Just because you spend thousands of dollars on custom car parts doesn't mean they're indestructible. There's a video making its rounds on Facebook right now proving that, showing a massively lifted Ford Super Duty on 30-inch wheels with one separated rim off the truck. Oh, and they're also trying to drive it with a floor jack under the front axle.
The clip starts with a team of salespeople trying to reverse the F-450 Limited show truck while keeping the destroyed driver-front wheel off the ground. It works for a bit but then starts to slide off the jack, at which point someone asks if they should call a tow truck. That probably should've been the first step, but sometimes, ingenuity gets in the way of sense and sanity.
Once they realized their MacGyver scheme was less-than-perfect, the call was made to drop it on the wheel face and let it ride. They weren't moving far, after all, and it was mostly broken to start with. It's just a shame anyone had to do that with one-off, 30-inch forged wheels.
I talked with Paul Ellenberger, who posted the video on Facebook over the weekend. He noted that the Houston-area dealer had bought it off local truck enthusiast Bobby Perez, who had the rig built by Gas Pedal Industries. The wheels look to have been manufactured by Forged Nation, an aftermarket company that shared a post two summers ago with photos of 30- by 16-inch front rollers and 30- by 9-inch rears. They tagged Gas Pedal Industries then, too.
It's not clear when the wheel was damaged, but this incident seems to be isolated to the dealer lot. The video shows the gargantuan low-profile tire still mounted to the barrel of the wheel, and it looks to be a pretty clean break all the way around. None of the spokes look to be broken, even after lowering the jack on the F-450.
From the factory, that truck weighed anywhere between 8,280 and 8,600 pounds, according to Ford's official literature. Add on the accessories like the height-adjustable Kelderman lift, audio equipment, and whatever else, and it wouldn't be hard to imagine the Super Duty weighing somewhere close to 10,000 pounds. If anything, that speaks to the strength of forged 6061 heat-treated aluminum.
One YouTube video calls this a "$200,000 truck," which very well could be the case since the F-450 Limited likely came close to $100,000 stock. It's hard to say how much money was put into it after that, though one thing's for sure—it's going to take a decent amount more to get it back in roadworthy condition.
More Great Modified Car Fails on The Autance
- There's a whole Facebook group dedicated to sketchy SEMA builds and the photos are everything you'd hope for.
- Ever seen the aftermath of a 3,000-horsepower Cummins diesel that exploded on the dyno? Now ya have.
- When you're working on something important—like your car's frame—try to do better than the shop that "fixed" this Hellcat.
- It wouldn't be surprising to find some trusty Harbor Freight jack stands lying around that place, either.
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