How concerned should I be about towing ?

[KenjiIzce]

Hi, I’ve been waiting patiently on the side line to place an order for my CT. One of my main concerns that have caught my attention is the rear casting!!!
The exact concern is to towing heavy load with the aluminum casting. I’ve seen some video of the rear of the CT rip or broke off.
My most use case would be for towing boats. Some of the boats I tow can come close to the CT max towing capacity.
Does anyone have this concern? I just don’t want to invest in this truck and have very low limitation with towing. Because I’m always afraid of the whole thing failing.

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[cardad]

There is some concern but it’s mainly with the tongue weight limits which I believe is low (look it up or ask ChatGPT). You need to be sure the tongue weight doesn’t exceed the limits. The actual payload is less critical. There is specific language in the manual regarding tongue weight. That being said I’m pretty sure I’ve exceeded the tongue weight with a bike rack so who knows. Maybe there’s also some fatigue concern but my guess is that there isn’t a huge sample of towing incidents like with the few that have snapped where there was some large sudden force placed on the hitch.

 

[no%X#XMVk65v#cq]

As far as I know there are exactly 2 instances of busted hitches. One when Whistlin Diesel dropped it on its ass, and a second mysterious picture that floated around of a CT that clearly had been rear-ended.

I wouldn't worry about it. However, I always recommend staying under manufacturer's sometimes optimistic tow ratings.

 

[Derektsla]

Hi, I’ve been waiting patiently on the side line to place an order for my CT. One of my main concerns that have caught my attention is the rear casting!!!
The exact concern is to towing heavy load with the aluminum casting. I’ve seen some video of the rear of the CT rip or broke off.
My most use case would be for towing boats. Some of the boats I tow can come close to the CT max towing capacity.
Does anyone have this concern? I just don’t want to invest in this truck and have very low limitation with towing. Because I’m always afraid of the whole thing failing.

The instances where the back casting broke are super suspect. It’s very likely that they broke things before “Towing broke it”. Here is a short that shows what whistling diesel did before the hitch broke. The way it hit would mess up most trucks badly, but especially heavy ones.

 

[CyberGus]

Thank god that a casting-free truck has never had a hitch failure ever.

oh wait

This one’s pretty good tho:

 

[Pulaski]

I wouldn't over think it.

 

[KenjiIzce]

Ok, so far I’m feeling much better, I feel those broke case are rare, and those could happened to any truck that is abuse.

 

[Atlantian]

This explains it in more detail:

 

[ldiebel]

AWD is 11,000 lb capacity, 1,100 lb tongue weight.
I just towed a trailer with a tractor to Bradenton and back twice, about 400 miles each trip.
Trailer and tractor weight was about 5,500 lbs or so.
I use the following ball mount:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J5YMLD1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8

With this, I know the tongue weight, and I can set it by moving the tractor, so I had it at about 600 lbs. Tesla recommends 10% of the load weight for tongue weight.

I have no worries about the truck breaking.
When I tow, I do so as safe as I know how, and conservatively, as all should.
I'm not towing at the trucks limits, so I'm not really able to answer your question.
If you want to, you can break anything.
I believe those that broke the hitches on the CT could have done the same to any other truck if that was their goal.

I will add this though, the CT tows so beautifully. Smooth power, nice regenerative braking. The trailer brake controller works well, though I want to experiment more with the settings on that.
The bulk of my trip was on highway 70 (Fort Pierce to Bradenton) which is one lane each direction. A couple of times I got behind slow vehicles and decided to pass. Even pulling the trailer, it was a non issue. I was out and around so fast.
I've towed with many different vehicles, none were as nice and low stress as the CT, except reduced charge range.
Even that has become much more comfortable with these last trips since I've learned I can trust the CT destination charge prediction.
Pulling the trailer I get about 2/3 the range I'd get not towing.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[OMFG]

Hi, I’ve been waiting patiently on the side line to place an order for my CT. One of my main concerns that have caught my attention is the rear casting!!!
The exact concern is to towing heavy load with the aluminum casting. I’ve seen some video of the rear of the CT rip or broke off.
My most use case would be for towing boats. Some of the boats I tow can come close to the CT max towing capacity.
Does anyone have this concern? I just don’t want to invest in this truck and have very low limitation with towing. Because I’m always afraid of the whole thing failing.

