New tow vehicle delay before towing?

[Pippamills]

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

[rmcrowe]

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

[CoChris]

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

The manual for my 2017 says "Drive your new vehicle at least 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before towing a trailer.". I feel this is 1) A Ford CYA and 2) is to allow the rear end gears (ring & pinon) to seat before submitting them to a large and/or long duration load. That being said, many many trucks are driven off the lot and put into immediate service pulling heavy loads (most commercial users do). I have not heard of any higher then normal failure rate or even problems after doing this.

I purchased my truck to primarily tow our trailer. It is a personal truck. I broke it in for 1,000 mile before I towed or put any heavy load on it. I figured it could not hurt to take a little extra care, but that was my choice. Only you can decide what is right for you.

Chris

[el Rojo]

My 2019 Ram was broke in the hard way. On the way to Phoenix my 2015 Chevy had it's last problem (with me anyway). I bought the Ram with the Chevy in the shop getting the turbo fixed. I told Pam I wasn't leaving Phoenix in the Chevy. I hooked on to the Momentum with 120 miles on the truck. We only had 100 miles to go and I only drove it 55 to 60 and real easy. That's the hand I was dealt and I'm sure it was logged on the truck's computer. I haven't had any issue's...but I would have put 500 miles on it if I could have.

I will add that the Ram is a beast. There's no comparison to the power of the Ram to the Chevy. The Ram out pulls the Chevy 2 to 1. Just so I don't hurt our Chevy friends feelings the Ram has a 4:10 rear end and a High Output engine compared to the Chevy's 3:73 rear end.

YMMV

Red

[JCR GD]

My 2015 F-350 said 1000 miles before towing. I made a few day trips in just the truck to get miles. I looked at it like protecting my expensive long-term investment.

[ckreef]

Ram recommends waiting for 500 miles before towing then the first 500 miles of towing should be 50 mph or less.

Well at least I waited 500 miles. My first tow was home from the trailer dealer going south on I-75 outside of Atlanta. I would have been ran over if I stayed at 50 mph or less.

[geotex1]

Honestly, all machinery have run-in periods. With trucks it's not only about meshing mating machined surfaces and sealing rings and seals, but also transfer of friction material (trans and brakes), heat cycling to harden and stabilize metals (block, rotating assembly, rotors, etc.), and then changing break-in fluids to get rid of the contaminates from break-in. I am personally very old school from my years of building and racing that tapered into enthusiast restoration and restomods, and I break-in thoroughly and feel it has served me well. Are modern alloys and lubricants more forgiving? Sure. Cheap insurance to me though.

[WhittleBurner]

Our GMC Denali also said 1000 mile break-in period before towing.

[jleonard]

Ram recommends waiting for 500 miles before towing then the first 500 miles of towing should be 50 mph or less.

That was in my owner's manual also. I think I had 350 or so miles when I towed our trailer. I did "mostly" under 50 when I could.

[Redapple63]

When I built Cosworth engines, our break-in was 10 minutes at 6000 RPM. I know different application, same reason primarily seating the rings.


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