often loading rounds too heavy to pick up and I need to get creative with getting them up there. The lower bed height is a game-changer and a huge saver of my back and speeds up the process.

3. Bed shape.

The square shape of the bed, without wheel wells intruding through the bed floor, makes load placement and stacking of items much easier. With the F-150, I always had to work around the wheel wells, and they were always the wrong height for stacking unless I got lucky. With the Cybertruck I can roll the rounds straight in. The way the Cybertrucks bed slopes forward is perfect for loading rounds of firewood without wasting space. In the F-150 I would roll the rounds in and turn them 90 degrees to make best use of the front of the bed, which just created more work loading/unloading, it took more time.

In the F-150, I'm often tying the rounds together with a light rope to keep them from rolling off the side on corners, potholes and side-slopes. At least with my first load of rounds in the Cybertruck, I found it wasn't necessary, the tall bed sides and the orientation of the rounds saved me about 1/4 hour of securing the load. Smaller rounds would still require securing ropes for a large load though, just like the F-150. The taller bed sides of the Cybertruck can minimize this.

4. Driving dynamics.

I had about 1800 lbs. of wood and well over 2100-2200 lbs. total (including tools and driver) my F-150 maxes out at 1750 lbs. so I was often over the rated capacity and the Ford drove like you would expect an over-loaded truck to drive, caution was necessary, the hood pointed upwards while the rear sagged no matter how hard I tried to keep the load as far forward as possible. The Cybertruck with over 2000 lbs. of payload felt awesome, I could feel the weight but it wasn't very obvious, and the ride was very natural and smooth, perhaps a little nicer even than with no load.

As I loaded the bed it would periodically automatically air up to compensate for the added weight. It maintained a steady bed height (within about an inch) My F-150 would just sag lower and lower, the more I put in it. That meant it became easier to load, the more I put in it. But even when overloaded, it was still higher than the Cybertruck in entry mode.

5. Tool storage and access.

Even though my F-150 was 6 inches longer overall, it only had a Supercab, not a full crew cab. I had the rear seat area stacked high with two chainsaws, a peavy, large breaker/pry bar, an axe, a maul, wedges, gas, oil, helmet with face and hearing protection, lunch and drinks, tape measure, etc. Accessing it was problematic through the little half-doors because everything was on top of one another. This kept the bed ready to load wood (plus the bed was too tall to be constantly accessing it for tools, especially if they had slid forward), but tool access sucked.

The Cybertruck has a large flat floor in the rear passenger area that makes tool access much better and the frunk can hold my saws and gas and oil, reducing clutter and making it easier to access whatever tool I need. Also, I keep my emergency truck gear in the trunk area below the bed, freeing up more cab space.

The frunk fits two saws, a Stihl 261 C-M with 16" and 18" bars, fuel, oil, chain oil, sharpening tools, spare chains, tools, etc. in the hard orange case and a Husqvarna 350 Poweraxe electric chainsaw with 18" bar, spare chain, two batteries and 120V fast charger in the black soft case. There are also assorted ropes, soft shackles, tow strap, gloves and a stiff hand brush for cleaning bark.

The frunk is an ideal height for easy tool access.

Having the 120V outlet meant I didn't even need to fire up my gas saw. This was an all-electric firewood cutting trip. The electric saw surprised me with it's fast cutting, I only went through 2 1/2 batteries and one battery charges in the time it takes the other to deplete. The Cybertruck reported it was supplying 500 watts to the charger, I used a little over 1 mile of range charging the batteries.

Taking a rest break laying in the bed.

9 rounds on the base layer (rounds average 110 lbs. each, mostly water). You can see the entry level height puts the bed not very far above the round I use as a step. I can also make one large step from the ground into the bed, don't try that on my F-150, it's not going to work.

16 full rounds (9 +7 on the second layer) and one 1/3 round rotated sideways (plus some splits). This nice Douglas Fir was a windfall that had split up the trunk as it fell. I just cut the split section into 17" lengths.

