2022 3500 HO Break-In Towing Instructions

[freeriders98]

Just picked up my 2022 Ram 3500 HO Big Horn Dually on Saturday!!!!! Traded up from a 2019 Ram 3500 Tradesman SRW

So my question is about the towing break-in procedure. Here it is directly from the manual.

- Do not tow a trailer at all during the first 500 miles (805 km) the new vehicle is driven. The engine, axle or other parts could be damaged.
- Then, during the first 500 miles (805 km) that a trailer is towed, do not drive over 50 mph (80 km/h) and do not make starts at full throttle. This helps the engine and other parts of the vehicle wear in at the heavier loads

So I have a 44' 5th wheel toy hauler, weighs in at about 15k lbs. I don't tow much outside of that, I have a small trailer to haul dirt bikes. But fully loaded that is maybe 3k lbs. They seriously want 500 miles of towing below 50mph...Are we supposed to drive 500 miles of city driving with trailers attached. I get it as a work truck where you would be hauling decent loads running around and the truck is rarely over 50mph anyways.

But those of us who bought trucks to pull travel trailers, how do they expect us to get 500 miles below 50mph. I load up drive maybe 20 miles to the hwy, then 90% of my tow miles are on the high way when towing. And I don't really see hot shot truckers or RV transport guys doing that.

Can anyone enlighten me on the speed limitations and the engineering reasoning behind it? I get not towing the first 500, and not pushing the truck to the max when you start towing. To me the 500 miles below 50mph sounds like CYA lawyer talk.

 

[gpattikjr]

Probobly rear gear pattern wear before shocking it with a loaded trailer for the first 500. I don't get the below 50 either.

 

[freeriders98]

Probobly rear gear pattern wear before shocking it with a loaded trailer for the first 500. I don't get the below 50 either.

Yeah just seems weird to me. And then in the same section they talk about how towing helps finalize break-in after 500 miles.

I am thinking at 15k lbs I am 50% of its capacity so a "light" load and just go for it. Don't drive like an idiot, no really hard acceleration pulls ect. But I will never get 500 miles under staying under 50.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

I hit about 500km before towing only because thats the drive home from the dealer, its mainly for the ring and pinion

 

[freeriders98]

So from everything I can read and find. Sounds like the motor is more or less good to go, and actually likes the work load to get it broke in. Sounds like more of the concern is in the rear end gears. So looked up how to break in a Ring & Pinon. Found a great video from Yukon Gears. I would consider them as an industry leading expert on gears. He basically says you need to heat cycle the metal. Street driving, let it cool. Do that a couple of times. Then the same thing for towing, it adds extra load to the R&P gears, thus extra heat. And do a couple cycles. He says to go on the HWY for a loaded long haul hwy run without letting the rear end cool down wrecks the hardening. He explains it better, but that is kinda what I was looking for. The engineer's reason behind it.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

I would be amazed if the rear end rotating in oil builds that much heat to anneal the gears