Re: towing W/new engine

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

The aliens commander decided Kurt McDowell <gmcd@domain.elided> would make a
perfect specimen for dissection, and he yelled...

>    I've just rebuilt my 345 and want to tow a 2500lb trailer in three
>weeks. Does anyone know how many miles do i have to drive it
>before I can tow without hurting my new engine? TIA

Grant,

I'm in the same boat as you.

I just installed my 392 and now have about 400 miles on it.  In mid-April
I'll be heading to Death Valley to camp out with John H. and then attend
the Tulare event.  I will be pulling my ~3800 pound travel trailer down
with me.

With my new engine I've been *really* babied it for the first 100 miles or
so, constantly varying the speed, keeping the loads light, keeping the rpms
down, etc.  Since then I've been going pretty easy on it by accelerating
smoothly and slowly, but I've been driving at all speeds.  As soon as it
hits about 500 miles I'm going to start hard accelerations and letting the
engine hit the red line now and then.

My personal feeling is that by 1000 miles there isn't any reason not to
pull a trailer so long as you don't unnecessarily abuse the engine by
running WOT at the red line all day long.  Just watch the temperatures and
make sure you change out the initial break-in oil prior to pulling the
trailer.

This business about a 75,000 mile IH engine break mentioned on the Digest
in years past was more to point out that the IH block is so tough that the
rings will still be in the process of wearing away the cross-hatched honing
pattern and "seating" well into it's service life.  Heck, I recently opened
up a 1977 V345A engine which is believed to have over 300,000 miles on it,
and I can still easily see the cross-hatch pattern from the factory honing
on the cylinder walls!  These IH engine are truly amazing in their
durability and longevity... that's if you keep mud out of the oil... Dan!
<grin>

Go for it!

John L.
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