quick question, how long should i wait before towing a trailer with a new truck?
the truck has a 5.4 and the trailer is well under 2000 lbs. two sleds on an open 10 ft flatbed.
just wondering if i have to break the truck in first or is it ok to tow right away. i don't have to do it right away but it would be nice. tired of using others trucks to tow my sled and the season is almost over.

 

It's probably best to get 1000 to 1500 miles on the truck to get the rear gears worn in before you tow. That's what I was told by the dealer mechanic.

 

thanks. that's pretty much what i thought too.

 

Two sleds and an open 2 place trailer is not going to be any more weight than a bed of lumber or drywall. I'd go for it. You're well under 2000 pounds. I have a friend that took his Chevy with under 500 miles hooked it on a trailer in MI and ended a hunting trip to Wyoming 3000 miles later. The truck never suffered any problems.....he's a builder and used his truck too.

-jeff b.

 

well wound up taking truck down to iowa this weekend so the first 1000 mi has been reached. while i agree with both posts above as far as towing i'm glad it didn't take to long to get the miles. just feel a little better about waiting.
funny when i used trucks for work, the day they came home was the day they went to work.

 

I'd wait until after your first oil change.

 

I waited for about 2,000 miles to pull an enclosed trailer that was pretty heavy. I have the 5.4 in my truck. I had absolutely no problems whatsoever! The trailer had brakes on them, but they weren't hooked up, because I haven't bought the remote for them yet. I'm planning on buying the remote for the brakes, so if I need to stop in a hurry, I don't have the heavy trailer making that a problem.

 

I don't see no problem towing with a new truck as soon as you get home from the dealer myself.

 

I towed my 3000# boat the same day I took delivery with no ill effects ( yet ). I'm at about 24k miles now.

 

Personal opinion, but I'd feel more comfortable breaking in my engine, brakes, and rear-end gears for 500 miles.

 

Wait until 500 miles.:o

 

The owners manual says that you should have a 500 mile break in first. I am going to pull a 5000# trailer tomorrow for the first time and I have 850 miles on mine. Wish me luck!!!!

 

I now have 1400 miles and 4 days later and the trip went well.

 

Being that it's likily your personal truck I entirely understand your concerns. I also whole heartedly recommend following Fords guidelines in the owners manual.

I will also tell you that when our company (Commerical General Contractor) adds a new truck to it's fleet we do not have someone go out and drive it nice and sensable to "break it in".

Nope, we put them to work straight away. Very often this means towing at near rated capacity (enclosed trailers, temp site offices, small excation equip, pumps, compressors and what ever materials NEED to be hauled) within the first tens of miles. We also keep are truck on the road as long as possible and I suspect we have our share of hired help that tries very hard to break them to demostrate that we should be buying cheby.

We have many a pickup well over 100k, in fact most our truck logg over 60k a year. In fact a couple have over 300k and have never had so much as the valve covers off.

I sometimes wonder if we are just operating under a lucky star or if all these "problems" with the 5.4L are just getting way more exposure then they rate. While I totally understand how upset and vocal those that got a "bad" one are, from everything that I have read, experianced and heard it is a small percentage.

WE sometimes seem to forget that there are now many millions of these "mod" motors out there in everthing from Crown Vics to F SuperDuties. To hear tells of horror that lead everone to believe that the best motors available are POS is a very large exaggeration. Even if the numbers reached into the tens of thousands it would still be less then 1/2 of a percent. (better then your odds at the lottory and little comfort to the aflected by small all the same)

Oh look at me, went off on another rant, sorry all