yea maxmod, i somewhat agree with break in like it is gonna be run....
but for most people that need to motors to last without risk, you do need to baby it for a few...

as long as you heat the motor up to 200 every time for the first gallon i dont see a point in replacing the rod,
it never hurts to inspect it to check for slop, and see from there, but i never have replaced one.

if you start cold and do heat cycles the yeah id replace it too.