I have read a bit about this on plowsite.com but there are no solid answers of what causes it.

When the plow is on the truck I get a faint burning rubber smell that seems to be comming from the engine. Upon inspection, there seems to be nothing out of the ordinary. It is not only confined to time plowing. I get the smell while driving also.

I do hear the clutch fan working overtime to keep things cool due to the resticted airflow to the radiator. My guess is that it has something to do with that.

Anyone have a similar smell and have any of you figured out what it is?

 

Yep i do on mine. Nothing major in the last 3 seasons, so i just ignore it now.

 

Have you checked the tires to make sure they're not rubbing under the weight of the plow? Just speculation here, but could it possibly be the serpentine belt slipping due to alternator load or something? It's about the only thing other than tires that's made of rubber that I can think of.... Maybe radiator or heater hoses, but they don't really move and would soon leak if they were rubbing something.

Anyone else got any other ideas?

 

You sure it's not just your tires slipping? I had that smell last night, but only once during when a tire slipped a little excessively. If you are constantly getting a burning smell, you might want to look at your truck and how you drive.

 

I get my burning rubber smell at the pile when I stack ....back away and there are 4 wet clean spots where my coppers were busy

 

I'm thinking you may have a tuner on your plow truck. If so, you may want to look and see if you've got any codes. I run a Gryphon tuner on my 07 F150 and while plowing recently I noticed the temp was getting up there. I had 2 codes. One for fan performance and the other for no signal from the fan speed sensor. A little digging and I learned Ford has issued a TSB for some 08 SD's (not applicable to your 09). But it helped to point out a fan clutch issue.

My fan clutch was junk. It was so far gone, that you could actually stop the fan from rotating while the engine was running. I took a heavy leather glove and pushed it into the path of the fan (without my hand in the glove) and the fan stopped spinning.

Chase a fan clutch issue and you may solve this. FWIW, oddly the road salts, dirt and other assorted crap that may build up on your exhaust manifolds, may be some of what your smelling.

Hope this narrows down your issue.

 

Do you plow 6 inches or more of snow in 4 high? Try plowing in 4 low, personal opinion i feel as though its easier on the ttransmission and transfer case cause it dont seem to work the tranny so hard, that and once i started plowing in 4 low i could push my semi frozen banks back further

 

It is not tire slip, I don't have the plow truck tuned, I never plow more than 6" and I am always in 4 hi when plowing, and I am super easy on the truck when plowing.

This only happens when the plow is on the truck. I use my 09' for plowing. It only has 2900 miles on it and I have plowed about 5 storms so far and it has done it every time. I will call the dealer Monday to see what they have to say.

On plowsite.com There is a thread about super duties and this smell when plowing. Both diesel and gas trucks have this smell. Nobody ever figured it out and all of them never have had any problems.

Just curious is all.

 

Only other thing I would think of would be accessory belt slipping do to the high load from the fan, alternator, etc.

 

hydraulic oil?

mine had a stink too, when working hard finally tracked down the small weep of hydraulic oil from the rams

 

i have this smell too...while plowing, or towing the trailer.. i believe its just extra friction from the extra weight..nothings broken yet in 2 seasons.

 

Are you sure it is not the smell of hot oil? I frequently smell oil while plowing. I believe its from the ccv, and you can smell it better while going slow. I have only plowed with diesels though, not sure if gas motors have ccv's?

 

Is it possible when you are plowing snow that a snowy mist is making the serpentine belt slip when under load?

 

I get the same smell with my 5.4 when plowing. Never had any problems associated with it, however. I kinda thought it was the front brakes cause it goes away after not plowing for a while. I'll have to check under the hood more after the next storm.

 

I would suspect a slipping serpentine belt. When you plow it can get a little wet from snow spray and slip.