After suffering through it last winter, yesterday, after a large snow, I disconnected the ABS (fuse) on my '04 Ram 3500 before heading home from work. Wow, it was so cool having a truck that stopped on slick surfaces I was doing panic stops on side streets on purpose and laughing out loud with joy. The ABS on my application just rendered the brakes inoperative. With the calibration of loaded vs unloaded so difficult to nail down, I wonder why they offer them on HD pickups. I know I know, I'll get the "my ABS are great" and "your tires and pressure" and "ABS allows you to steer" bla bla bla... Never like them never will......Now I need to get a wire diagram so I can disable the ABS and have my speedo work. :grin:
Excuse me while I whip this out! AMEN and pass the gravy! They talk of the 'dumbing down of America'! I believe that the drivers in the US are getting worse by the day. Everyone believes that they have the right to operate a motor vehicle. Get real, it is a privilege to be able to motor down the highway. Ask any of our friends in Europe! I do not want manditory driving schools, but I believe that you must have proper training (or experience) to be able to operate different levels of automobile like the Europeans do with motorcycles. Being able to know what a panic stop feels like, being able to control it, and being able to move along after that panic stop is invaluable and would require less computer nannies (ABS, Traction Control :rant: ) to be riding on board! Highway patrol around here do not want anything to do with ABS on their cars. I will admit that I never have had a driving course or student driver course, but I have been behind the wheel of some sort of machine since the age of 8. I was fortunate enough to have learned what to do (and what not to do) from my parents. 500-800 mile road trips, high speed travel, corrective maneuvers, hauling heavy loads were all part of my training and I was not let go on my own until Dad had confidence that I knew what the he## I was doing. Rant over! Brian, I know of an '84 Ford that doesn't have ABS and it works great (don't know about dealing with snow in it!) :grin: Really, the only major malifunction has been (drum roll please) THE BRAIN BOX FOR THE IGNITION!!!! And we want more computers to run our cars for us! o No:
Brian, I thought I was the only one to hate ABS! In the snow we have here (24" plus) in the last two days I hate the ABS. As soon as one wheel loses braking traction the ABS takes the brakes away from all the wheels, even if two are on dry pavement. Last winter I had to drive the truck into the ditch twice because of the dang ABS to keep from hitting other vehicles. Anyone know how to disable the ABS on a 1992 GMC Suburban?
Ken, that is the same problem I was having. I have driven by 4 stop signs this winter because my brakes in effect failed! Just plain quit! Well, No More. I'm with Rusty....learned to drive on some snowy drifted back roads here in Mi. Like I've told folks here at work, If I wanted to steer, I'll steer.....when I hit the brakes I want to stop! :laugh: Don't know on the Suburban, they probibly tied in stuff like on my Dodge so pulling the fuse disables something else too.
i've hated the bleep bleep things from day one.when my wife and i got married she had just bought a brand new cavalier.ther anti brakes would kick in on a hot dry dat i kid you not.pourest set-up i ever saw :rant: :spank: my dad tought me how to drive years agoin a 71 dodge polara 4 door now that was a car
Just unplug one wheel speed connector and leave it disconnected (seal the open connections somehow to prevent corrosion). A trouble code will be set, the yellow ABS light will stay on, the computer will disable ABS/TCS functions.
ABS definitely stinks, I cannot think of one time that I said " Boy am I glad to have the darned things". Thanks for the Dodge truck disconnect pointers. I'll take care of mine tomorrow when I get finished replacing my front bumper assy. Why don't they offer optional deer cannons, instead?
I hate anti-lock brakes. All they really "help" with is letting you steer when you'd normally lock your brakes. Usually they remove useful feedback, and don't force you to adjust to conditions. Once I went right through an intersection because, at the previous one, there wasn't enough snow to engage them. So I didn't adjust mentally to the conditions. I the last big snow we had, I drove my father's 2005 Grand Marquis. The car acted odd, didn't handle like it should, and made nasty grinding noises; I thought there was a serious problem... then I discovered the traction control was on. The traction control actually made me fishtail more. When taking off it would give me enough traction to get going, and when I released the accelerator, I'd fishtail. I turned it off, and the rear tires just spun - never letting me move fast enough to worry about it. I experimented with the anti-lock brakes. I found I could stop quicker without them, as I could take more into account than simple spinning of the tires, could back off a little later, and I could adjust pressure instead of simply pumping. At low speeds, doing a very gradual stop, the anti-lock brakes actually locked I also learned I was faster than the computer - backing off the brake before they kicked in automatically - which they did even if I removed my foot from the pedal first.