I wouldn't worry at all. I tow a 10,000lb load with it (cab tractor, grapple, box blade, tandem axle trailer and I lord knows I don't always center it right so the tongue wait is likely exceeding downforce on some trips, or exceeding vertical force on others lol). Setting range / distance aside (you will get about 50% of range at best depending on weight/road variations), but I personally have found it tows smoother than my Ford Super Duty or Raptor (6.2L) did. It is more than just the air bags, I think the overall casting distributes the impacts you normally feel on a body-over-frame like traditional trucks...you don't get as much 'bounce' if you will, which while it 'feels' better the point is that you don't get those hard hits on the tongue like when WhistlinDinker dropped his on a 6-8ft culvert

 

[OMFG]

AWD is 11,000 lb capacity, 1,100 lb tongue weight.
I just towed a trailer with a tractor to Bradenton and back twice, about 400 miles each trip.
Trailer and tractor weight was about 5,500 lbs or so.
I use the following ball mount:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J5YMLD1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8

With this, I know the tongue weight, and I can set it by moving the tractor, so I had it at about 600 lbs. Tesla recommends 10% of the load weight for tongue weight.

I have no worries about the truck breaking.
When I tow, I do so as safe as I know how, and conservatively, as all should.
I'm not towing at the trucks limits, so I'm not really able to answer your question.
If you want to, you can break anything.
I believe those that broke the hitches on the CT could have done the same to any other truck if that was their goal.

I will add this though, the CT tows so beautifully. Smooth power, nice regenerative braking. The trailer brake controller works well, though I want to experiment more with the settings on that.
The bulk of my trip was on highway 70 (Fort Pierce to Bradenton) which is one lane each direction. A couple of times I got behind slow vehicles and decided to pass. Even pulling the trailer, it was a non issue. I was out and around so fast.
I've towed with many different vehicles, none were as nice and low stress as the CT, except reduced charge range.
Even that has become much more comfortable with these last trips since I've learned I can trust the CT destination charge prediction.
Pulling the trailer I get about 2/3 the range I'd get not towing.

That's my 2 cents.

Agree 100% with all your notes. I love towing with it (range aside, but that is fair trade since I don't tow daily to make a living, just 1-2 times month).

 

[Pulaski]

AWD is 11,000 lb capacity, 1,100 lb tongue weight.
I just towed a trailer with a tractor to Bradenton and back twice, about 400 miles each trip.
Trailer and tractor weight was about 5,500 lbs or so.
I use the following ball mount:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J5YMLD1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8

With this, I know the tongue weight, and I can set it by moving the tractor, so I had it at about 600 lbs. Tesla recommends 10% of the load weight for tongue weight.

I have no worries about the truck breaking.
When I tow, I do so as safe as I know how, and conservatively, as all should.
I'm not towing at the trucks limits, so I'm not really able to answer your question.
If you want to, you can break anything.
I believe those that broke the hitches on the CT could have done the same to any other truck if that was their goal.

I will add this though, the CT tows so beautifully. Smooth power, nice regenerative braking. The trailer brake controller works well, though I want to experiment more with the settings on that.
The bulk of my trip was on highway 70 (Fort Pierce to Bradenton) which is one lane each direction. A couple of times I got behind slow vehicles and decided to pass. Even pulling the trailer, it was a non issue. I was out and around so fast.
I've towed with many different vehicles, none were as nice and low stress as the CT, except reduced charge range.
Even that has become much more comfortable with these last trips since I've learned I can trust the CT destination charge prediction.
Pulling the trailer I get about 2/3 the range I'd get not towing.

That's my 2 cents.

2/3 the range is exactly what I've noticed as well. Best truck I've ever towed with.

 

[Glockycharms]

I am new to the cybertruck and the one thing that bothers me is how/when does it know the range based on weight? I don’t want to run the battery out before supercharger.

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