Maintenance/towing

[norocksplease]

Well we went looking around for the maintenance book on our new LBZ Dmax and the book said "see duramax engine supplement"... couldn't find anything like that.

So does anyone know the FULL maintenance schedual. Or atleast the one that applies under 100k miles.

How long till first oil change? And what's the rest of the maintenance

And I did a search on breakin time till towing and ended up with a facial expression somewhere between this :eek: and this :( .... some of you are waiting 1500 miles... Problem is, we bought this truck for a specific purpose, TOWING and now we cannot tow....saddening, I want to ride my motorcycle :mad:

The fact is we were planning on going glamis (motorcycle riding area for those of you who don't know), and it looks like that won't happen. The truck has 100 miles of stop and go on it as of now. And by the time we reach our second home where our toyhauler trailer, it wil have around 360+ miles on it. Rounding up it may have 400 miles on it.

Our trailer only weighs around 8,000 to 8,500lbs ready to go and the tow will only be 80-100 miles one way depending on which part of the dunes we decide to go to. But it's 2/3's flat and then rolling hills, up and down up and down. About 1000 ft peak to peak and they average about 40-50ft elevation change....

So the question is.... Would it be safe to tow with such little milage? Is it gonna HURT the motor, tranny, or any other vital parts?

[rdanley]

as far as waiting 1500 before towing i do not believe this, i buy mine to tow and that is how it start its life from the start. but i do not baby it either i keep the rpms in the repectful places and let it cruise. do not lug the engine is what i mean. :D

[markrinker]

I would go for it and enjoy your truck.

Personally, I picked up my new '05 LLY, hooked it to a 4,500lb trailer, tossed on 8,000lbs and hauled a** from day one and never looked back.

I do agree with RDanley - mine has NEVER seen the red zone on the tach, nor has it been 'lugged'. Tow/Haul is on most of the time, sometimes off with an empty trailer as it shifts smoother and sooner that way.

At 22K miles four months later, its running like a top, gets good towing mileage, doesn't smoke or use oil.

I think most on here recommend one or two prompt oil changes at 500 and 1500, a fuel filter change at 500, and spin-on tranny filter change at 500 to 1000 miles. I did all those but then went to synthetic and 10K change intervals. The next one is due at 24K. I plan to do all the above every 10K, and full tranny flush and both tranny filters every 20K since I tow everyday.

Relax and have fun at Glamis! I used to run a radical Honda 250R (ported, polished, Bassanni, fiber reeds, shaved head...75mph) 3-wheeler there back in the 80s when I lived in Phoenix. My cousins have met there for Thanksgiving sand drags for the last 25+ years. Their last name is 'Barnes' their from Yuma and Northern Cali. BIG fun...good memories shooting the 'superbowl' with a bad headlight, following my cousin's taillight in pitch dark...ahhhhh youth.

[ 11-23-2005, 06:30 PM: Message edited by: Mark Rinker ]

[Driveshaft]

I agree with hook up and tow. All new diesel big trucks are usually bobtailed from dealer to a customer, where he modifies to his business use and then hooks up and tows immediately. It usually takes these big engines around 10,000 miles to break in. Also, when we rebuild, it gets a crank up, pressure up, and go to work. We do change the oil quickly, but then go back to normal intervals.

[Turbo Al]

It is NOT the engine you should be worried about it is the rear end. Change the oil after 500 miles of normal driving and again after 500 miles of heavy towing. The rear end gears actually seat in two different areas (on the gears) thus the two different oil changes. In your case I would be really tempted jus to have it changed at about the 1,000 mile mark and call it a day.
Al

[Jim Brzozowski]

You sure expect a lot from GM, even Peterbuilt tells you not to hook up a trailer for the first 1000 miles, but its your truck.
Put as many miles on it as you can before you tow, its the rear differential helical cut gears which tend to run very hot until broken in, which doesn't take long, but the high heat will probably burn off the paint on the outside and break down the lubricant a bit on the inside, almost everyone who drained their own differential reported a lot of junk on the magnet end of the plug. Go ahead and tow the first 500 miles and change the fluid, you're probably not planning to drive it more than a couple of hundered thousand miles anyway, if its not whining right away its probably ok, the new fluid will keep it going a long time, those are some tuff rear ends.

[markrinker]

Ooops - I've only changed out the rear once on my '05. Sounds like I better do it again at the 24K interval.

Thanks for the reminders.

[bcnqrgd]

I changed my rear axle oil at about 5k, not much metal noted, and again at 108k and the oil was pretty clean but there were two flakes of metal on the drain plug (magnetic). I used Mobil 1 synthetic gear oil for both changes and, based on the results, wouldn't consider using anything else...