Going against the grain here. I like them, even though I learned how to drive and stop on snow and icy roads as a teenager. The ABS in my truck work perfectly, if they don't activate, I just press harder on the brake pedal. This is the first ABS equipped vehicle I've ever owned, and I'm sold on their merits. :TU: Doesn't meant that I rely completely upon them to save my butt however. :grin: I find it very difficult to believe that any human is faster than the computer, but don't wish to start a flame war over it. :grin: I suppose it might seem possible. The most important thing when driving on slick roads, is to allow plenty of forward space in front of you, and slow down. You probably didn't have enough pedal pressure to activate the ABS system.
Hey, no flaming here. I know what you mean. My father was faster pocket calculators One person would dictate the math, another would do it on a calculator, and my dad would do it in his head. He wasn't really faster than the calculator - he was faster than using a calculator. (He's slowed down now that he's retired and doesn't work with numbers regularly.) Memorization and other shortcuts help, while all a calculator does is count very fast - and it doesn't count until you press a button telling it to. The brain can do it on the fly. I'm not really "faster" than the computer - smarter might be a better term. Perhaps "faster" (in a sense) than the system as a whole, or in the sense of using ABS. The ABS is set for certain parameters, and doesn't have much in the way of decision making, judgement, or anticipation. It just engages when wheel speeds hit a cutoff. Basically, I reacted before the cutoff point the computer looks for, and the lag of the physical part of the system made it so the parameter was reached just after I released the brake. So for a split second, the brakes did engage even though my foot was already off. This, of course, accomplishes nothing, as I had stopped braking - having control of the car and speed as desired. I really didn't appreciate having to compensate for them engaging when not needed, if only for a second. But it's more fun to say "faster." ABS responds to speed of the wheel, not pressure on the pedal. If it were the pressure, they would engage on drive pavement as easily as wet, and your stopping distance would be the same year round, in all conditions. I'm not sure why they decided to lock. Perhaps it was because I was going slow, and the inertia wasn't enough to keep rotating after the brakes grabbed. It did cause me to slide forward about a 2 feet. As for pressing harder if they don't activate... don't do that. ABS is a safety net, if you will. It's supposed to kick in when you would normally lose traction - it's not meant to be used just because it is there. Steady pressure beats "pumping" every time, so if you are in tune with your vehicle, you'll do better by keeping your wheels just above locking than you will pumping it (as ABS does) to avoid locking. I do like anti-lock brakes, just not on my car. My mom and brother, for example, tend to point their cars, not drive them. So I like ABS for that reason. On my cars, however, they'd actually cause less control of the vehicle.
I think that last statement hit the nail on the head. They're good for bad drivers, and bad for good drivers. Very few car enthusiasts on a site like this are bad drivers. Ones that need them don't know what you're talking about anyhow. When you look up from your Ipod while you're on talking on the phone, and looking backwards since you don't use mirrors and realize you are about to tailpipe the car ahead, I think braking distance is reduced when the pedal is stabbed -like most inexperienced, inattentive, Pain in the Ass drivers would do when driving is only third, fourth, or fifth on their brain priority list at the time. Basic physics says if you have more braking force on the front than the rear and you get out of perfect alignment between the braking force and the momentum of the C.G. of the vehicle, it's coming around. It's an uncontrollable self increasing moment that 's very scary. It'd be like connecting the parachute to the front of the dragster instead of the back. That's, I believe, what brought out the need for antilock brakes. They aren't for the good drivers. Unfortunately, most aren't, and the lawyers are waiting.
a note of slight dissent I think ABS is great most of the time. An exception is clearly when you are driving off road or maybe when there is alot of snow on the road. I was driving on the sand one time and, as previously posted, the brakes just wouldn't hardly work due to lack of traction. The tires stop fine if they are allowed to pile stuff in front of themselves while sliding along locked. My Chevy ABS works well in the rain.
