If you spent any time on Facebook or this very website earlier in the week, you might have seen a Tesla Cybertruck that was stuck on the Rubicon Trail for days. It was a heck of a story that involved big aspirations and even bigger headaches, like a handful of broken tie rods and a busted steering rack that left it stuck on Cadillac Hill. The electric pickup has since finished the almighty Rubicon, albeit with plenty of battle wounds, and I talked to the guy who limped it from Loon Lake to the Tahoma staging area. Here’s how it all went down, according to him.
“First of all, the Cybertruck should never cross the Rubicon without a skilled team of techs and spotters who know the trail well,” explained Roger Davis. “You also need to come with spares and be prepared.”
In Davis’ case, he invited a four-door Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon to join him on the trek. Despite multiple off-roaders saying they saw the Jeep dragging the Cybertruck through every obstacle, Davis tells me his Tesla “performed fantastically.” It’s a lightly built example with underbody protection like rock sliders, upgraded bumpers front and rear, and full-length skid plating. The tires are OEM Goodyears sold through Tesla’s app, and Davis claimed the truck has a one-inch lift.
“It didn’t have any trouble on most obstacles, we never held up the trail, and did well with great spotting,” Davis added. “And yes, of course, we pulled line and tugged her over some of the harder stuff just like you would do for any other vehicle on this trail.”
Davis claims they passed a broken-down Suzuki Samurai, two Jeep Wranglers, and a Ford Bronco, insisting that his EV wasn’t the only rig with casualties from the terrain.
Speaking of casualties, there were more than a few. The Cybertruck not only bent four inner tie rods up front, but it also damaged two rear tie rods as one was bent and the other suffered a sheared M14 bolt (Davis says they fixed it with a wheel spacer bolt). A rear CV axle bit the dust on Cadillac Hill, and a borked steering rack eventually forced the crew to tie the Tesla to a tree and park it.
“We were able to acquire a new front steering rack and a new rear axle. We replaced those in the dirt with the truck up on that tree,” Davis recounted. “As soon as she was back on the trail, she immediately climbed up that obstacle [and] we got to the top. We took some more pictures, and we completed the rest of the trail easily.”
The journey from Loon Lake to Tahoma took about a week, with roughly four of those days spent on Cadillac Hill. Davis believes the Cybertruck could’ve completed the trip on a single charge had they started at 100%, but instead, they began with 85% or so. It nearly died after rolling into Rubicon Springs with 5% charge. The campground’s Yamaha generators made absolutely no difference, but a “guardian angel” brought a larger unit and was able to fill the battery to 86% charge so it could finish the run.
“I do not recommend any person trying the Rubicon with a Cybertruck unless you come extremely prepared,” Davis warns, having lived to tell the tale. He then addressed a frequent complaint amongst commenters online, saying, “There’s probably less chance of this EV burning down that forest than all of the fossil fuel vehicles running through there. It’s checked off the bucket list now, and we likely won’t go back anytime soon.”
Several people said he should never have tried the Rubicon in the first place, though Davis says he met quite a few wheelers in passing who encouraged him to keep going. One way or another, like most everything to do with the Cybertruck, people have opinions. Davis remains positive, saying, “As far as I’m concerned, the Tesla Cybertruck is the only vehicle in the world that can say it drove me with my hands off the steering wheel from San Diego all the way to the trailhead. It then crossed the trail, and when she got off, [it] immediately started the journey home again, using Full Self-Driving while I read all the funny comments on all the Facebook, Reddit, etc.”
Davis has his Cybertruck back at home now, and for a little while, it looked like that might never happen. The ending is certainly happier for him than it could have been. And to think, they didn’t even have to call a helicopter to get it out.
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