Cybertruck hitch analysis by Engineering Explained

[Cyber Man]

This thread is about a video which covers much of that.

I already busted the myths in the video in one of the earlier posts. The video is half baked engineering facts. No real world “normal” towing will ever exert 10,000 lbs of vertical load limit on the hitch. I even mentioned that this is equivalent to a fully grown African elephant standing on the hitch with all four legs. Aluminum alloys are used extensively in other industries in which extensive stress cycles are exerted on the alloy.

This type of axle load testing is what gets tested in Skid plate OEM testing. Please educate yourself before blinding falling for YouTubers. Otherwise it’s called “appeal to authority fallacy” ?

Sponsored

 

[BannedByTMC]

This type of axle load testing is what gets tested in Skid plate OEM testing. Please educate yourself before blinding falling for YouTubers. Otherwise it’s called “appeal to authority fallacy” ?

The YouTuber talked with OEM truck engineers about their testing and the ratings they use.

 

[HaulingAss]

No I wasn't banned for being negative, I was banned because I repeatedly clashed with an irrational mod who has banned many other valuable members who also spoke their minds. Did you forget you pretend to be in favor of free speech?

I was on TMC at the same time. IMO, calling yourself a "valuable member" is an insane characterization. You were banned precisely because you were NOT a valuable member, you were disruptive and unhelpful.

Simply pointing out the truth is not being "negative". The issue is you seem to be so emotionally attached to your vehicle and Tesla you can't handle the truth, it's a bit pathological.

I didn't call you out for being negative, simply being negative is fine if it's grounded in reality. I called you out for focusing on made up problems that have zero evidence of being actual problems. It's a real problem with your credibility when you endlessly harp negative on perspectives that are completely unsupported by the evidence. We don't need you to amplify irrational negative perspectives, the media already does a bang-up job of that.

 

[Cyber Man]

The YouTuber talked with OEM truck engineers about their testing and the ratings they use.

So, the best folks to ask whether Steel is better than aluminum alloy is to ask ICE Truck OEMs who use Steel? What do you expect, lol? We live in a world where even double blind research results can be tweaked based on who is funding the research, and I don’t say this lightly! Numbers don’t lie! People do. Bring a statistically significant real world data to back up your claim. I’ll make sure to revisit this data point after CTs on road cross 1 million miles. Let’s see how many Chassis snap into half with daily normal towing!

 

[BannedByTMC]

I was on TMC at the same time.

I was probably on TMC before you even knew what Tesla was. Just because you didn't find my input valuable doesn't mean others felt the same way. I find your uncritical fanboying mind numbingly repetitive and uninformative, others have expressed the same opinions of you as well.

 

[BannedByTMC]

So, the best folks to ask whether Steel is better than aluminum alloy is to ask ICE Truck OEMs who use Steel? What do you expect, lol? We live in a world where even double blind research results can be tweaked based on who is funding the research, and I don’t say this lightly! Numbers don’t lie! People do. Bring a statistically significant real world data to back up your claim. I’ll make sure to revisit this data point after CTs on road cross 1 million miles. Let’s see how many Chassis snap into half mid-road towing!

Maybe you missed this previous post of mine:

The critiques raised in the video were real and accurate, if they ever show up in real world use is another matter. The fact remains that steel framed trucks have a higher margin built into them than the CT because of the use of aluminum. No amount of blind fan-boying will change that simple fact.

 

[timschoenfeler]

Yup, that would be a significant quality of life improvement for charging with a trailer on the long trips, since the most charging stations at this time aren't setup for trailers. But it would have to work pretty good to be useful - apparently Lightning has that feature, and it's not working great.

Sorry that the Lightning is auto hitch challenged.

Tesla's rear camera ought to be able to center the ball under a trailer hitch.

 

[Texarado]

Sorry that the Lightning is auto hitch challenged.

Tesla's rear camera ought to be able to center the ball under a trailer hitch.

Agree it would be nice. Though Tesla seems to be installing charging stations in such large numbers now that pulling in across is often not a problem.

this was from this morning:

 

[flyinglow]

This is a well presented, thoughtful video. It points out the potential limitations of the Cybertruck for towing but it is important to keep the real world in mind. Few, if any, will be towing at max weight with a high center of gravity trailer and then hit a huge bump/pothole at high speed. Also, few will be towing heavy loads frequently enough for the aluminum life issues to come into play.

