Hot brakes on new tow vehicle

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.