1st 500 miles towing @ 50mph max.? Really?

[WalterJ]

Our new 2018, 2500 CTD, 4x4 has 7200 miles now & 1st oil change. We're prepping for 1st trip South (1300 miles) with new truck, towing 15K Montana High Country in 2 weeks. The owners manual says to keep 1st 500 miles towing, @ no more than 50mph. That speed is almost hazardous going thru Chicago & 300 miles of I-65 thru Indiana!

I'll do it if I have to. Comments/advice appreciated from the experienced. Thanks much.
Wally

 

[EZeis]

My 18 and 07 said the same. So I made a couple local trips on rural roads for 500 miles. Did this on both trucks. Though I did do up to 55 mph on occasion. Didn't want to hold people up.


Earl

 

[TFucili]

Just hook up and go.

 

[Cummins12V98]

I think that is more geared to let's say you drive truck first 5oo miles without towing then hookup to tow and keep first towing to 50.

At this point your gears are meshed and I would carry on and drive as you want.

 

[EDankievitch]

Just like breaking in a new engine. Last thing you want to do is run it at full load and wide open throttle. Give it half a chance allow all those nice new freshly machined parts to become friends before you work the stuffing out of them.
They don’t do a final polish job on the gears anymore. Truck and automotive rear end gears are finished, on a scale of 1to10 with 1 being poor and 10 being perfect, from the factory they are a 4-6. They are designed to be run in in use. The final polish is done while you drive. That is why that first gear oil change is important if you want really good service life out of your rear ends.
Marine gear sets in stearin drives and high Hp outboards the finish is closer to 8-9 as they are under full load and much higher RPM’s right from the first use. MerCruiser wants the first gear lube change at 20 hours. To get the break in metals out of the system.
So taking it easy for the first 500 miles really is not much to ask. If you want max life out of your truck.

 

[sag2]

Only applies to trucks with no miles on them. At 7,200 miles your can do anything you want.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

Just like breaking in a new engine. Last thing you want to do is run it at full load and wide open throttle.

I’ve heard this many times over the years, I’m just not 100% convinced it’s really true. In my late teens, a friend of mine and I bought the exact same snowmobiles on the same day. The sleds were consecutive numbers and built on the same day. I followed the break in process while he did the total opposite. From the moment we off loaded the sleds at home he held his to the bars everywhere we went. In the end, his ended up being more reliable, way less problems and quite a bit faster than mine.

At work we get new pickup trucks every few years. One year we had eight crews so we got eight trucks. One other guy and I drove our two like were we in Nascar everywhere we went. Same outcome. Our two trucks had less problems, were faster and got better mileage than the other six.

So, like I said, I really don’t believe the w we hole idea behind the break-in period.

 

[AH64ID]

The break-in is for the gears, not the engine.

As others have said at 7200 miles you’re fine, hitch and go.

Change the factory fluid between 10-15K miles.

 

[EDankievitch]

I agree. At over 7 k miles your good to tow what ever you want U.N. restricted. I’ve been building and re building an assortment of marine engines for over 30 years. I’ve seen some engines get broken in nicely and some run throttle to the gunnels. Same with trucks and my family’s cars. 7 out of 10 times the engines that I’ve run in gently have had very long and happy lives with little to no oil consumption or blow by. I’ve also seen many engines that were run hard right out of the gate that the rings never seated and used oil like no tomorrow. Recently had two sets of 645-16 EMD’s overhauled. With one set I was the Sr chief with and I made sure the engines were run in properly. And the first oil change was done at 1000 hours. The other set on the other boat well... let’s just say they were run in hard. And they ran well over 6000 hours on the break in oil. Those engines would consume between 30-40 gal of lube a week. The set I was in charge of they settled in consuming around 10-15 gal of lube a week for the pair. Those engines now have over 37,000 hours on this overhaul and still performing well. Oil consumption has not changed. For a 3,000hp 2 stroke diesel you can’t ask for better.
Give anything half a chance and do the service as the manufacturer recommends and you will get good service out of it.