Let's be realistic. The Cybertruck isn't the best towing choice if that is what you do all the time. Limited range is a bigger issue than the risk of this kind of failure. Be smart and buy the truck that does what you need it to do. Maybe that's the CT or maybe it's something else.

 

[ogdobber]

tl;dr: The design meets SAE specifications, but the hitch could theoretically exceed the 10K vertical load if you're pulling max-load with a high center-of-gravity on a single-axle trailer while braking at 1G downhill while hitting a pothole

but you wouldn’t, first, no sane person would ever tow a trailer that weighs more than the tow vehicle without trailer brakes. And then if you were in that situation of downhill hitting a pothole (with no trailer brakes) me myself I’d want that trailer jettisoned off anyways ? but seriously you still wouldn’t get to those loads because the suspension and tires would absorb a lot of that.
In that video he talks about dodge engineers who said this and that, honestly i wouldn’t be surprised if dodge sponsored that video (actually I’m pretty sure they did)
If you are towing all the time and long distance we all know you buy a 1 ton diesel. But taking the boat to the local lake 45 minutes away, 100 percent I’m taking the ct

 

[cybercricket]

but you wouldn’t, first, no sane person would ever tow a trailer that weighs more than the tow vehicle without trailer brakes. And then if you were in that situation of downhill hitting a pothole (with no trailer brakes) me myself I’d want that trailer jettisoned off anyways ? but seriously you still wouldn’t get to those loads because the suspension and tires would absorb a lot of that.
In that video he talks about dodge engineers who said this and that, honestly i wouldn’t be surprised if dodge sponsored that video (actually I’m pretty sure they did)
If you are towing all the time and long distance we all know you buy a 1 ton diesel. But taking the boat to the local lake 45 minutes away, 100 percent I’m taking the ct

Trailer brakes only solve the issue of forces that are parallel to the direction of travel. When the trailer brakes, the inertia in the load (especially when the center of mass is significantly above the axle) will translate into the force applied vertically down onto the receiver.

 

[ogdobber]

Trailer brakes only solve the issue of forces that are parallel to the direction of travel. When the trailer brakes, the inertia in the load (especially when the center of mass is significantly above the axle) will translate into the force applied vertically down onto the receiver.

But it still will be less than a trailer without brakes. His math is wrong

 

[cybercricket]

But it still will be less than a trailer without brakes. His math is wrong

Perhaps when comparing with everything being equal, but like you pointed out trailers without brakes aren't going to be used for heavier loads. Such trailers typically don't even have the axle(s) rated appropriately.

So then the comparison wouldn't be with everything else being equal. What would produce a greater downward force during braking, a fully loaded 5000lb GVWR trailer without the brakes, or a fully loaded 11000lb GVWR trailer with brakes ?

 

[Texarado]

Perhaps when comparing with everything being equal, but like you pointed out trailers without brakes aren't going to be used for heavier loads. Such trailers typically don't even have the axle(s) rated appropriately.

So then the comparison wouldn't be with everything else being equal. What would produce a greater downward force during braking, a fully loaded 5000lb GVWR trailer without the brakes, or a fully loaded 11000lb GVWR trailer with brakes ?

And we haven’t even gotten into single axle vs double axle, which also impacts dynamic forces. Most people with very heavy loads will have a double (or triple) axle rather than single, which produces lower dynamic forces on the hitch.

 

[cybercricket]

And we haven’t even gotten into single axle vs double axle, which also impacts dynamic forces. Most people with very heavy loads will have a double (or triple) axle rather than single, which generally produces lower dynamic forces.

Multi axle trailers is an easy way to get distracted from the root of the question. Sure, if loaded in an ideal fashion a double axle trailer (triple axles are completely out of context here) could reduce the downward force during braking though again it would be very difficult to estimate that on a napkin. But consider a possibility that it's not loaded in an ideal fashion, like when most of the cargo weight is above the front axle.

Sponsored