I just bought a cargo trailer a couple of weeks ago and noticed a few things that did not seem right while towing. Hope someone can help me figure out what the problem might be.

The problem as I was towing, there was a rubber burning smell. After a couple of minutes the smell had disappeared. I had the wife drive the truck and trailer around a parking lot and did not notice any problems with the truck or trailer tires locking up. The smell seemed to be strong around the area where the exhaust pipe flares out.

Any ideas would be helpful to correct the problem. The truck that ws towing is a 2006 F-150 Supercab 4X4 XLT with the 5.4L .

Thanks in advance

Ken

 

Did your spare tire shift and make contact with the exhaust pipe?

That's a pretty tough thing to determine without crawling under the truck and seeing what got burnt by the exhaust.

 

I looked under and even removed the spare tire and did not see any indication that the tire was up against the exhaust. And I know that there is no undercoating on the truck.

Guess I have to keep searching on the culprit. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

Maybe a trailer wheel brake was hung up and a tire was dragging, then it finally broke loose?

Is it a two-axle trailer or single-axle?

 

That is what I originally thought. I inspected all the tires and there seemed to be no difference in the tread. It is a 2 axle trailer with electric brakes. The smell was right after the rear wheel of the truck.

 

Check to make sure your e-brake is not hanging up. Had that happen on my 04.

 

Okay, did some more checks and even hooked the trailer back to the truck and took it around town for a couple of hours and did not have a problem. I really don't think that the e-brakes hung up. There are no signs that any of the tires skidded across the road.

Also even checked the trans fluid and it is as red as it can be. If the trany does over heat would that have a burn smell like rubber though. I had someone at work mentioned that and it did not make sense.

Next I will hook it up to my 06 SCREW and run it around town for a couple of hours to see.

 

Maybe plastic bag got burned on your exhaust?!