CTD break-in

[Soelch]

Greetings to all.

After lurking a good period of time I have made the plunge and ordered a new truck from Dodge. My question is regarding break in of the motor. The dealer I am getting it from knows squat about this motor and I am interested to know what the learned people of this forum have to say. I have owned several Mercedes diesels but this will be my first Cummins. There will be no heavy towing until we get 5-6k on it and most of the early mileage will be highway. Any help that any can provide will be much appreciated.

 

[Joe G.]

Don't baby it. Hook up a load and work it.

 

[Truckie]

Joe G is absolutely right. Don't baby it, load it down with a full load and go. Iv always believed in breaking in a new engine the same way you are going to run it. The best way to break in the new CTD is load it up and go on a nice long drive. You will do more harm in babying it for 5 to 6,000 miles and then start running hard than you will if you start off by running hard. loading up your truck and or trailer and running this way will help seat the rings and help it in the long run. I think this is going to be the general answer you will receive here.

Good luck with your new truck and congregations.





Mike

 

[DieselMinded]

GO TO www.Cummins.com and read the F&Q



VEry good info there



under the break in period question it says DONT BABY IT OR it Will DElay Break in past 40,000 miles they want it worked to make it break in.



isnt it great



:>

DM

 

[Heavyweight]

I would not load it in the first few hundred miles. The gears, as in rear ring and pinion need to break in. Some may load "er" up and tow, but I would not.



Also, most of these trucks are delivered roughly a half quart low in the tranfer case depertment. Fill her up, until ATF+4 drips out... . Oo.

 

[Cummins Pilot]

Load and go.



Here is something to think about. When we replace clyinders or have a new aircraft engine hung on an airplane you go and run it hard for the first hour of flight to seat the rings and get everything working together. You don't baby it.

 

[JRD]

Load the wagon and dont worry about the mule. :-laf

 

[bighornram]

There is an excellent FAQ on this forum regarding the breakin period. It recommends 1000 miles easy, then load it up. The manual says the first 500 miles should be easy miles. I kept mine 1500- 2000 rpm for the first 1000. The manual also states that you should not exceed 50 mph for the first 500 miles pulling. I don't know why but i pulled my first time last weekend and kept it in 5th (2000 rpm) for the cruise, tallied 300 miles. One more slow trip and I'm ready to work her hard.

 

[Soelch]

Well, a few months later and I did not stick with my original plan. I got about 1000 miles on it at lower rpms and then about another 1000 running a bit harder all empty. At 2300 showing I started some mild to heavy towing. This was all out in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah running in the mountains. My buddy has a C-7 Cat in his Freightliner MDT and we towed together. He had more torque than I but I had more hp and I wasn't not going to be shown up. I was towing a 30' gooseneck with a jeep and rockcrawler on it with trailer weight being just under 13500. He had his fifth wheel and was about 1000 pounds lighter on the trailer but more frontal area plus more truck weight. I smoke him on all the hills. The only time he could catch me was if we had a long grade down then he would get caught up. I was getting 12. 89 gallons per mile with less than 5000 miles on the engine with the load. He could not get over how well the Dodge ran. At one point he wanted to trade rigs but I saw no advantage in that. At the moment, I am in Michigan and the truck is Nevada with my buddy who hates to admit that he likes a Dodge/Cummins. I got about three more weeks before I fly out and pick up my truck and drive it home, I can't wait.

 

[JBlock]

Dad, use say the same thing for his New Harleys, Take out and run them 100 mph plus the day you buy it everyday. Run it fast and hard. He was still riding until he was 84 years old.

 

[JasonCzerak]

90% agree with most of the people here

I got my CTD with 27 miles on clock. I lived in Detroit at the time, Found it in Indiana. About a 300 mile trip home from the dealer. Fired her up, and drove on the eway. I wished I had a trailer to tow, but I didn't. If I did, it would of been an S10 on a dolly



My main goal was drive train breakin. EASY SLOW SHIFTS on the trans. Even double clutch. take it easy with the clitch. Use Creaper!!! Infact I use the creaper gear all the time. Except when I have to get into traffic REALLY fast for what ever reason, then it's a 2nd gear take off with edge on 5 Smoke and tire noise baby! (With trailer in tow, always creaper)



The thing with drive train is Heat them up, cool them off, 3 times or so. I mean 8 hours of cool down time (climate depending).



As for the motor, we ran 100 miles and stopped for food on the way back. I looked over the motor with a flashlight for 20 minutes to look for leaks of any kind. Then the next 100 miles I ran the motor betwwen 5th and 6th's varying, checked for leaks at 200 miles. . at 300 miles she hit 108mph for a few seconds. The last 100 miles, I just cruised and flipped in and out of 4x4 on the straights to get them gears messed in.



Changed oil and filter at 500 miles with dyno oil, then at 1000 miles, then at 4000 miles, 8000, 12000 miles I switch to Amsoil, 14000, 16000, 20000, then I'm at 5000 mile changes, Amsoil == $$$



Once a week I hit run 100+ mph for a mile. I don't tow much, but I drive fast, I never did have a load on it to much. I prolly logged only 2000-2500 miles with trailer. 1000 of whitch was a Denver -> Minneapolis trip at 75-80mph most of the way with 7000 pounds of 62 SS Impalla with trailer. when it was clear, I get into the throttle a bit and hit close 100mph and she was still pulling. IMPRESSIVE! Stupid, but IMPRESSIVE This was stock BTW.

 

[Hohn]

The "proper"way to break in a CTD (imo only) is to do this:



1) Drive the first 500 miles easy on the hwy or around town

2) Change all fluids-- diffs, t-case, transmission, engine oil

3) Drive to local country fair where there is a truck pull

4) Compete in pull and win



Repeat steps 3 and 4 about 10 times, and your truck is as broken in as it will ever get.





Oh, and save the synthetic oil until after it's well used and broken in. Cummins says 20K minimum before you use syn.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

I was getting 12. 89 gallons per mile with less than 5000 miles on the engine with the load.

Wow, I wish I could get that with mine. LOL

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

The company I used to work for bought 5 new 7. 3 PS's. I got one of them and from day one I drove it REAL hard everywhere we went. They now have around 100K on all of them and the one I had blows the doors of all the other ones. It is also the only one that hasn't had any problems.