CTD break-in and towing?

[BHowell]

I'm a newbie, both in this forum and to a diesel truck. Just bought a 2005 Ram 2500 CTD Quad, 3. 73 axle, auto and love it. I've only put 750 miles on it during the two weeks I've owned it and am getting eager to start towing my rv(28' 7000# Airstream). So far the hardest I've worked it is to haul 500# of MDF the 15 mi. home from Home Depot.

The owners manual says to wait until the 500 mi. mark before towing anything and then only 50mph max for the next 500 mi. I've also heard the recommendation to break it in like you're going to use it!

I'd like to hitch up the trailer and drive around a bit to adjust the brake controller(Prodigy) and check the hitch adjustments. Then take a 400 mi roundtrip to Little Rock over the Easter weekend(pretty flat terrain).

Anybody think I'm pushing it or maybe not even close.

Thanks for your input.



Bill

 

[klenger]

Hook up an go

 

[CTD 600]

Gotta wait until that magic 500 mile mark. (It's like that for every vehicle gasser or diesel) Then GO! You won't be disappointed!

 

[jelag]

Remember if this engine was in a mid range truck it would be used from day 1... . my 04 had 200 miles on it when I hooked up to 15K and pulled it 3500 miles... that truck now has 108K miles and has never been through a full tank of fuel empty..... I have no clue what the fuel mileage is empty... never been checked... .



We expect to use this truck through the 300K mark before we sell it..... But you need to do what your comfortable with... . BTW my 05 is the same as the 04... execpt we've been through 2 full tanks of fuel with it empty... . and it now has 10K on the clock. .



Jim

 

[Sled Dog]

Hook up an go

He's right. You'll be all right.

My buddy drove me to St. Louis to get my new truck, in his ford pulling a tandem trailer. We hooked trailer to my rig, loaded his truck and left dealer.

80-85 mph for 380 miles.

NO PROBLEM :-laf

 

[RustyJC]

The 500 mile no-towing/500 mile easy-towing recommendation really has nothing to do with the engine. It's there to give the ring and pinion time to seat and develop a decent wear pattern without generating too much heat. You can choose to follow it or not - after all, it's your truck - but my experience with several trucks towing heavy 5th wheels is that taking it easy on break-in and using good synthetic hypoid lube will pay big dividends down the road.



Rusty

 

[klenger]

I've only put 750 miles on it during the two weeks I've owned it

He's already past the 500 mile mark.

 

[RustyJC]

Ken,



Yep, all he really needs to do is to take it a little easy the first few hundred miles that he's towing. If it were me, I'd stick a hand under the truck to get an idea of the rear differential temperature whenever I stop for those first several hundred miles. If it's anything like my truck was, the amount of heat pouring off that rear axle housing is pretty surprising as break-in is taking place!!



Rusty

 

[BHowell]

Thanks for the input guys! Next nice day I'm hitching up and trying her out!

I'll probably have a 1000 mi by then, but will hold the speed to a moderate(semi) level.

 

[CPG]

BHowell,



Your all set to hook up and take off. The Cummins engine is not made to baby. There are other things beside the engine to take it a little easy at first, but you have enough mileage to go now.

The different bearing areas on the chassis need more time than the engine to break in. The differential is one. Otherwise there is not a better way to break in your rig as hooking up now and going with the mileage you have now.



"Happy Trails" to you as you have the right truck for this experience.



Chuck

 

[JCulp]

the best way to break in is to work her hard for short periods of time to help the rings seat in the rest of the way. the eng. is ran in at the cummins plant so you cant hurt it as for the rest of the truck she is yours run it like you stole it good luck

 

[BHowell]

I'm past the 500 mi mark!!

Well, I've past that 500 mi mark towing and am mighty glad of it. I logged 1700 mi towing my 7000# RV to San Antonio and back. The first 500 breakin miles were pretty tough. Truth be told I really couldn't hold it to 50mph. It just didn't feel happy. After the 500 mi mark I started to open it up (60-65) and it felt great. I averaged 17 mpg for the whole trip.

I guess the real proof of the pudding was that I was able to log 530mi for the last day of the trip and feel good doing it. In the past with my old truck, 360 mi was about tops.

All in all, I'm really happy with this truck and can't wait to get on the road again. (in 3 weeks!!) Oo.



2005 Ram 2500 CTD, Quad, 3. 73, Prodigy, Cobra CB, etc.

 

[MFenstermaker]

I've got somewhat the same situation. I do have about 2,500 highway miles on my 2005 CTD with speeds up to 80 but have only towed a little and that being after the 2,000 mile mark. My normal tow of our boat is about four miles to the lake and 4 miles back. Occasionally we will be taking the boat to bigger lakes a couple of hundred miles away. Now that I have the 2,500 miles on the truck need I worry about the ring and pinion (as someone mentioned) and transmission and other chassis parts if I tow our 7,000# plus load of boat and trailer the 300 miles from our CA home to our AZ home at 55+ speeds ( )?

 

[kah68]

I agree with Rusty, The best way to break in the Cummins is to work it , DON'T let it idle for any period of time ( except a few mins for cool down 300-350 F on the pyro ) But load it up and haul. I guess these new axles are just not up to the same break in as the engine.