[jrmgkia]

I am a beekeeper and my Lightning is a daily work truck, as part of my job I regularly drive in tall grass and weeds. The Lightning has the radiator intake very low and the radiator lies horizontally rather than vertically like most vehicles. I am concerned that the low radiator intake will lead to significant blockage of seeds and grass and debris after a couple of years and will be very difficult to clean. On all of our ICE trucks we add a mesh grill cover to our trucks because we've dealt with this issue in the past. As of now no one makes a grill cover for the Lightning and I think the 'cut yourself' options on Amazon will look pretty bad on the Lightning. Any suggestions?

 

[THEsocalledfan]

I am a beekeeper and my Lightning is a daily work truck, as part of my job I regularly drive in tall grass and weeds. The Lightning has the radiator intake very low and the radiator lies horizontally rather than vertically like most vehicles. I am concerned that the low radiator intake will lead to significant blockage of seeds and grass and debris after a couple of years and will be very difficult to clean. On all of our ICE trucks we add a mesh grill cover to our trucks because we've dealt with this issue in the past. As of now no one makes a grill cover for the Lightning and I think the 'cut yourself' options on Amazon will look pretty bad on the Lightning. Any suggestions?

I'd think it would be pretty easy to clean compared to regular grill since faux only add there is no radiator?

 

[jrmgkia]

I'd think it would be pretty easy to clean compared to regular grill since faux only add there is no radiator?

I don’t understand your English, but it looks harder to wash out the Lightning’s radiator because it lies horizontally so you can’t just flush debris out.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

I don’t understand your English, but it looks harder to wash out the Lightning’s radiator because it lies horizontally so you can’t just flush debris out.

There is no radiator on the lightning, and no real grill.

 

[GDN]

There is no radiator on the lightning, and no real grill.

You might want to research that. I'm quite certain there is. It just isn't upgright in the same position as for an ICE. Tesla's have radiators too. There is a TON of cooling to be done for the AC's the batteries and the motors.

 

[jrmgkia]

There is no radiator on the lightning, and no real grill.

Wrong. I have my Lightning, you must not have yours yet. There is a huge radiator lying horizontally down low in the front, under the frunk. Question still remains, anyone have a good idea for coving the low front radiator intake to prevent debris from entering?

 

[THEsocalledfan]

Wrong. I have my Lightning, you must not have yours yet. There is a huge radiator lying horizontally down low in the front, under the frunk. Question still remains, anyone have a good idea for coving the low front radiator intake to prevent debris from entering?

I knew there are cooling fans and a cooling system; is "radiator" the right word? I honestly don't know. I was thinking he was talking about an open grill with a class radiator behind it.

 

[208]

I knew there are cooling fans and a cooling system; is "radiator" the right word? I honestly don't know. I was thinking he was talking about an open grill with a class radiator behind it.

Yes, it is a radiator. Yes, it is mounted low, and will subject to grass, seeds etc getting in there. It is nowhere near as low as a Tesla however.

I use a Tesla Model Y with trailers as my "pickup" until Ford gets my Lighting built (or Tesla builds my 1st day CT reservation lol). I live off-grid, and my Y does a ton of "off-roading", a lot of it through high grass exactly as you describe. I have the same concerns, all that debris getting clogged in the radiator, so I inspect it often. At times, I have seen a lot of grass and foxtails & such in there, but when I get around to cleaning it I usually find it has blown out on its own.

The F-150's intake is a lot higher then the Model Y's, so I am hoping it will intake a lot less of this debris; and be as efficient at "self cleaning".

 

[ChasingCoral]

There is no radiator on the lightning, and no real grill.

Technically you are right. However, there is a cooling system for the batteries and motors that lies nearly hospital being the Active Grill Shutters (actual term). That cooling unit looks a lot like s radiator and does pretty much the same thing as a radiator.

If it looks like a 🦆 and quacks like a 🦆…

 

[Pja3668]

I am a beekeeper and my Lightning is a daily work truck, as part of my job I regularly drive in tall grass and weeds. The Lightning has the radiator intake very low and the radiator lies horizontally rather than vertically like most vehicles. I am concerned that the low radiator intake will lead to significant blockage of seeds and grass and debris after a couple of years and will be very difficult to clean. On all of our ICE trucks we add a mesh grill cover to our trucks because we've dealt with this issue in the past. As of now no one makes a grill cover for the Lightning and I think the 'cut yourself' options on Amazon will look pretty bad on the Lightning. Any suggestions?

I just watched your video right before searching grill cover on the forum. It looks like you had a good solution. How has it held up @jrmgkia

 

[jrmgkia]

I just watched your video right before searching grill cover on the forum. It looks like you had a good solution. How has it held up @jrmgkia

Good no issues so far. Over the next 3 months it is going to get lots of off-road abuse so that will be the true test. I did the 2” leveling kit a couple weeks ago so that helps get that front end up a bit.

 

[wsurf]

Here is a nice solution to the grill area. I have something similar on sports cars. I worked with the Radiator Grille Store on this grill.