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Ranger ABS - Is It Just Lousy?


8thTon

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My experience with my 2WD Edge a daily driver for about a year is that the ABS seems to kick in easily, and when it does the brakes are mostly disabled. I'm trying to figure out first if this is just in my head - have others experienced this?

If it's not just my imagination, then why? This is mostly just low speed straight line braking. The tires were nearly new Wranglers and the brakes are good. I've been over the brakes, the pads/shoes are good and properly adjusted - at least most of the time. For a little while I thought the garage that did my inspection might have messed up the adjuster on a rear, and then I was not applying the parking brake hard enough to re-adjust them, but that was only a brief period.

I'm wondering if the single rear axle sensor amplifies the sensitivity and make it overreact? A truck with a light rear will be more likely to lock a rear brake, and with just one channel for sensing and control it has to deactivate the whole back end. That leaves the front to all the work, making it more likely to slide there, so it gets progressively worse.

If it could control each rear wheel separately, or if a driver just ignored one slightly slipping wheel it might be much less dramatic.
 


Uncle Gump

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With only one rear sensor... both wheels would have to lock up to activate the ABS. Probably not your case. Do the rear wheels lock up?

I have seen where a front wheel speed sensor falls off and the ABS kicks in. I would bet you have this condition... it happened on my truck. If the vehicle pulls left... RF speed sensor and vice versa.
 

8thTon

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With only one rear sensor... both wheels would have to lock up to activate the ABS. Probably not your case. Do the rear wheels lock up?

I have seen where a front wheel speed sensor falls off and the ABS kicks in. I would bet you have this condition... it happened on my truck. If the vehicle pulls left... RF speed sensor and vice versa.
My brakes work perfectly most all of the time, it never pulls even when the ABS is working.

With this system when one rear wheel locks up the sensor on the differential input sees the rpm suddenly drop by 1/2 relative to the front wheel sensors, so the controller knows a rear wheel locked. It cannot see which one. I don't know if it's programmed to act on that condition, but I suspect it is.
 

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I thought that true four wheel ABS didn't happen until it actually got 4 wheel speed sensors. You very well could be right... and when it kicks in... if it doesn't pull left or right... it very well could be the rear.

These trucks do tend to lock a rear wheel fairly easily. There was a TSB at one point that I believe sealed up the backing plate to help prevent water intrusion. I find that running the rear shoes closer to tight on the adjustment helps prevent it also.
 

8thTon

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The rears should be tight, but if the self adjusters are working it will stay that way. I use my parking brake every time and make sure to brake hard in reverse regularly, and I cleaned and lubed the mechanism last time I did shoes. However, if you don't make the adjusters close enough after doing the rear brakes it won't self adjust in reverse - you have to work the e-brake to pull it in range, or spin the adjuster wheels further.
 

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So... maybe I missed it. Do the rear brakes lock up?
 

8thTon

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So... maybe I missed it. Do the rear brakes lock up?
I don't believe so - I'll have to go do that test, but the best I can do is to try to intentionally lock up both rears which ABS will try to prevent. To get it to lock up just one and be able to tell from the cab what it's doing would be tough.
 

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I would suggest some live data on the test drive... might be the only way to find it.

I have noticed that with a wheel speed sensor that drops off... it will most likely happen at slow speeds. Less then 5 or 6 mph.
 

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Rear brakes can be tightened by holding out the parking brake release and pumping the parking brake pedal, if they were loose you will feel pedal coming up and then stay at one spot, they are tight now
You can not over tighten parking brakes this way
 

8thTon

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Rear brakes can be tightened by holding out the parking brake release and pumping the parking brake pedal, if they were loose you will feel pedal coming up and then stay at one spot, they are tight now
You can not over tighten parking brakes this way
Yes, exactly. Where I ran into an issue for a short time was after having the truck in for inspection. It is common to have the mechanic slack the adjuster so they can remove the drum and not get around to readjusting it, which leaves the brake non-functional and since the pads do not contact the drum they will not self adjust in reverse either. I realized then that I was not applying the parking brake hard enough in normal use either.

Pumping the parking brake as you describe fixes that.

Anyway, this has gotten a bit off-track - I don't actually think there is anything wrong with my Ranger brakes. I just find the ABS to be over aggressive in kicking in and wanted to know if others experienced this.
 

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if the trigger rings are slightly bent or not at the exact distance from the sensor the signal drops off too much at slow speeds.

a quick review: (for 98+)

as the trigger wheel passes the sensor an AC signal is generated. the cycle period is one pulse per tooth, the faster the teeth pass the higher the frequency.
also the faster the teeth pass the greater the voltage. at anything above a slow speed the voltage becomes too high and is clipped which results in basically a square wave.
at slow speeds as the voltage decreases any slight "miss" in one or more of the signal peaks triggers ABS.
on 2WD the front trigger ring is pressed onto the backside of the hub. it's easily bent or corrupted. also easy to remove/reinstall/align.
check the rings, try to get them a bit closer to the sensor.
if you have access to an ocilloscope the signal can be monitored and the exact defective tooth can be identified.
 

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I have run across this with a 08 F250 where the ABS kicks in and a loss of stopping power. They recently redid a bridge on RT 8 and gong down the footing to the red light has become slightly wash boarded that causes the ABS to come on, even though the tires are not locking up, which causes a hard pedal and very little breaking power. This truck is very well maintained since it drives over 1,000 miles a week and had this issue since it was purchased and had 30,000 on it. You mentioning this makes me think it may be a design flaw/programming flaw mistaking simple road condition as a lock up.

The section is only around 20 feet or so and has 3 humps. Since I have spent 3 years with this off and on in my mind my thoughts were a front sensor is where the issue starts and from there the ABS module sees it as a difference is wheel speeds, since the tire is going a further and at a slight different speed that the other wheels, and when the breaks are applied the module sees this as a lock up, release and lockup again causing the system to engage causing the stiff pedal and the "Holly Crap there is a car in front of me stopped that I cant slow down for" situation.
 

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apparently you have not driven 1 ton chevies in pa
 

8thTon

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From the day it was new my 11 Ranger brakes would feel like you stepped on something soggy if you had to stab the brake pedal quickly and the ABS would activate if you looked hard at the pedal on a slippery road. I'm not an ABS fan, one of my old service advisors called them anti stop brakes and I think he nailed it. The front tone rings are integral to the wheel bearings and not replaceable separately so I'd get someone with a pro quality scan tool to monitor the wheel speeds when the problem is happening and I suspect you'll see one with an erratic signal. I would hope any tech who backed down the brake adjustment to remove a drum for inspection would readjust them afterward, we always did.
 

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