This kinda thing happened to me before:

https://www.ranger-forums.com/general-ford-ranger-discussion-15/yesterday-rained-abs-128467/

But just ten minutes ago, it almost caused me to get in the accident.

It was really sloppy in New England today, snow melt, wet sand and rain. I was coming around a bend at an intersection, and some asshat in a station wagon ran a stop sign and turned right in front of me. Luckily I was only going about 20 mph, but when I pressed the brake, my back end caught, than disengaged, and I heard one of my tires slide a bit.

Hit the brakes a little bit more, they caught and then pulsed and let go. I basically had no brakes for a while, right at the crucial moment when I needed them most. Fortunately, the guy who cut me off was hauling, and I didn't end up hitting him. Brakes stopped their pulsing by the time I got home about one mile later.

This is the first time I've felt unsafe in my Ranger, and its kinda worrying me. I know they are there for a reason, but has anyone ever disabled their ABS/pulled the fuse?? I'd rather be in control of my own vehicle than have it decide for me that I can't use my brakes.

Any thoughts/ suggestions to remedy this situation?

 

Not sure if this applies to the latest vehicles , but many times if you hit the brakes , then quickly release then stab them again , it will disable the ABS until you release the brake again.
My 03 does this , but you have to be fast with your foot.And the pedal has to come all the way to the top.

 

Hey thanks for the quick reply. So basically I just pump them, but only once and really fast?Mines an '04 so if it works on yours it should on mine. I 'll have to remember that trick, though its hard in those situations sometimes.

 

It's stab,release,stab as fast as you can .Your foot has to come off the pedal between stabs and don't let up on the second.
If you pump them the ABS still kicks in.
This may not work on all trucks anymore. You'll have to check if yours does.

 

K thanks for clarifying that for me. Would changing pads and shoes help this at all?
I 've got all new brakes all around, Wagner in front and Raybestos shoes in back. But maybe replacing them with different material would decrease this occurrence. I hate to throw parts at something but I know my truck can handle braking at 20 mph in wet conditions. I just got brand new yokohama at's too!!

 

I put my ABS on a switch because my truck likes to snap the self adjuster cable in the driver side drum. Why it does it? I dont know. But when that cable snaps the catchy rear brakes thing occurs much more often. Sometimes even spinning me out if I dont let off the brake pedal. Then the ABS gets touchy. So if the roads are wet, I turn my abs off for the first few stops and just flip the switch and turn it back on.

 

I had a similar issue and the problem was that the rotor on the passenger side was a tiny bit loose. What I did was pop off the grease cap, removed the cotter pin and tightened the nut just untill I wasnt able to wobble the rotor with my hands. Has not done it since! So, I don't really know if this is exactly the problem, but It sounds like it. If you try it let me know! (I did it on all tires)

 

It's also possible you have some faulty ABS sensors, making the system think the tires were locked (not turning) when they weren't. While I haven't had this happen in my Ranger (yet), it was a big issue for my MINI.

 

Grimey or dirty abs sensors will also cause this. You can take out the screw holding it in and just use some canned air to clear it out.

 

I've got a 4x4, so the rims are what holds the rotor on, I don't have a nut and pin. I did just mount my new rims though, so maybe the lug nuts aren't torqued enough on one side.

The weird thing is, I had to slam on the brakes at around 30 mph earlier today, and they worked perfectly, even though it was just as wet out. Then several hours later, I barely press them going 20 mph and they freaking spaz out on me. I like my cars to be reliable, thats why I got a Ranger in the first place.

If it was a faulty abs sensor, I would think that it would happen more often. But its just these two times over the past 4months. Is it a hard job to pull and clean the abs sensor??

 

You can always pull the fuse and reroute the brake lines without the pump.

 

My bad. Didn't really think to myself that it wouldn't be 2wd. Sorry!

 

Mine has done this several times - always when I don't want it to. I drive in the mountains quite a bit and this happens when I'm heading downhill (usually facing a steep drop-off) then brake with my foot on the clutch.

The first thing I did to fix this was to start pulling the ABS fuse when I go into the mountains (when I remember to). I also replaced my clutch (due to an obvious leak).

The reason that I mention my clutch is that once I tore my clutch apart, I was able to look at parts that would help me explain how my brakes feel when this ABS issue happens. The feeling in the brake pedal is as if the splines of the tranny shaft aren't completely disengaging and keep hitting against the splines on the clutch plate as it rotates. G-g-g-g-g-g-g. This feeling in the brakes is nerve-wracking.

I doesn't seem like it would be the clutch causing this issue, but the idea of splines racking against each other is how it feels - preventing the brake pedal from reaching the floor.

I haven't done much testing since replacing the clutch or pulling the fuse, but it hasn't happened in a while. Fingers crossed.