Adam - You are fine... beat on it, but remember to love it more later... check the fluids, stay up on routine maintenance, and don't over do it... but here and there is not going to kill it now that you have 1,500 miles on it. Enjoy yourself!!

~Amanda

 

The engines built today are so superior to those of the past, break in is almost a thing of the past. In the past it was necessary to vary the speed during the first thousand miles or so and not run at a constant speed. That was so that the rings could seat properly to prevent excessive oil consumption.

The machining methods, ring materials and everything are so advanced now, it's not really necessary to observe a breakin period. That said, if it were mine I would avoid using the cruise control for the first thousand miles, but other than that I wouldn't treat it any differently than I plan to for the life of the truck.

The most important thing is to change oil frequently and keep up with your preventive maintenance. If something goes wrong, FIX IT!

Other than that, drive it like you stole it.

Enjoy,

 

The procedure in the manual says to drive gently and keep it around 50 (or 60 I forget) mph max speed. It also said that brief full throttle accelerations from a cruising speed would help the break in process. Full throttle from a full stop is bad.

 

B][GT: My truck is a 2x4 and that is stock ride height. I am going to lower it though.

X

 

RumblebeeRam - do you post on www.Rumblebee.org yet?

 

I did my first burn-out on the drive home from the dealer, so you can guess my opinion.

 

No I dont post there yet, they will probably hate me since my truck isnt a TRUE rumble bee. Want to know something funny, right after I had my rumble bee custom made. The dealership I bought it off of (derrick dodge in South side edmonton AB) started making trucks like mine custom made with stripes that say "hemi" and "supersport" (Way to rip off the brand new Chevy SS eh? I thought that was so retarded) and then I went to ST. Albert Dodge (my town, not as good a dealership as derrick) and showed them the truck and bought a keychain off of them. They went and started making custom rams with stripes too... BUT they never put the SRT 10 hood on because its too expensive to risk having to lose money on. Funny thing is, they have just made it harder to sell the TRUE rumble bees, because now theres 1000 trucks with stripes on em waiting to be sold. Whos going to pay for a Special Edition when they can just say "Well I want a half tonne hemi reg swb, but you have put rumble bee kits on all of them, I dont really need that, I dont want to have to pay for it" then they gotta start GIVING it away for free! Hey wait a minute....... I paid a lot of money to start a stupid trend thats going to make my truck LESS original, and everyone else is gonna get it for cheap.... SHOOOT!!!

-adam

 

Howdy!
I'm new to this forum. Just wanted to say I bought a patriot blue 04 Quad Cab SLT w/ the HEMI. Drove from dealership to muffler shop and had a flowmaster exhaust put on. It is absolutely fantastic sounding and a very fast truck.
I was just a boy when the RoadRunners in neon colors were sold in early 70's and I always wanted a HEMI. I guess this is close.
I think this truck motor is close to the performance of those fine cars. And God does it sound good. I've had it for a week now and already have a black headache rack and black diamond tool box on it. I cannot remember the last time driving was so fun!!! Great looks of the Doge truck and now a hot motor.
Anyway, enough rambling from a 42 year old man. Just wanted to give a big thumbs up to this awesome looking and performing/sounding machine.
I was bad like the other fella on here and did first burnout on way to muffler shop.
Next on wish list is wheel to wheel nerf bars so all in family can access tool box easier. Guess I'll stick with the black color to match tool box and headache rack.
Any suggestions or good advice is appreciated. I'm new at this forum thing and hope to learn a thing or two from you veterans.

 

rumblebeeman don't worry about it. you are supposed to break in hard. let the cylinder walls break in even not soft then hard and then soft. so if you started braking it in hard just keep going.

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