Trailer towing/burning smell......

[JV1]

Took my first trip in the H3 this past week towing a trailer. It was a 2-place snowmobile trailer with one snowmobile on it. About 1,200 pounds total weight, 8" tires and a tongue weight of less than a hundred pounds. The back end of the Hummer had probably about 150 pounds of stuff in it.

A couple of things I noticed which have me concerned. First, anything over 70 mph caused the front end to vibrate right through the steering wheel. Seemed to vary between a mild vibration and pretty bad where you could see the hood shaking. Got to my destination, pulled the trailer off, went back on the highway: no vibration. Took the tires off the trailer checked everything out, no bad tires, tires turning true. Can't believe that a 4700 pound Hummer would be that sensitive to a small trailer.

Second, there were several occasions when I got out of the Hummer, I could smell a lot of fumes like something was burning underneath. This was after driving on dry pavement for about 15 miles. Stopped for gas and the smell was bad.

Not long ago, I was driving in a snowstorm and had the Hummer in 4-high-lock. When driving home on primarily wet pavement (no tire slippage), I forgot to take it out of lock for about ten miles. It was mostly a straight road going about 50 mph. I know you aren't supposed to drive in lock with no slippage but I can't believe 10 miles would destroy anything.

Anyone have any similar experiences or thoughts on this?

f5fstop what do you think?

Thanks.

[JV1]

Took my first trip in the H3 this past week towing a trailer. It was a 2-place snowmobile trailer with one snowmobile on it. About 1,200 pounds total weight, 8" tires and a tongue weight of less than a hundred pounds. The back end of the Hummer had probably about 150 pounds of stuff in it.

A couple of things I noticed which have me concerned. First, anything over 70 mph caused the front end to vibrate right through the steering wheel. Seemed to vary between a mild vibration and pretty bad where you could see the hood shaking. Got to my destination, pulled the trailer off, went back on the highway: no vibration. Took the tires off the trailer checked everything out, no bad tires, tires turning true. Can't believe that a 4700 pound Hummer would be that sensitive to a small trailer.

Second, there were several occasions when I got out of the Hummer, I could smell a lot of fumes like something was burning underneath. This was after driving on dry pavement for about 15 miles. Stopped for gas and the smell was bad.

Not long ago, I was driving in a snowstorm and had the Hummer in 4-high-lock. When driving home on primarily wet pavement (no tire slippage), I forgot to take it out of lock for about ten miles. It was mostly a straight road going about 50 mph. I know you aren't supposed to drive in lock with no slippage but I can't believe 10 miles would destroy anything.

Anyone have any similar experiences or thoughts on this?

f5fstop what do you think?

Thanks.

[f5fstop]

No idea on the towing issue, I haven't towed anything in years. However, I agree, that size of a trailer, in my opinion, should not affect the steering that much.

As for the smell...only thing I can think of is not related to fluids, but I know on some earlier vehices with towing package, they forgot to tie-strap the harness and it lays on the muffler. I happened to see mine one day, and it was starting to burn through the insulation's convering.

Is there any fluid leakage that could be hitting an exhaust part?

The case should not have a problem, as long as the fluid is at the correct level. If you have an early model, the dealer was supposed to add extra fluid prior to selling the vehicle. One way to check, see if you have a slip of paper in the owner's manual that has an update on the correct fluid level for the case.

Or to be sure, send me, via the PM, your last eight digits of your VIN and I'll see if your vehicle was affected.

[sltbluh3]

JV1 -- I have pulled a small trailer + motorcylce total wight 1550 lbs no wieght in the back. I did not notice any thing unusual vibration wise but only had it up to 60 mph and no buring smell. How new is your vehicle? When mine was new say 1st 300 -500 miles it would smell like something was burning after a 35 mile drive.