I have been thinking with all of our weather issues and the snow, how annoying ABS can be at times. I would honestly rather take a little fish tail and slide to a stop then ABS. Plus in the mud i have found you actually stop faster without abs due to it constantly kicking on and off.

So what i was thinking is that is is possible to just put a switch on the power feed for abs(obviously it would throw a light), to kill it? then when back in normal conditions just keep it on? Is it that simple? Let me know what you guys think.

 

bump, any thoughts?

 

Should be that simple...wiring might be a pain to get to....probably just easier to pull the fuse when you want it off

 

I used to drive a b4000, and the abs system was garbage. You could really feel when it came on because the truck would barely slow down at all. Very dangerous and I decided to unplug the system near the master cylinder. The abs light stayed on but I preferred that over not stopping...

I'm actually really impressed with the f-150's abs. It doesn't come on prematurely, and when it does kick in, you get maximum braking for the conditions.
Maybe yours isn't working properly?

 

you will not be doing a simple little fish fail. you truck will continue in a straight line with no steering if you lock up all four and never release them. and that striaght line might very well be into a ditch or off a cliff.

the point of ABS is to rapidly lock, and release the brakes, on all four tires as much as 10 times a second. thus enabling the drive to still steer the vehicle while in the process of slowing down.

 

thats a terrible idea. Your "theory" that you will stop better without ABS is ridiculous.

The only time you might stop better is if you are in deep mud or loose gravel because you push up a "dam" of material in front of your tires that helps you stop.

But of course you will have ZERO CONTROL while you are sliding through the mud or deep gravel.

If you wanted to do this for off-road use it might be OK.

But if you do it for on-road use then you are asking for trouble.... just wait till you get in an accident. Then they investigate why you were out of control and find that you purposely disabled your ABS. Should make for one hell of a trial/lawsuit. Especially if you kill someone.


I'm just glad you don't live near me so I don't have to worry about you hitting my truck.

 

... maybe... or maybe not...

new trucks don't have proportioning valves to keep the rear brakes from locking up. They use ABS to prevent lockups.

It is very likely that the rears would lock but not the fronts. In which case he wouldn't go in a straight line into the ditch... he would be spinning in circles as he goes into the ditch.