Ram break-in period before towing?

dapperdan wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Run the hell out of it! No tow for 500 miles for the gear sets to mesh.

I agree with Ron, I have a friend that works for Cummins. He told me "work the hell" out of that Cummins. I was concerned about break in time he told me after rebuilds they run the motor to near full capacity. He claims the harder you break it in the better the performance. Just sayin. I'm not too worried about break in.

We took off on the trip we are now on from Milwaukee to Phoenix with 800 miles on the RAM when we left. I now have just over 2500 on the RAM and we're not quite to Phoenix. We're pulling our 38' Mobile Suites which weighs roughly 17k. The route has been all interstate, I 39 to I 55 to I 44 to I 40 until today which we will be on state roads down from Holbrook to Apache Junction.

Dan

It's not the Cummins as much as it is the transmission and gearing...The Cummins is already "broken in"....I would think, as much money as one spends on these trucks, that they would look at their owners manual and see what is recommended....I followed recommendations per the owners manual...but I'm stupid that way.

Again, it's not about the ENGINE...it's about other components in the tranny, rear end, etc.. to be "broken in properly"...It's hard for me to ignore recommendations by the manufacturer...I'll listen to what they say before listening to some service manager say just the opposite....but again...these trucks aren't cheap and I'm not going to go out of my way to cause something to go wrong...I have 27,800 miles on my truck, with zero issues and broke it in before towing with it and towed the way it was recommended to tow....but again, I'm stupid that way...:)

45Ricochet wrote:
I also like to wait till 500 before towing, just wondering what a Class C motorhome does about that though :W

Yea I agree, maybe they drive just the chassis around for 500 miles before installing the box on top.

If I had to tow right from the dealer I would not have a problem with it. Just take it easy.

I also like to wait till 500 before towing, just wondering what a Class C motorhome does about that though :W

Since everybody has an opinion I shall toss in mine. After paying 60K for MY truck I will break it in exactly as the manufacturer suggests. After that I use it as needed. I have no reason not to trust the folks who built it so that's my take on break in.

Daryll

joshuajim wrote:
I'm not recommending this, but I'm a licensed contractor for over 35 years and I have yet to see a construction truck "broken in". Most hook up an overweight trailer from day one and give it to a worker who isn't paying for the gas or repairs and is told to get to the next job as soon as possible.

They don't seem to have any more problems than the babied ones.

Bingo!
After having over a dozen new work trucks (that I didn't buy or pay for the fuel either, lol) I have yet to have issues with any of them. Well one lemon, but that's it and that one didn't tow heavy right away.
Can't hurt to give er a few easy miles before loading it up, but 500 mi is like a weekend drive somewhere, or a week or 2 around town.
Bought my 07 with 10k heavy towing miles starting right out of the box and it's been great so far, but only 130kmi so far. The few issues I've had were nothing related to break in or heavy towing. It gets good to upper spectrum of fuel mileage compared to like trucks.
My 2nd to last work truck, a F250 gasser, got hooked to a trailer, bed loaded til it sagged, and drove from the L48 to AK in 2-1/2 days, so I wanst babying it. It still runs....

I'm not recommending this, but I'm a licensed contractor for over 35 years and I have yet to see a construction truck "broken in". Most hook up an overweight trailer from day one and give it to a worker who isn't paying for the gas or repairs and is told to get to the next job as soon as possible.

They don't seem to have any more problems than the babied ones.

dapperdan wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Run the hell out of it! No tow for 500 miles for the gear sets to mesh.

I agree with Ron, I have a friend that works for Cummins. He told me "work the hell" out of that Cummins. I was concerned about break in time he told me after rebuilds they run the motor to near full capacity. He claims the harder you break it in the better the performance. Just sayin. I'm not too worried about break in.

We took off on the trip we are now on from Milwaukee to Phoenix with 800 miles on the RAM when we left. I now have just over 2500 on the RAM and we're not quite to Phoenix. We're pulling our 38' Mobile Suites which weighs roughly 17k. The route has been all interstate, I 39 to I 55 to I 44 to I 40 until today which we will be on state roads down from Holbrook to Apache Junction.

Dan

Service manager at DaveSmith told me to "Run the hell out of it" and I did all the way home from Idaho to NW WA.

When I come to a big hill I just hold it to the floor if needed to maintain speed.

goducks10 wrote:
Nothing wrong with working the heck out of the motor. Ram recommends that. Its the rear gears that need break in.

YES

Nothing wrong with working the heck out of the motor. Ram recommends that. Its the rear gears that need break in.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Run the hell out of it! No tow for 500 miles for the gear sets to mesh.

I agree with Ron, I have a friend that works for Cummins. He told me "work the hell" out of that Cummins. I was concerned about break in time he told me after rebuilds they run the motor to near full capacity. He claims the harder you break it in the better the performance. Just sayin. I'm not too worried about break in.

We took off on the trip we are now on from Milwaukee to Phoenix with 800 miles on the RAM when we left. I now have just over 2500 on the RAM and we're not quite to Phoenix. We're pulling our 38' Mobile Suites which weighs roughly 17k. The route has been all interstate, I 39 to I 55 to I 44 to I 40 until today which we will be on state roads down from Holbrook to Apache Junction.

Dan