So I did a v8 swap form a 1998 Expo into a 2001 ford ranger I got the speedo to work but can't get the ABS light off, this is what I did We have heard of getting the 2001 and newer Ranger speedometer to work by retaining the Rangers 4WABS/EBFD (4 Wheel Antilock Brake System/Electronic Brake Force Distribution) Module and adding a GEM (Generic Electronic Module) from a 2001 2.5L. Both are driven in parallel by the rear axle ABS sensor. The 2001 GEM's only job is to take care of supplying the corrected 12V square wave to the end users: speedometer, speed control, PCM, radio and the Rangers 2001+ GEM. any Idea how to get the ABS light off?

 

Not sure the info you got was correct
2001 and up Rangers all used OSS, same as rear axle VSS but located on the transmission/transfercase output shaft, so Output Shaft Sensor(OSS)
Both generate and output an AC voltage signal, a sine wave, only 1/2 the wave is needed/used, so one VSS wire is a "Ground" the other 1/2 a sine wave signal that sets speed

GEM(generic electronic module) runs the interior electrics and wipers.
Includes "door ajar", One touch down for power windows, key in ignition or lights on warning, interior lights.
And in 1998 to 2000 Rangers they did do speed correction using rear axle ABS VSS

Now in 2001 GEM could be used for speed correction for rear axle ratio and tire size because OSS is at the driveshaft
Most 2001 and up send OSS to PCM and it has the true speed correction(axle ratio and tire size), it then sends that out to speedo and cruise
So it would be way different pulse count to correct using rear axle VSS, wouldn't see how it would work(to get correct speed) connected to rear axle VSS
2000 GEM might work

Ford electonic Speedometers all use an 8,000PPM(pulse per mile) for true speed, that has never changed, all the corrections are based on that

Splicing into the Rear axle VSS wires may be triggering the ABS light
Does light go off if you disconnect the spliced wires?

Did you test to see which VSS wire was the Ground, OHM to ground 0 or close to it?
You may have them reversed, either wire has the sine wave but you must stay with non-ground to GEM

Now some transfer cases had gear drive speedo hook up until 1999, wasn't used but was still there, if there on the 1998 then you could just hook up a VSS there, like the 1995 to 1997 used

 

Hi Ron ,Yes When I unplug/ disconnect the wires the light goes out, No I have not tested to see what wire is the ground, I also used the Ranger transfer case, I also have a Dakota Digital SGI-5E box not sure how to hook it up, I , can't get it to work, Not sure on wiring do I cut the BK/GY wire going into the speedo cluster pin 1 or do I just splice it in? and would that wire go to Signal in or sensor power ? I have the power and Ground hook up now What wires would go to 1 out 2 out 3 out 4 out 5 out ?

 

Hi Ron so I hook up the SGI-5E DD box and I put GY/BK wire on 1 out and the red/pk wire to signal in and when I hook up the green/red up I get an ABS code, and if I remove the green red wire the light goes off, speedo works but it is way off, i'm using the wires off of the rear VSS, however on the transmission there is an oss 2 wire plug with different color wires, should I try and hook into there instead of the VSS?

 

There is a bit of misinformation about speed sensors and it is more about the TYPE of sensor than anything else
Hall Effect sensors were used by Ford on earlier years, these use Square wave, and also requires power, so all Hall Effect have 3 wires, Crank sensors and Cam sensors mostly

Variable Reluctance(VR) sensors generate their own AC power, a sine wave, and they only have 2 wires.

The speedometer doesn't care if wave is square or sine, it reacts to Pulses, Ford speedos are calibrated to 8,000PPM (pulse per mile)

In the days of speedometer cables the transmission/transfercase had a Drive gear on output shaft, and a Driven gear on the end of the speedometer cable
This Driven gear could be changed if rear axle ratio or tire size was changed, and that is how speedometer was re-calibrated.
In the late 1980's a VSS was added to this Driven Gear/speedo cable setup, and the VSS was used for the PCM and Cruise control, PCM used it for shift control(automatics) and later for emission strategies.

The VSS on transmission was used thru 1997, but speedometer cables were removed in 1995, electronic speedometers were calibrated to use 8,000PPM because that was current range of Driven gear VSS, i.e. PPM could be changed to calibrate for all axle ratios and tires sizes(within reason, lol) by changing the Driven gear to get PPM at speedometer back to 8,000ppm

In 1998 Ford started to use the Rear axle VSS for speedometer, same kind of VR 2 wire VSS as was on transmission but it didn't have a way of calibrating for tire size, no "gear" to change.
So they needed an interface to change the rear axle PPM to the 8,000PPM the speedometer needed to show true speed.
Ford added that interface to the GEM Module on Rangers
GEM was programed for stock tire size and sent out the 8,000PPM to speedometer, PCM and cruise.

In 2001 Ford added VSS to transmission again, called OSS now but same VR 2 wire sensor, but no "gear", so they still need an interface to correct signal to 8,000PPM
They used the PCM for this instead of GEM, since GEM was on its way out, Smart Junction Box(SJB), would be replacing it as the Body Control Module(BCM), proper name for GEM or SJB.

2001 was a transition year for Ranger 4cyl, 2.5l until mid year, and then 2.3l duratec after that.
It could be that the 1998 to 2001 2.5l Ranger GEM could work as interface between rear axle VSS and Speedometer, PCM and Cruise.
But it would be programmed for that vehicles tire size, so wouldn't be accurate in another vehicle with different tire size.


SGI-5E has sensor IN and sensor Ground, Sensor Power is for Hall Effect type speed sensor

Yes, OUT 1 would be Fords 8,000PPM, and connected to Grey/black wire
If the SGI is powered(12v) and Grounded then you probably only need the one Sensor IN wire connected, the sensor ground is there already with power ground

I thought the pink VSS wire was the ground side, but not sure, so green may be "+" wire and by hooking that up to SGI "-" you would be cutting off signal from rear axle VSS to ABS module, both VSS wires would be grounds

Yes, after hook up the speedometer will be off, for sure, the SGI is a universal interface so you need to program it for your vehicle, people use these with rear axle VSS, transmission VSS and homemade VSS, which vary from 250,000ppm to 1,000ppm

Yes, you could use the OSS, leave ABS as is
Hook up both OSS wires to SGI, wire color shouldn't matter since you are not sharing the sensor, which ever wire is hooked up to SGI sensor GND will be grounded via the power ground.

Looking at the 1998 Explorer V8 PCM wiring I see the VSS "+" grey/black wire at pin 58, which is pretty standard on all Ford EEC-V PCMs
BUT....I also see an OSS Dark Blue/yellow wire on pin 84, this is probably for shift control only so may or may not be needed since similar "corrected" pulses are coming in at pin 58

pin 84 is getting uncorrected pulses, so not for true speed
Grey/red OSS wire looks to be the Ground
Dark Blue/yellow the "+"

 

Thank you Ron for the much needed info, I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

 

You should be fine

Quite a few have used the SGI-5 with Ranger V8 conversion, although I never have seen a "final" wiring diagram, lol.

Just see "Got it working, thanks", :)