^^ not necessary.

Just do the switch all at once. It wont hurt anything. But yeah, you can expect the oil to be dirty and need changed within 2k miles

As for the filter, stick to Wix (my preference), Mobil 1, K/N. Avoid Fram.

 

I don't agree with your blanket statement. It should be based on the condition (or lack of knowledge of the condition for someone not very mechanical) of the engine to make the switch to synthetic "cold turkey" or not. Take a look at Hammer's post (#7). I had a simliar experience with my last Dodge when the plenum gasket failed and I had some serious sludge buildup in the engine. When I pulled the pan I was greeted with a semi-solid mix of sludge and oil, and the pickup screen was half pulgged with sludge.

If you have a higher milage engine that has run conventional oil all of it's life, has seen severe duty service, gone offroad in the sand and drit, etc... I would NEVER just jump into a synthetic or you could be looking at a clogged oil pump pickup screen. If you work your way into it by stepping up the % of synthetic to conventional over a few oil changes, you may not overpower the filter/and pickup screen with sludge and get a good end result of a cleaner engine.

 

Am I correct to assume that with a lower milage truck, there should be no worries, or extra changes, required when swapping striaght to synthetic? I just swapped over my 07 1500 4.7l, only has 22k miles though.

 

M1 is good stuff. I've used for years with long oil change intervals and the
innards have remained very clean. Pepboys, Autozone often have sales
where they throw in a high quality M1 extended service filter with the sale
of a 5 quart container. I'm just changed to Royal Purple that was on sale
just for the heck of it but don't expect any superior performance from it.