Correct, however there's more to it than just that. In a properly maintained system, the ABS computer will respond to the wheel lock or skidding, and compensate by releasing pressure to that wheel. So brake pedal pressure becomes somewhat irrelevant. Stopping distance will vary in poor conditions as the ABS system continually applies and releases the brakes very rapidly. Again, that is correct, as long as you can maintain just enough pressure to avoid locking the wheels. It's called threshhold braking, which many people use in everyday driving, be it on clear dry roads, or poor icy ones. Problem is during inclement weather, road conditions change from intersection to intersection, and people do not adjust for this. I like them too, and have learned how to properly use them. As for pointing their vehicles, I agree with you there. :TU: Too many people point or aim rather than actually drive. Believe me, I've dealt and tried to retrain people with this type of driving behaviour far too many times. They can be very good for even good drivers, provided you learn how to properly use them. Bad drivers can come to rely on this technology to bail them out of their bad decisions, We've got to constantly watch out for, and try to avoid, these people. You got the lawyer part right. :TU: :TU: They're just waiting to capitalize on the mistakes of others. A good, highly skilled and trained driver is totally in tune with the complete driving environment all around them at all times, and is aware of all potential hazards before they become immenent dangers. They also will always endeavor to leave themselves an out, should someone else create a dangerous situation. Interesting discussion. :TU:
I think there's a big difference between full 4 wheel ABS and rear only braking systems like on light trucks. I love driving my son-in-law's new Acura TL with both the traction control and individual wheel ABS. Then again, I REALLY like that car all around. Wish I could afford one!
Yep, but my comment was to the one suggesting that not enough pressure was applied to the pedal, causing the lock. I responded that an ABS system doesn't rely on foot pressure to engage; thus inferring irrelevance. If the computer detected locking or skidding, it would have bled the pressure applied to the caliper, and the brakes would not have locked. Of course, this also contradicts my idea of why it happened, lol. Yep, I always have an out - I'm in the high speed lane (sometimes the low speed one - I try to avoid the middle). That gives me a shoulder that is generally free of obstacles. If a wall is right there and I have a problem, I'll try to take it into the wall before I hit another car. I almost had to once. I was doing the speed limit in the high speed lane, and some idiot going slower than me, as I was overtaking him, started to drift into my lane (with no turn signal). I hit the brakes and moved over, and nearly hit the wall (there wasn't a full shoulder). I think he did tag my nose slightly - I felt a bump, and found paint later, but barely a touch. (No it wasn't in a Buick.) In that case, the brakes would have meant nothing had I not had an out. Another time on a city street, with traffic on either side, I swerved within my lane to increase the area traveled and resistance as I threshold-braked. It worked so well I could have stopped 3 feet shorter, but I purposely got as close as I could because I could hear the person behind me skidding. I stopped about a foot away from the idiot who stopped short, and was rear-ended. Though it wasn't much, only removing dirt from the Buick's rear bumper. It would have been damaged had I stopped the car as quickly as I could. My first reaction is to steer. The brakes aren't going to do me any good if I skid or anti-lock straight into the car in front of me. Although I practice threshold braking, I'd love to be able to afford training in it to get better. Also, during the first snow of the year I practice on side streets . Just like sailors and land-legs, you have to get your snow-wheels back. The best way to use anti-lock brakes is to not use them. Keep good distance for traffic and road conditions, and steer. If they engage, you did something wrong. :grin:
The ABS motor went on my Wifes 01 GMC Sierra 1500. After the first 2 snows.....she has not even mentioned the fact the Anti locks dont work. I just.. have to find the bulb for the ABS light..un hook it. You know how much they want to fix it???? About $1,000 bucks more than we are willing to pay! BTW..the truck only has 73,000 miles on it.....and this is NOT the only over $200 fix so far..remind me when i am truck shopping next time why i must buy GM Truck.
Well I'm not an ABS fan either, first time I needed it I went right through the intersection with the ABS doing its job just like it's supposed to. Personnally I like to be in control of my own brakes. ABS, Traction control, little computers telling you how to get there, how far are we from getting in the car and saying Joe's house and reading the paper until we are there?? Sure will be dull!! Dave B
