New tow vehicle delay before towing?

[BobLandry]

I don't remember what it was for my 2013 F250, but i bought is ahead of our camping season, so the break in mileage and the oil change was done in plenty of time.

[finz04]

The manual for my '21 f250 says not to tow until 1000 miles on odometer

Likewise my 2019 f250 manual says put 1,000 miles on before towing.

[Richter]

I visit the Ford forums as well as this one. Many similar questions about “Do I really need to wait 1000 miles before I tow?”, and so forth.

So many responses like “I didn’t and it didn’t hurt anything”, etc.

As geotex1 stated above, it’s cheap insurance. You also may want to keep in mind that, at least with my F350, the computer knows when I am towing. It would probably have recorded if I had towed before the 1000 mile break-in period. I wouldn’t want to chance a warranty claim being denied on a $75,000 rig because I couldn’t wait and put the 1000 miles on it.

I’ll get off my soap box now...

[Rob+Kath]

Many here have stated it well,...
Machinery still requires some break-in and initial care.

I did almost 2000 mi before towing anything. My situation was such that I had about 4 months between new truck and new trailer. So the truck was my daily driver and exceeding 1000 mi was easy.
If needed, I would have towed with it at 1000 mi.

There are so many factors in a true break-in process that it is just an average guess as to what is needed.
These are vehicle recommendations from the manufacturer. It's your truck and your option.

Your going to have a nice truck, enjoy it.
Rob

[Kevin.lanes]

You will get answers all over the place, I needed a new truck to pull our new 5th wheel.

The truck dealer and the RV dealer are across the street from each other, I picked up the truck in the morning and the 5th wheel that afternoon and we headed out on our maiden voyage.

We had some errands to do between deliveries, so maybe I drove 200km.

[Upthere]

I didn’t have time to get 1000 miles on my truck, but I did get 600 before a 3 week road trip.
Just curious... when you buy a Freightliner, don’t they work them from day one?

[mbergthold]

I was told today by an owner of a 2018 F250 Diesel that when he bought it new he was told he should put 1,500 miles on it BEFORE towing anything. Is this generally accepted wisdom? No point asking my salesman as he is generally clueless. I’m waiting on delivery of a 2022 F350 and anxious to get going as soon as it arrives.
Thanks,Pippa

Correct. Same with our 2021 F350 7.3 gas, 1,000 miles before tow. Be sure to use the trans tow mode, button on end of shift lever. The term "break-in" is rarely heard these days, but it's still important. If you recall, the instruction for proper break-in were "vary speeds, no hard stops or starts, and no towing" for whatever mileage the mfg specified (1,000 was generally used), whether new, rebuilt, or remanufactured. Brake shoes and pads had a break-in method also. I used to also change the oil before the first tow, with synthetics that's no longer a big deal.

[Tim2542]

If you can drive it some first thats great but no harm is going to happen if you hook it up and haul. Many many Hot shot’ers have done just that.
Google up the GM Duramax engine plant video, you'll see they run them to full rated power right in the plant. Ill bet Dodge & Ford do also. With modern machine tools and methods break-in is largely a thing of the past and has probably occurred before you get it home.
I cant tell you how many truck engines Ive overhauled with the loaded trailer sitting right behind it outside the door. Hook it up, test drive it loaded and send it off.

[Walker]

It is important that you follow this for warranty. Let the rings break in and evaluate the electronics of the vehicle to ensure no problems.
This gives the go ahead to tow as the vehicle is said to be stable otherwise a person starts to squabble over costs of failure. Boats etc are similar.

[Pippamills]

Thanks to everyone who kindly responded with excellent advice and experience. What a great group of people! I can’t wait to start accumulating some experience of my own. Unfortunately it looks like I will have to do just that. Wait - and wait. My 2022 F350 is probably not going to arrive until maybe December which means the 310GK will be sitting in the dealer’s lot until then. Very frustrating but nothing to do about it except acquire patience and try not to go crazy. Ommmmmmmm