Ford Super Duty rolls over in an ordinary left turn

**Reported** by The Drive: a lifted Ford Super Duty makes a left turn and rolls onto its side, in a clip the outlet says Instagram user Dexter Goldwire Jr. posted.

The Drive writes that a burnout comes first, then the turn, and that the poster asked commenters what the driver did to flip the truck. Whether the driver got out unharmed isn't shown, and The Drive says that part is unclear.

The height did the work

The Drive puts it down to physics, and that's the right place to look. Lifting a truck's body lifts its center of gravity along with it. A turn pushes sideways on that weight, and the higher it sits, the further the body leans before the suspension and tires can pull it back. Go high enough and nothing pulls it back.

That isn't a Ford trait or a Super Duty trait. It applies to anything carrying its mass high off the ground, which is why a lifted truck is a poor candidate for a quick change of direction. The Drive notes that racetracks are not exactly full of them.

What a lift is actually for

A lift kit does real work when it's built for dirt. The Drive lists what it buys you: more ground clearance, space for larger tires, and longer suspension travel. Those are off-road goods. In a parking lot or a suburban left turn, not one of them applies.

The Drive also points at the look this trend favors, tall kits sitting over tires that look small beside them. Whatever the buyer paid for clearance and tire room, the styling takes it back.

If a lifted truck is on your list

Here's where it matters to a shopper. A used truck riding on a big lift should get harder questions about who installed it and what the truck was set up to do. A truck built to crawl trails is set up one way. A truck built to look tall is set up another, and the second one is what rolled in this clip.

That's our take, and it's opinion: a pickup that can't hold a left turn has stopped being a pickup. The facts underneath it are the rollover above and the plain geometry that caused it. A lift changes the part of the vehicle that keeps the rubber on the road, and that isn't a taste question when the driveway is full of kids.

The Drive's own suggestion, offered half in jest: put the money into a Ford E-Series dually pickup instead. It also argues these trucks have become so impractical that the point of owning one is gone.

• Ford Super Duty
• Instagram
• lift kits
• rollover
• The Drive