Watch The Same YouTuber Who Broke The Cybertruck’s Frame Try To Snap The Ford F-150’s

Trucks are meant to be tough, capable, and long-lasting, and YouTuber Whistlin Diesel’s latest video provides some non-scientific evidence of just how strong modern pickup frames can be. Host Cody Detwiler is, as our very own David Tracy put it, entertaining and “in some ways – insufferable (no disrespect).” Detwiler is an entertainer (who, many say, puts on a persona for his channel), not a journalist, and he himself literally calls this video “unbiased bullish!t” so keep that in mind.

[Ed Note: Note that this video isn’t a scientific test and to some it’s a bit insufferable. If you’re going to be bothered by this particular YouTuber, you’re welcome to read our story on tire wear pollution capturing devices instead. But if you just want to see someone beat on a Ford F-150 and be amazed by the concept of ductility and material toughness, here you go. -DT]

That doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of demonstrating certain automotive design features, though. After breaking the rear chassis casting on his Cybertruck in what he called a durability test, commenters said that the Ford F-150 in that same test would’ve suffered a similar fate had it been subjected to the exact same abuse.

That abuse, in the eyes of those commenting specifically, pertains to a moment where the hitch of the Cybertruck lands on some concrete. Critics claim that the casting actually fractured at that moment and then only broke when subjected to a towing force.

This did not sit well with the Whistlin Diesel host, who decided to submit the Ford to far worse punishment to prove a point about the differences in construction. That punishment involved lifting the rear of the F-150 up in the air via the hitch and then dropping that area of the truck on a concrete wall.

That’s right, he rented a crane, hooked it up to the hitch of the Ford, lifted just the rear up in the air, and then released the truck when its rear end was just above a concrete wall. This isn’t a scientific test by any means but there’s no question that it’s a wild spectacle.

The hitch nor the frame seem to suffer any noticeable damage after he does it the first time so he repeats the test over a dozen more times. It’s unclear exactly how many times the F-150 was dropped on its rear end but damage does occur over time (the counter in the video is counting the “feet dropped onto concrete,” which reaches 40). Shocking, I know.

Instead of snapping or fracturing, the frame bends. That doesn’t stop the truck from functioning, though, (ditto with the Cybertruck; it still drove afterward) as Detweiler does donuts with it looking sort of like a shoe I’ve had stuffed in a bag for a week. Then, the host attempts to yank the hitch off by driving away from a concrete block that he’s chained up to.

If anything, the frame begins to straighten back out and that trend of automotive chiropractic care continues when he drops a concrete block on the hitch from roughly 15 feet in the air. Detweiler attributes the difference in performance between this frame and the Cybertruck to Ford’s use of steel rather than aluminum.

No doubt the metallurgy plays a role in the way the two handle abuse. There are clear benefits to each way of building a vehicle. The Cybertruck saves weight with its cast aluminum frame but it does appear that it gives up toughness in a silly ‘test’ like this. In fact, it’ll be interesting to see if he tries this same thing with the Tesla when he gets it back.

It’s also worth noting the castings are indeed repairable, so we’ll have to wait to see what shape the Cybertruck is in when it returns from service. Ultimately, this is entertainment, not a realistic test that we can actually pull real data from but it’s an interesting way to show just how strong a steel frame can be.

[Ed Note: Again, there’s plenty of dumb stuff in that video, including discussion about how the host feels an obligation to test whether the “government-required electric trucks” are better than gas trucks. This test he’s doing is less about EV vs gas, and more about different manufacturing methods, but again, it’s a silly video. Rivers and I still enjoyed watching it, which is why we’re sharing it. We share things with you that we’d share with our friends, even if some of our friends might say “Uh, not my thing.” -DT]

Screenshots: WhistlinDiesel (YouTube)