Break-in period and off-roading

Yeah that is usually why when I pay for a new truck I want it to come off a car hauler with 2 or 3 miles on the odometer so I can follow the break in procedures. This time I threw caution to the wind and bought a dealer trade truck that was driven 142 miles from St. Louis to my local dealer. I try not to think about how it was driven in those 142 miles. Another reason I don't like a dealer trade is I'm paying whatever the dealership wants to charge me to send someone over to get my truck and I'm sure he pockets enough to take the wife out to eat on my dime.

 

I took mine out with less than 200 miles on it. Mind you it was just forest roads. I think they tell you that more for the POS "learning period" than anything else.

And in Canada they tell us 1000km, so at 500 miles it should be fine.

 

Just don’t use the crawl control a lot until 500-1000 miles. Enjoy the truck and learn what it is capable of. If you are just trail riding you most likely won’t need 4wd anyways

 

On p. 163 in the 2018 manual: "For the first 1000 miles (1600 km): Do not drive at extremely high speeds; Avoid sudden acceleration; Do not drive continuously in low gears; Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods." Does anyone read these things?

I've always driven off-road in the first 1000 miles with no deleterious effect.

 

How closely do you think anyone gets to follow this. If you live in the city you do nothing but low gears. For those who travelled to get their truck it was probably a long haul at a constant speed.
Everyone knows a test drive gets sudden acceleration and hard stops.
The most important one is the towing.

 

Hmmm. Seems to me I saw that someplace before.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I'm probably going to hold off an extra week to let it get past the 1,000 mile mark, just to be sure.

I saved for over a year to buy it and want to keep it for a very long time. I can wait if there's any real risk to it. Just wondering if there was any truth to the whole "need to break it in" mantra.

 

I hadn't thought about the nerf bars affecting ground clearance... I'll be mindful of that and ready to remove if I think they're going to get dinged. Thanks!

 

Had my truck on some gnarly Nat. Forest Service roads the day after I got it. Not gnarly enough to really require 4WD but rutted and generally fucked up enough to require high clearance.

Tons of fun.

I just hit 2000 miles recently and noticed that the transmission seems to have smoothed out significantly around that mark. Haven't bothered getting the reflash that everyone was talking about.

 

All BS. These things are so tight you can off-road them from the lot. Just try not to panic stop the brakes for a while at first.

Ok the gurus are about to flame me but as far as yours, it’s ready.

Hell the sooner you fuck it up the sooner you’ll be to a new suspension and all the other crap you didn’t know you were going to do to it!

 

I can see how trucks turn into money pits now... My husband is going to take away my debit card soon. LOL

 

Lol. I just told my wife yesterday I was putting a new suspension on my truck with only 4K miles on it. She wasn’t happy. I told her it kept bottoming out when I was on the FS roads headed hunting and I was afraid I was going to break something and get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Pretty dirty tactics but it’s all about justification.

I may have been driving a little harder than what the factory suspension was designed for.

 

Sometimes a little fuzzy white lie is worth it

 

Haha, no doubt. My last 3 new vehicles I have done the hard break-ins to see if theories about improved fuel econ and power were valid. I don't think there is enough evidence to show one method is better than the other. Even if hard break-in was the right method, legally you couldn't put that in the manual I don't think due to liability issues with people crashing their vehicles doing redline runs.

 

As long as you add a little grandmother to your driving style you should be gravy.
Although I might avoid long loamy deep sand washes/hills as you need rpms for that.

 

Personally I would follow the mfg. recommendation. Be patient and don't beat it yet. I know some folks that say break it in like you'll drive it. Not smart. Let all the mech., hydraulic and electronics bits get working together. You'll be happier long term.

 

You might like my recent post
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-3rd-gen-today.399305/page-5308#post-19101417

 

You'll be fine. Mine was in the dirt on the dealer provided tank of gas...

 

I do kinda drive like a grandma. Just never in a big hurry...

 

I ran the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands NP the day after I got it (90 mi off road). Rock work, low range, Atrac. All fine. Drove it home (Salt Lake to ABQ) 750 miles.