• frezik
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    11 months ago

    Nope, that’s not how that works. To take a higher weight, the transmission needs to be beefier and the frame does, too. You might need dualie wheels, as well. Then at some point, you get into air brakes (which do generally require a CDL in the US).

    As far as engines go, they may use the same ones for a large range of towing capacities. Engines are generally not the limiting factor.

    So again, you’re making assumptions without actually knowing how it works.

    This is assuming the people buying these trucks are actually pulling these loads, but we all know the vast majority are driving around cities never hauling anything.

    At this level, yes, they do actually haul things.

    If we were talking about the F150 and trucks like it, that’s different. Those mostly are posers. Once you get into the F250 level or higher, though, you’re mostly looking at people who use their truck for a living. You can’t even buy an F250 from Ford without a commercial contract, but there is a secondary market. That used to be more common, because you couldn’t get an F150 with a diesel, but that’s come and gone in recent years.

    The Man truck posted above competes with the F350 (roughly), which are almost all commercial use in the US. Those are not parking lot queens.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      11 months ago

      That truck picture posted is part of an article, not just a picture of a single truck. Nearly all modern trucks have that large flat front end and high cab height. The vast majority of trucks are not commercial and they are parking lot queens. There is a purpose for larger trucks, but most aren’t used for that. Though, again, I’d argue smaller trucks or other vehicles would serve them just as well or better for most use cases, but this is America.

      As for needing a beefier frame and transmission, these stresses are proportional to acceleration. You can pull a much larger load with less stress with slower acceleration. Just look at a train. They are incredibly large pulling massive loads through single connection points. Their wheels are steel on steel, so very low friction, yet they can still pull these loads because they accelerate slowly. Sure, you may need dualies for low-traction situations, and you may need a stronger frame than a sedan, but modern trucks are built way beyond what’s required.