Burnt Rubber Smell from TOAD!

[MxChief66-1]

Realizing I was moving further away from OPs post on protective devices used when pulling toad I thought it best to start a new thread on this subject.

I'm curious as to how many folks actually experience the burnt rubber smell while operating toad after flat towing behind coach?

I researched this extensively thinking I was doing something wrong. I flat tow a 2008 2dr Jeep JK, with a 4" lift and 315 tires. I would have the same smell that would dissipate after 30 minutes of driving. I first contributed it to rubber debris on road blowing onto cold engine and/or mud dobber nest on exhaust manifold.

However, recently I spoke with someone who has the same smell and claims its from rubber shearing off his front tires and blowing onto exhaust manifolds. He showed me his front tires and sure enough he had 1/4-3/8" wear on the inside tread.

So checking my front tires I'm developing the same aggressive wear pattern. WTH!

Is this normal? Is it something in my set up? Tire pressure? At $400 bucks a tire I need a solution asap!

Thank you

Mark
2016 Anthem

[bdpreece]

We tow a 2014 Ford Explorer four down and have the same smell. We probably tow about 5 to 6 thousand miles a year and I have not noticed any real abnormal wear on the front tires. I am sure the fronts do wear a little more but I rotate them abut every 5K so hard to tell.

I was always under the impression that the smell was from road grime that gets up on the exhaust and stays there until the car is started where it then gets hot enough to burn off. Under normal driving that would burn off on contact and you would not notice it.

[twinboat]

Do you have locking steering and are you unlocking it ?

Dragging it around corners will chew up the tires.

[jleamo1]

Mark, we are Jeep Wrangler #3 for a toad. The 2009 had a lift and the same size tires as you, didn't experience that problem. The one after was a 2003 lifted 35" tires, no issues. The one we have now is a 2014 JKU, no issues.
Have the alignment checked on the jeep and make sure the tow bar is level. Not many shops get a lifted jeep aligned properly, they almost always mess it up.
What brake system are you using?

[MxChief66-1]

Originally Posted by twinboat

Do you have locking steering and are you unlocking it ?

Dragging it around corners will chew up the tires.

The 2008 jk has the locking wheel. I installed a battery disconnect that allows me to leave the key in "on" position to enable steering. I've verified good steering.

Mark

[757driver]

We do not have unusual front tire wear on our 2014 Honda CRV but we do get the burnt rubber smell from road debris on the exhaust system.

[MxChief66-1]

Originally Posted by jleamo1

Mark, we are Jeep Wrangler #3 for a toad. The 2009 had a lift and the same size tires as you, didn't experience that problem. The one after was a 2003 lifted 35" tires, no issues. The one we have now is a 2014 JKU, no issues.
Have the alignment checked on the jeep and make sure the tow bar is level. Not many shops get a lifted jeep aligned properly, they almost always mess it up.
What brake system are you using?

So you have never got the burnt rubber smell after towing?

I set it up myself and was OCD on getting it perfectly level. Since I have a rugged ridge bumper I went with the RM base plates that replace the D ring plates attached to front of bumper. Did all your jeeps utilize a standard Jeep baseplate? Could being attached to front of bumper create a problem?

[Green D]

Smell yes unusual wear no.

Eric

[Old Scout]

Yup--the burnt rubber smell is pretty common--scared the $%!& out of me the first time we towed. Tire wear for some folks is also pretty common but not so for others????? We pull two different Silverado pick-ups over the years and had some front tire wear on both--tow bar was level [Blue Ox], normal hi-way tread and aired up, nothing obvious. Been towing an 2006 TJ with 265 70Rx16 tires, fairly aggressive tread--get some uneven wear/feathering on the very outside tread lugs. Few weeks of normal driving around when we are home, usually evens things out. Could it be the style or brand of tow bar--don't know.

[RubiconTrail]

I've had the odor problem with my JK for years, didn't happen with the CJ before that. Towed it about 40,000 miles in the last three years and haven't noticed wear problem at all. I do rotate tires regularly and so far have gotten about 30,000 per set of KM2 BFG muds, about what I would expect. I also tend to shed the old tires and put on new ones when there is still some tread left, maybe 7/32 or so.

[MxChief66-1]

Originally Posted by Old Scout

Yup--the burnt rubber smell is pretty common--scared the $%!& out of me the first time we towed. Tire wear for some folks is also pretty common but not so for others????? We pull two different Silverado pick-ups over the years and had some front tire wear on both--tow bar was level [Blue Ox], normal hi-way tread and aired up, nothing obvious. Been towing an 2006 TJ with 265 70Rx16 tires, fairly aggressive tread--get some uneven wear/feathering on the very outside tread lugs. Few weeks of normal driving around when we are home, usually evens things out. Could it be the style or brand of tow bar--don't know.

Im using the Blue Ox Avail tow bar.

[johnnyreno]

1 ST this year we towed 2015 jeep rubicon. blue ox we got the smell in Nevada. After not unhooking all the way from key west. However not on the way to fl. but we unhooked several times. Didn't. notice it. However we got rain poured down on the way back through miss. And A Couple other states too. So the theory of stuff blowing back on to the beast is prolly the answer. As we had no leaks at all from jeep. However just ordered a 2017 rubi. due for delivey next week or so from factory. Will watch closely to see if the new one smells after a long tow.

[Gary.Jones]

There was a thread on here from a couple of owners who were having real problems with tread wear on their jeep products and were burning through rubber. I don't own a jeep so did not write down the thread title and didn't really pay attention to the thread (because I tow a Honda CR-V which has had no tire problems), but one of the causes was a back and forth shake that was unique to one or two models of jeep, and my memory was that there was a brand or model of tire that tended to do that more than others, and led to frequent need to replace tires. Again, the memory traces are weak on this one, but a good search with the search box up at the top that is defaulted to iRV2 and not to Google will bring that thread back to life pretty quickly, I think.

Gary

[igave]

Have a 2016 keep wrangler and have towed it about 2000 miles so far. Smell-yes but not every time. Pretty strong when it does and usually after starting the jeep. Tires not showing abnormal wear. Did have jeep aligned and tow bar checked right after first noticing the smell as well as eased off the brake setting (way eased) but didn't make any difference. Don't like it, but until something shows there isn't much to do.