All tidied up. If there were two more rounds available, I would have put them in also (without tie-downs). That would have put me well over the rear axle load rating but the route back never exceeds 30 mph. With tie downs I could have fit 5 more rounds this size.

Easy tool access. I brought a ramp but didn't need to use it.

Time for a beer! Cheers!

Sick photos!

How did you protect the rear glass from getting damaged by the logs? That's my biggest fear so I didn't load higher than that point

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[HaulingAss]

Sick photos!

How did you protect the rear glass from getting damaged by the logs? That's my biggest fear so I didn't load higher than that point

It didn't even cross my mind. Pretty much all pickups have an even larger pane of glass behind the cab. Some people even weld cages to bolt on around it, but it's mostly to look tough and indestructible.

I'm sure the glass is plenty strong, but mostly it's physics and geometry that the wood rounds must follow the laws of, so they are not going anywhere near that glass unless I roll the truck or something.

The rounds were about 1-2" away from the metal rear edge of the roof and further than that from the glass. If they tried to roll forward they would be held back by the rear metal edge. The suspension on the Cybertruck rides so smoothly it would take some serious off-roading at excessive speed to dislodge them.

 

[HaulingAss]

I'm adding this picture to show how the rear window is protected against firewood rounds smashing into it. The two arrows point to protrusions that leave the window recessed from your cargo, especially the ledge below the window which holds your cargo away from the glass about 2" or more:

 

[swinefeaster]

I'm adding this picture to show how the rear window is protected against firewood rounds smashing into it. The two arrows point to protrusions that leave the window recessed from your cargo, especially the ledge below the window which holds your cargo away from the glass about 2" or more:

I know I have a CT already but thanks for clarifying for everyone. I'm still paranoid about smaller logs jutting out or maybe some logs not being perfectly round perhaps?

 

[HaulingAss]

I know I have a CT already but thanks for clarifying for everyone. I'm still paranoid about smaller logs jutting out or maybe some logs not being perfectly round perhaps?

Compare the vulnerability of this traditional pickup vs. the Cybertruck:

This is what I used before the Cybertruck, and I never worried about it either. I'm 61 years old, life is too short to worry about minor things that probably won't happen anyway. I mean, it's a truck, right? Use it sensibly.

 

[cyberoffroad]

Heavy load. No problem.

 

[Cyber Man]

The Cybertruck replaces my F-150 Supercab 4x4 with a 6 1/2 foot bed. I'm trying to come up with one thing that's better about the F-150 for the kind of "truck things" I use it for, any small thing that's better about the F-150, and I'm coming up empty. The advantages of the Cybertruck are numerous and significant.

Note: Some of these comments might make more sense if you look through the pictures below first.

1. Maneuvering for loading/unloading.

No contest, the Cybertruck with its many cameras, rear wheel steering, and easy lock-to-lock steering and effortless gear shift from drive to reverse makes it easier to put it right where I want it, especially in tight spaces like my driveway. The better throttle control of the Cybertruck was much easier to back up my steep gravel driveway without worry about wheel spin. I'm always careful to try not to spin the wheels of my F-150, and I always engage 4x4 to back up my driveway with a heavy load, but wheelspin is still unavoidable sometimes. Then I have to fill in the tire divots with surrounding gravel. No need with the Cybertruck.

2. Bed height.

I used the "Entry" suspension setting for loading and unloading heavy items. It makes it a ton easier. I'm often loading rounds too heavy to pick up and I need to get creative with getting them up there. The lower bed height is a game-changer and a huge saver of my back and speeds up the process.

3. Bed shape.

The square shape of the bed, without wheel wells intruding through the bed floor, makes load placement and stacking of items much easier. With the F-150, I always had to work around the wheel wells, and they were always the wrong height for stacking unless I got lucky. With the Cybertruck I can roll the rounds straight in. The way the Cybertrucks bed slopes forward is perfect for loading rounds of firewood without wasting space. In the F-150 I would roll the rounds in and turn them 90 degrees to make best use of the front of the bed, which just created more work loading/unloading, it took more time.