 

[DonFitzwater]

I dropped a 500 gallon water tank in the back of mine on day one. Day two was a 500 gallon water tank + a skidsteer on a heavy trailer and climbed a 13 percent grade. It' got 25k miles on it and still runs great. The break in warning is simply lawyer BS. That or some over educated engineer that's scared of his own shadow.

 

[Badunit]

The break in warning is simply lawyer BS. That or some over educated engineer that's scared of his own shadow.

Or engineers/mechanics who know what they are talking about but cannot give specific recommendations for everyone so they give a general recommendation that is conservative enough to cover everyone. And it is probably very conservative, just to be sure. Everyone is free to do whatever they want with their own trucks but I bet dollars to donuts if a warranty situation arose and they are asked if they broke in the gears according to the manual, the answer will be "yes sir I sure did".

 

[Cummins12V98]

The break-in is for the gears, not the engine.

As others have said at 7200 miles you’re fine, hitch and go.

Change the factory fluid between 10-15K miles.

Personally I would get that CHITZ out of there and go with AMZ/OIL SevereGear or another high quality synthetic lube.

 

[DonFitzwater]

Or engineers/mechanics who know what they are talking about but cannot give specific recommendations for everyone so they give a general recommendation that is conservative enough to cover everyone. And it is probably very conservative, just to be sure. Everyone is free to do whatever they want with their own trucks but I bet dollars to donuts if a warranty situation arose and they are asked if they broke in the gears according to the manual, the answer will be "yes sir I sure did".

There's always the rule followers out there.

 

[Badunit]

If one understands the purpose behind the rule and it makes sense, following it is simply good practice.

 

[Ozymandias]

Todays engines don't really need a break in or something anymore.
Or how do that work out on a Genset or an Excavator or a mill?
Or just a dumb ass delivery driver?
They buy it and run it from day one at 100% duty cycle.
So engine is out of the game.

Gear mesh - yes, makes sense, even the aftermarket has this in the manual for new gears. Go light, go slow to allow for building a nice teeth surface.

 

[Prairie Dog]

As has been said, it's for the diff not the eng.
After 500 miles on the diff, you can do anything you want. So we simply took a long day trip around the state. End of day it was ready to pull.

 

[crazy jerry]

factory gears may have a higher qaulity machining process or better heat treatment than after market but still your trying to work hardening the gear face without over heating it. thats why they dont recomend heavy loads or high speeds in first 500mi from new

 

[SnoKing]

We took our 2015 from John Elway's in Greeley, Co on a Monday at 25 minutes after noon and drove slower on 287 to Laramie, Wy 95 miles. Got and I-80 West and slowly built speed to 80 MPH, drove at that speed to Evanston at the West end on Wy(407 miles that afternoon). Got up the next morning and drove 80 MPH again until we had to slow down a little on I-84, 660 miles to Tri-Cities, Wa. Wednesday morning to we finished the 1350 mile 48 hour trip home at 25 minutes after noon with the new truck. Rear diff at first fluid change.

Knock on wood, 65K and 4 1/2 years, it has had recalls, batteries, and threw a P249E(in BFE Nevada on 93 South of Wells) code once. Twin Falls, Id dealer was a week out to look at it, so it was reset and we truck on. The SCR system got changed a month or so later on the recall. Never saw the code again.

FCA called me the other day trying to get we to schedule the drag link recall. I said I was waiting for a replacement part vs welding it. Lady said fed's approved the welding, I said not on my truck, and she would check replacement drag links and call we back. She did not call back. SnoKing

 

[AKDoug]

Or engineers/mechanics who know what they are talking about but cannot give specific recommendations for everyone so they give a general recommendation that is conservative enough to cover everyone. And it is probably very conservative, just to be sure. Everyone is free to do whatever they want with their own trucks but I bet dollars to donuts if a warranty situation arose and they are asked if they broke in the gears according to the manual, the answer will be "yes sir I sure did".

On my 2019 it records the miles I have towing. I bet they can bring up the first instance I hooked a trailer to it. In my case that was 72 miles after buying it. I bought the truck to work, so I put it to work.

 

[Prairie Dog]

My buddy bought a new Kenworth and it had the same warning for the gears.