Hot brakes on new tow vehicle

[TheBeans]

We bought a new truck late last year and have yet to use it to tow our trailer out on a camping trip. We did, however, use it this past weekend to tow it to the local dealer for warranty inspection/service and on the way there I smelled something 'hot.' As in electrical-hot. No smoke was seen from any wheel or within any wheel-well.

My husband smelled it too and adjusted the Prodigy brake controller (increased) and we didn't smell anything 'hot' for the remainder of the drive, but both of us are worried about this event.

We are not new to towing and we are not new to the Prodigy brake controller and how to adjust it. This is a brand new brake controller, installed by the RV dealership, on a brand new truck. What are the chances that the trailer brakes weren't engaging as we slowed down and what we were smelling were hot brakes on the truck? We also know that the bearings in the trailer wheels need to be replaced, so could that hot smell have originated there? We're trying to figure out what happened and just aren't sure.

Any ideas/advice is welcome. Thanks---

[wa8yxm]

Most people know hot oil but electrical.. not so well known nor is hot brakes. To me they are distinct. but... Others.. I only trust my nose for smell ID or a few others who have proven to know what they do.

My Wife did not know hot electric from hot steel.

[Devo_the_dog]

TheBeans wrote:
...on the way there I smelled something 'hot.' As in electrical-hot.

What are the chances that ...we were smelling were hot brakes on the truck?

... the bearings in the trailer wheels need to be replaced, so could that hot smell have originated there?

Any ideas/advice is welcome. Thanks---

These are three completely different and very distinct smells, as a few pointed out.

In your 2nd post, you said to reread the first post and then you stated that it was a brake smell and kind of implied that it wasn't the controller.

But in re-reading your first post, you said you smelled:
1. electrical
2. or brakes?
3. or bearings (implying hot grease)?

LOL.

The one thing you didn't state was that you adjusted and tested the controller for the trailer brakes. If your husband turned up the gain while you were driving and you didn't test it properly for lock up, then you were just turning knobs.

LOL^2

Did you bother adjusting and testing the trailer brakes anytime? If they didn't work in the beginning and still don't work, and you don't know, maybe you should find out.

[Grit_dog]

^Interesting theory Gde....
Unless this vehicle got parked when new, it's been driving around in the rain for months here already. And the OP stated it went away after they cranked up the trailer brakes.
The real question is, were they actually roasting the brakes on the truck or not? I see the Op has gone from describing the smell from electrical to brakes, so theres that.

[wa8yxm]

Ok your husband fixed it
Ideally the trailer brakes stop the trailer and the truck brakes stop the truck, that's how it is supposed to work. But for the "hot" trip the trailer brakes were not strong enough so the truck did more of the work.

By increasing the Controller your husband transferred more power to the trailer brakes and hopefully balanced the system.

[Gdetrailer]

TheBeans wrote:
We bought a new truck late last year and have yet to use it to tow our trailer out on a camping trip. We did, however, use it this past weekend to tow it to the local dealer for warranty inspection/service and on the way there I smelled something 'hot.' As in electrical-hot. No smoke was seen from any wheel or within any wheel-well.

My husband smelled it too and adjusted the Prodigy brake controller (increased) and we didn't smell anything 'hot' for the remainder of the drive, but both of us are worried about this event.

We are not new to towing and we are not new to the Prodigy brake controller and how to adjust it. This is a brand new brake controller, installed by the RV dealership, on a brand new truck. What are the chances that the trailer brakes weren't engaging as we slowed down and what we were smelling were hot brakes on the truck? We also know that the bearings in the trailer wheels need to be replaced, so could that hot smell have originated there? We're trying to figure out what happened and just aren't sure.

Any ideas/advice is welcome. Thanks---

Brand new truck (yr or so old but never towed anything), first time towing, yeah, chances are you what you were smelling is many of the "normal" new vehicle hot smells. Smells a bit like burning rubber?