In the F-150, I'm often tying the rounds together with a light rope to keep them from rolling off the side on corners, potholes and side-slopes. At least with my first load of rounds in the Cybertruck, I found it wasn't necessary, the tall bed sides and the orientation of the rounds saved me about 1/4 hour of securing the load. Smaller rounds would still require securing ropes for a large load though, just like the F-150. The taller bed sides of the Cybertruck can minimize this.

4. Driving dynamics.

I had about 1800 lbs. of wood and well over 2100-2200 lbs. total (including tools and driver) my F-150 maxes out at 1750 lbs. so I was often over the rated capacity and the Ford drove like you would expect an over-loaded truck to drive, caution was necessary, the hood pointed upwards while the rear sagged no matter how hard I tried to keep the load as far forward as possible. The Cybertruck with over 2000 lbs. of payload felt awesome, I could feel the weight but it wasn't very obvious, and the ride was very natural and smooth, perhaps a little nicer even than with no load.

As I loaded the bed it would periodically automatically air up to compensate for the added weight. It maintained a steady bed height (within about an inch) My F-150 would just sag lower and lower, the more I put in it. That meant it became easier to load, the more I put in it. But even when overloaded, it was still higher than the Cybertruck in entry mode.

5. Tool storage and access.

Even though my F-150 was 6 inches longer overall, it only had a Supercab, not a full crew cab. I had the rear seat area stacked high with two chainsaws, a peavy, large breaker/pry bar, an axe, a maul, wedges, gas, oil, helmet with face and hearing protection, lunch and drinks, tape measure, etc. Accessing it was problematic through the little half-doors because everything was on top of one another. This kept the bed ready to load wood (plus the bed was too tall to be constantly accessing it for tools, especially if they had slid forward), but tool access sucked.

The Cybertruck has a large flat floor in the rear passenger area that makes tool access much better and the frunk can hold my saws and gas and oil, reducing clutter and making it easier to access whatever tool I need. Also, I keep my emergency truck gear in the trunk area below the bed, freeing up more cab space.

The frunk fits two saws, a Stihl 261 C-M with 16" and 18" bars, fuel, oil, chain oil, sharpening tools, spare chains, tools, etc. in the hard orange case and a Husqvarna 350 Poweraxe electric chainsaw with 18" bar, spare chain, two batteries and 120V fast charger in the black soft case. There are also assorted ropes, soft shackles, tow strap, gloves and a stiff hand brush for cleaning bark.

The frunk is an ideal height for easy tool access.

Having the 120V outlet meant I didn't even need to fire up my gas saw. This was an all-electric firewood cutting trip. The electric saw surprised me with it's fast cutting, I only went through 2 1/2 batteries and one battery charges in the time it takes the other to deplete. The Cybertruck reported it was supplying 500 watts to the charger, I used a little over 1 mile of range charging the batteries.

Taking a rest break laying in the bed.

9 rounds on the base layer (rounds average 110 lbs. each, mostly water). You can see the entry level height puts the bed not very far above the round I use as a step. I can also make one large step from the ground into the bed, don't try that on my F-150, it's not going to work.

16 full rounds (9 +7 on the second layer) and one 1/3 round rotated sideways (plus some splits). This nice Douglas Fir was a windfall that had split up the trunk as it fell. I just cut the split section into 17" lengths.

All tidied up. If there were two more rounds available, I would have put them in also (without tie-downs). That would have put me well over the rear axle load rating but the route back never exceeds 30 mph. With tie downs I could have fit 5 more rounds this size.

Easy tool access. I brought a ramp but didn't need to use it.

Time for a beer! Cheers!

Wow! Just wow! A video on your experience would have gone crazy viral. Love it. Thanks for sharing. My use case is very similar to yours. I have been contemplating to get F150/Tundra while waiting for regular Cybertruck. Your post convinced me to wait longer! . I just hope this FS madness ends soon.

