Conditioning the transmission

[thorleif]

I've seen people mention the 10-speed "learns" after some drive time and issues with being jittery/gear hunting go away over time.

I've also seen people mention the 1000 mi break-in, instructing to avoid WOT and cycle through the gears/rpm for some extended period at varying speed.

So, to me this seems like these thoughts may be conflicting? If you're "training" the transmission for the user, then wouldn't you want to operate it in typical conditions? I was just thinking if an owner's main use is city or off-road driving, the break-in suggestion counters this.

Is there any documentation on either of these thoughts? I'm guessing the owner's manual has minimal guidance for the break-in and no mention of the adaptation process.


Regards,
impatient future owner

 

[smurfslayer]

There is a commonly held belief in the gun (blogger, writer, reviewer) world that by firing the gun several hundred times the trigger pull improves. Each time I’ve seen a trigger gauge applied to short enough interval to be considered a ‘breaking in period’ the trigger pull difference is either negligible or the pull weight doesn’t change. Yet people insist this is true, so ... what gives?

YOU become accustomed to the trigger, and your trigger finger muscles adapt and develop (better) it becomes more familiar to you, less though process is required to make a trigger pull without disturbing the sights and your perception becomes that the trigger is better.

The Raptor 10 speed trans has a hard set of mechanical failure limits dictated by materials, gear ratios, valve body / fluid, and more as well as the programming from the computer. The mechanical limits are basically boundaries. The programming is a set of parameters defined along the lines of “if throttle position = ***.*** and current gear = yy then hold gear, pour on boost” If speed drops by nn mph then downshift x. and so on and so on.

There isn’t much “learning” within computer code, but it can adapt environmentally but how the truck shifts? meh. You can zero out the values the computer “understands” by pulling the battery, some makers call for turning the lights on after battery disconnect for a couple ours, everybody has a variation on this theme. Next start up there are no known “operating range” values, etc, so the truck will “re-learn” sensor data, TPS range, etc., etc some of that data is saved as reference points. Is that really learning the way we understand it?
Maybe.

A lot of the perceived difference in behavior of the transmission is us learning how the transmission shifts, under what throttle conditions and adapting to it.

Don’t overthink this.
1) get the truck
2) select sport mode, optionally, if you don’t like spending money on tires, select 4 auto.
3) find back roads home and drive.

Repeat steps 2 & 3.

Once you’ve accumulated some significant miles you can relax a bit more. If you don’t opt for sport mode, just don’t lug the truck at 1000-1200 rpms for long periods and don’t stay at redline for long periods. Vary rpm and speed. You’ll be fine.

The manual does mention break in (available online)
p290
"BREAKING-IN
You need to break in new tires for approximately 300 mi (480 km). During this time, your vehicle may exhibit some unusual driving characteristics.
Avoid driving too fast during the first 1,000 mi (1,600 km). Vary your speed frequently and change up through the gears early. Do not labor the engine.
Do not tow during the first 1,000 mi (1,600 km).”

 

[COBRA90GT]

"mototune" break-in procedure. Do it. Warranty will sort out the weak components heh.