I just ordered an '08 3500 Mega Cab, and will be driving it back to Nevada from Idaho (approx 1000 miles) in "six to eight weeks". I'm sure the dealer will tell me to take it e-z the first 500 or so miles, but does anyone have any other suggestions/advice/words-o-wisdom, or cautionary tales? It has the 6 speed manual, if that makes any difference.

Also, I could either take mostly interstate, or try some 2 lane secondary roads (the 95 from Kellog to Winnemucca, NV). Is it better to run it at a constant highway speed, or would the varied speeds faced on the secondary road be more conducive?

 

Leave the dealer and set your cruse on 80 mph and don't worry about it. I pulled my 40' loaded with hay when my truck had 85 miles on it.

 

Be sure to take plenty of dead presidents and/or a credit card with some decent credit line still available. The price of diesel fuel is nuts right now.

Congrats on your truck......did you go DRW or SRW ?

Greg

 

I found, on my 460 mile drive home, that mileage was better at 80mph than at 70 mph. Don't get too upset when you see that you will probably only get 15-16 mpg on the highway with a brand new Cummins. It will increase as you put miles on it...

Enjoy the ride...........

 

I keep hearing that over and over and over. I now have my 4th cummins (two second generation and two thirds) I have put over 100,000 miles on all of them and have never seen over 14.5 MPG .

 

Wow! The 07 I just traded in was getting 16 city consistantly. My current truck is getting 13-14 city and a best so far of just shy of 16 with totally highway miles. 80 mph and I'm only turning 2000 rpms. That seems to be the sweet spot for my truck. Next time on the highway I'm gonna lock out 6th gear and see if mileage comes up at 70mph. With the cost of fuel so high I definitely don't need to be paying any speeding tickets....

 

Well, you are usually pulling that big trailer behind you too. That "may" bring your mileage down some......

 

Not cautionary tale but cautionary axiom 'the longer the break in the longer the life'

 

Single Rear Wheel. Thanks for the replies. So, from what I understand, if I get pulled over, I can say that, according to the "experts", I need to drive it at 80 to properly break it in.

I'll let you know if that works.

 

Just print this thread and have it inside the truck if you do get pulled over......tell the officer that Dodgezilla said it was OK.

 

I'll just have to be careful next time I'm in Vegas..........

 

Wow: if I had a dime for everytime someone has said that....

 

Heck if you can afford the truck I know you can cover the ticket..

 

Congrats on the new mega cab. I've had mine for 4 weeks now and love it. As for your break-in, just drive it like you would normally. I drove mine 290 miles home from the dealer going 80mph getting 18.9 mpg.

 

Dave Smith sells another.

I did some sight seeing but for the most part I sped at a constant speed.

I did that drive in August and my mileage was in the low teens. It's now in the high teens and I just did my 15K mile oil change today.