 

[HaulingAss]

Wow! Just wow! A video on your experience would have gone crazy viral. Love it. Thanks for sharing. My use case is very similar to yours. I have been contemplating to get F150/Tundra while waiting for regular Cybertruck. Your post convinced me to wait longer! . I just hope this FS madness ends soon.

Yeah, the ease with which the Cybertruck drives and maneuvers makes all traditional trucks feel like they are from another era, clunky, unwieldy and lots of reaching in your pockets, flailing of your hands and feet to start it, to make it move, to steer it, to back it up, to park it. You don't realize you have to do all those things in a ICE truck until you go back to one after driving the Cybertruck.

I mean, cruising down the highway there isn't a huge difference, it's when you start using the truck to do real work that a gulf forms. Because work often involves a lot of getting in/out, maneuvering and starting/stopping. ICE trucks just feel so archaic, and not in a quaint way!

The Cybertruck has a small learning curve, because the operation is different, it's so simple that at first I felt like I was forgetting to do things, but once you get it you won't want to go back.

 

[HaulingAss]

Heavy load. No problem.

Wow! That's a real skookum looking boat cover there!

Any idea what your trailer and tongue weights are?

 

[Outdoors]

Got some R5's at a good price. Swing on by to pick them up. The tire folks love it.

 

[OneDanik]

 

[Cyber Man]

Haha nice! Next Madmax in the making.

 

[swinefeaster]

Haha nice! Next Madmax in the making.

Is that an electric flamethrower?

 

[OneDanik]

 

[zeke]

I finally started using my truck for what I bought it for after going 4 years using my Model Y (and recently Model XP) to tow landscaping materials and supplies. Using just the truck, I was able to bring a new 330 gallon water tote (which I’ll use to irrigate a new orchard), and then with my small trailer I loaded the truck + trailer with 3 yards (about 4500 pounds) of manure compost from our local farm. Realistically I should've rented a dump trailer, but this was so much less hassle.

Check out the suspension self leveling after the first drop of manure!

The orchard project involved:
- 6 months backfilling the area with over 400 yards of wood chips from our local tree company (for free), and using an ATV with a snowplow to move the chips around
- using a tractor to spread 20 yards of topsoil on the 30x40 area

- using the Cybertruck to bring the 330 gallon water tote for rain collection

- using the Cybertruck to haul 1.5 yards of manure compost on its bed, plus another 1.5 yards on the trailer

It was quite a project so my wife and I are excited to (soon) reap the literal fruits of our labor.

Then next to the orchard I placed a new Timbery M100 sawmill fitted with a 5HP electric motor (240V, 30A) that I run off the Cybertruck's NEMA 14-50 outlet, using about 3.3kW continuously. This is a freshly felled (live) ash, about 20in diameter, so pretty hard wood.

But wait, THERE'S MORE

The outlet on the truck can handle 9.6kW so why not try to max it out? As it turns out, I have 2 more large electric forestry pieces of equipment that I use in this same area. My 16 Ton Boss log splitter (using about 2.2kW at 120V), and an Oregon electric chainsaw also using about 2kw (16A/120V). Perfect fit as the truck has 3 outlets, 2 of which are 20A 120V outlets.

All in all, the 3 machines could run continuously without trouble (though they WILL trip the breaker if I force the motors), for hours. I was alone so couldn't test out more than 1 at a time, but with the log splitter and mill idling, plus the chainsaw at full throttle, I measured 5kW on that outlet. And if you're wondering, why not plug it into my house directly, I have a good explanation. For one, these are big machines (as in, they all need dedicated circuits) so the 120V extension cords are only able to go about 50 feet before I need to use much thicker extension cords (probably 10 gauge, which would be a pain in the ass to haul). As for the mill, I did install a NEMA 14-30 outlet on the outside of the garage, but I needed to try out the truck's outlet as one day I'll be taking the mill into the forest and milling away from civilization.

Stay tuned for more forestry shenanigans. Next up will be testing out doing all of this on a sunny day using my 15kW solar panel system, taken off grid but kept alive by the Powershare equipment (if Tesla ever gets their shit together and works with me to install the equipment).

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