Typically when you buy a new vehicle there will be some odd hot or even something burning smells during and right after you initially put it through some hard work cycles. Hot metals can have a distinct burning wires odor especially when the metal is very new and never heated very hard.

More often than not, the oils used to manufacture and protect the exhaust system parts will burn off creating a lot of burning oil smell, takes a while to get the entire exhaust system warm enough long enough to get rid of that odor.

Then you have hot smells that may come from the catalytic converter and heat shields along with any exhaust mounts that may have flexible rubber straps and such..

Then there are the brakes, normal driving will burn off the manufacturing oils that may be left on the surfaces of the calipers and the rotors for the most part but yet there may be some residual not burned off until you start towing or under heavy braking..

My last two new vehicles I swore that I had a acrid rubber fire under the vehicle each time I pulled it into the garage.. Those odors got much less over time and after a few times towing seem to have disappeared..

Those smells should subside after a few times towing, if they persist or get worse then a trip to your vehicle dealership would be a good idea.

[BarneyS]

Moved to Tech Issues forum.

[mkirsch]

You said you smelled something "electrical hot." Hot brakes have a distinctive smell all their own, not electrical at all.

So were you smelling something electrical, or were you smelling hot brakes?

The biggest mistake was just glancing in the rearview looking for smoke and continuing on, rather than pulling over immediately to find the source of the hot smell. You may simply never know what happened at this point, or it could rear its ugly head at the worst possible moment.

Did you have the RV repair look for the issue? If they could not find it, likely it was no longer there to be found. You will have to wait until it happens again, if it ever happens again.

[TheBeans]

Please read the original post. We took the rig down for annual inspection. We then found out there were bearing issues so please don't assume we knew about the bearing problem when we smelled the hot brakes. Also, it doesn't matter if the controller came with the new truck or not. I've owned three trucks with tow packages. None came with a brake controller and is not the issue here.

[Grit_dog]

Aside from if you took the Orting Kapowsin highway towards Graham, most any route "west" to wherever your trailer dealer is, is basically flat.
Even if the trailer brakes were not functional, I can't think of an area where brakes would get hot, save for that one hill. Any chance you rode the brakes down a hill? (If it was a brake smell?)

[Grit_dog]

Ben, they’ve had the truck for months. Nice tutorial but whatever is going on isn’t because new brakes aren’t bedded.

[Grit_dog]

If you don’t know what hot brakes ( or clutch) smells like and couldn’t be bothered to physically check if one or more of the 8 wheels on the ground were running hot, then I would advise having the entire unit looked at by a mechanic.
And brakes don’t smell like an electrical fire. 2 distinctly different odors.

[Lynnmor]

Why would you tow a trailer with bad bearings?
Why didn't you get a truck with the factory brake controller?

[kellem]

I carry a temp gun in the truck so identifying the culprit is a trigger pull away.
But agree with above post as new brakes need break in.

[BenK]

Here are some potentials =

All new brakes need to be broken-in...AKA cured and AKA bedding in new brakes

This is to burnish the cast iron and get the friction material both hot enough to 'cure' the friction material. While they are getting hot and curing, they will out gas and deposit a very thin layer of friction material on the cast iron braking surface. Best braking is friction material on friction material.

That is most likely what you two are smelling and will go away after the friction material is fully cured.

If you stopped while the brake friction material is still hot and out gassing, it will bake a high spot on the cast iron surface, which will manifest itself as an apparent vibration while braking. The Fix for that is to drive out on the freeway and NAIL the brakes several times. That will scrub off the high spot and get the friction material to get hot enough to out gas again and just keep moving so that the out gas will deposit an even coating. MUST not stop and keep going until the friction material cools down and NOT out gas anymore.



Other is like your husband thought and increased the preset of the Prodigy so that the trailer brakes engage either sooner and/or more.

A lot depends on how the new TV/F150's brake switch is adjusted. If in the best setup, it will turn on the brake switch BEFORE the master cylinder's piston is moved.

That will have the trailer brakes 'lead' the TV's braking. A good thing.