Break in period towing

Moend · May 24, 2019

Hey guys,

The dealer I bought the truck from recommended break in period of 1000 miles of going under 70 and no highway speed or cruise control - will that didn't happen because we had a 400 miles drive home from the dealership so I drove it around about 100 miles then headed home. The other interesting bit was the 5000 miles before doing any towing. But it might take me 5 months to get there and would like to tow our bobcat (8000lbs) total with trailer. Wondering if the 5000 miles even a real thing because I can't seem to find any thing in the manual about break in period all together.

swathdiver · May 24, 2019

22 minutes ago, Moend said:

Hey guys,

The dealer I bought the truck from recommended break in period of 1000 miles of going under 70 and no highway speed or cruise control - will that didn't happen because we had a 400 miles drive home from the dealership so I drove it around about 100 miles then headed home. The other interesting bit was the 5000 miles before doing any towing. But it might take me 5 months to get there and would like to tow our bobcat (8000lbs) total with trailer. Wondering if the 5000 miles even a real thing because I can't seem to find any thing in the manual about break in period all together.

Pages 246 and 294 in the online 2019 Chevrolet Silverado owner's manual:

https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2019/Chevrolet/silverado-1500ld/2019-chevrolet-silverado-1500-ld-2500-3500-owners-manual.pdf

500 mile break in period. Historically this is done to seat the piston rings and break in the transmission clutches and brakes on new vehicles or new engines. After 500 miles it says you can tow, BUT for the first 500 miles of towing it says not to drive over 50 mph and do not make full power starts. Again, these precautions are to ensure the clutches in the transmission and piston rings in the engine get a good set for long life.

Edited May 24, 2019 by swathdiver

f8l vnm · May 24, 2019

Drive the MFer like you stole it. Just the good ole boys never meaning no harm. Anyway you get my drift. Ain’t no break in. I was redline on my way home.

Moend · May 24, 2019

50 minutes ago, swathdiver said:

Pages 246 and 294 in the online 2019 Chevrolet Silverado owner's manual:

https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2019/Chevrolet/silverado-1500ld/2019-chevrolet-silverado-1500-ld-2500-3500-owners-manual.pdf

500 mile break in period. Historically this is done to seat the piston rings and break in the transmission clutches and brakes on new vehicles or new engines. After 500 miles it says you can tow, BUT for the first 500 miles of towing it says not to drive over 50 mph and do not make full power starts. Again, these precautions are to ensure the clutches in the transmission and piston rings in the engine get a good set for long life.

Thanks for the info. Yeah that makes sense. Unfortunately I had to drive home so I went 65 to 70 mph on the way home. When it had less than 500 miles. I don't think I going to need to go shy faster than 55mph - 20miles towing trip is all

Inline6DirtyMaxRST · May 24, 2019

These engine are set up to be almost fool proof these days. Drive it around for a little while without full throttle for long periods if you can help it for like 1000 miles. After that the rings will be good to go. Do a couple decent highway trips and your engine will be fine. If you don’t bang on it every time you get it should be good it go!

davester · May 24, 2019

I read somewhere that the rear diff also likes being broken in.

Bikeman · May 24, 2019

I towed at around 1000 miles, 8000lb trailer for 300 mile trip. No issues. I personally reccomend if you do tow frequently to change the rear diff fluid every 15k

J-man67 · May 24, 2019

You'll be fine. I rip everything I own under full power after about 50-100 miles. Trucks and motorcycles. This is my 5th gm over 150k with zero problems. You'll be fine.

KARNUT · May 24, 2019

Most every truck I owed was for work. I usually had 1000LBs in the back. My one tons would get a ball put in for my trailer and hook up and go. Usually working out of town breaking in was driving to the worksite. My 1/2 tons went to the exhaust shop, usually add a tune. Then I test them out. I only experience one problem. I slung the belts off my 74 barracuda. I saw a classmate on a back road and we had a go. No rev limiter in those days. Put a tac in before the weekend to alleviate that problem. The weekend drags were coming up at Atco in NJ. I think I had 100 miles on it by then.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Moend · May 24, 2019

2 hours ago, Bikeman said:

I towed at around 1000 miles, 8000lb trailer for 300 mile trip. No issues. I personally reccomend if you do tow frequently to change the rear diff fluid every 15k

I tow an 8000lbs trailer on average once a month on a 20-30 miles trip - then a flat bed trailer with construction material 2000-3000lbs max twice a week during summer. And have a hitch plow for the winter. On my old F150 i changed diff, transmission, and transfer fluid at 90k miles - was going to do the same but I think I read somewhere that transmission fluid on the Silverado need to be changed at 45k miles. I will have to double check

Moend · May 24, 2019

1 hour ago, KARNUT said:

Most every truck I owed was for work. I usually had 1000LBs in the back. My one tons would get a ball put in for my trailer and hook up and go. Usually working out of town breaking in was driving to the worksite. My 1/2 tons went to the exhaust shop, usually add a tune. Then I test them out. I only experience one problem. I slung the belts off my 74 barracuda. I saw a classmate on a back road and we had a go. No rev limiter in those days. Put a tac in before the weekend to alleviate that problem. The weekend drags were coming up at Atco in NJ. I think I had 100 miles on it by then.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Man the old days. I am not old enough to remember the 80s but I can tell you the quality of cars in general peaked during late 90s till early 2000s but quality specially interior had been constantly getting worst and cheaper. My 13 F150 felt like it was cheaply made when I bought new in 2013 now I feel the same with this 19 Silverado making my F150 look tight in comparison. Even seat cushions are getting thinner. Maybe its just me getting older and grumpier and hating the change idk. Technologies on the other hand has advanced maybe to much of it for my taste (I don't like the auto start stop feature, or the push button tail gate) call me old school but I think those are the ones to go out first and nobody asked for them in the first place. Happay Friday everyone!

Edited May 24, 2019 by Moend

newdude · May 24, 2019

The 500mi "break in" in the manual with the speed limiting is done for the differentials. Hence why no towing in the first 500mi.

That number is actually gotten from AAM the axle supplier, as they almost word for word have the same break in procedure written out. What GM doesn't tell you that AAM will, is at the 500mi point, the differential fluids should be changed.

KARNUT · May 24, 2019

Man the old days. I am not old enough to remember the 80s but I can tell you the quality of cars in general peaked during late 90s till early 2000s but quality specially interior had been constantly getting worst and cheaper. My 13 F150 felt like it was cheaply made when I bought new in 2013 now I feel the same with this 19 Silverado making my F150 look tight in comparison. Even seat cushions are getting thinner. Maybe its just me getting older and grumpier and hating the change idk. Technologies on the other hand has advanced maybe to much of it for my taste (I don't like the auto start stop feature, or the push button tail gate) call me old school but I think those are the ones to go out first and nobody asked for them in the first place. Happay Friday everyone!

I’m with you on technology. My wife’s 11 Genesis still looks new. I’m pretty impressed with my 2 year old Camry. Maybe a little departure from GM for awhile will shake their boots a bit. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

steveved · May 24, 2019

Nah, they (GM) don't care if you leave. They recently said they don't care if Ram is selling more trucks than them as long as profit stays up.

So, get what YOU want. It is all that really matters anyway. ;-)

bshort · May 24, 2019

All I use this truck for is to tow. If I waited for 500, it would be a long wait. I've towed with other trucks at 26 miles. Basically picked it up at the dealership and drove straight to the trailer. This one made it to 200. No problems ever.