I had that same thing happen to me not long ago, about five minutes after driving out of the dealer after a brake job. I went back, concerned that there was air still in the lines, and was given the whole ABS explanation. What really puzzled me is that it had NEVER happened before no matter how hard I pushed the pedal I find it hard to believe that in three years of driving, that was the only time the ABS ever kicked in?? One night a month or two before, I was running a little fast, and the light changed to red. I stomped on the pedal and the truck stopped faster than it ever had before No loss of pedal, no tire screech, just a very quick stop with no scary feeling at all. The loss of pedal happened one more time that day, and never occurred again. It's been fabulous, plenty of stopping power and all.
I have had rear brake trouble before, they would not self adjust correctly.
Whenever the brakes got weak(two different occasions), the equalizer cable(term?) had snapped in two. One time was the passenger side, and the other time it was the drivers. This might be worth checking out, my brakes felt weak and would scare the hell out of me just like you said in your original post. Good luck on fixing your problem!,,,,,98

 

Methinks there are several points here, all valid.

Shocks can increase braking distances on bumpy surfaces. I used to work for the company (AMCI) that did that testing for Monroe, and saw the results for myself.

But shocks really have little affect when braking on smooth surfaces, although they may help reduce initial brake dive.

To Bryan's point, I can think of a few things that MAY have contributed to your problem:
- A truck that weighs around two-and-a-quarter tons, give or take.
- Brakes biased around 80% front/20% rear.

These two factors alone mean your truck - any truck - needs time to stop. Throw in the heavy-duty suspension, with live rear axle, that does not react well to high-frequency inputs, and a downhill grade, which shifts more weight to the front and adds gravity as well, and you can see the problem developing. Your rear brakes are contributing very little in this situation, and your fronts are grasping for traction.

In fact, most of the braking force in this situation will be handled by your two relatively small (compared to the weight of the truck) front disc brakes. A tall order indeed. And if your ABS system is cycling out-of-step with the frequency of the bumps, braking power will diminish dramatically.

Even a sports car with perfect weight distribution, light weight and 4-wheel discs will have trouble braking in these circumstances.

Just something to think about.

 

I've got an '01 4x4 screw with the 4 wheel disc and ABS - I drove it on the ice for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and it was just plain scary!!!

It stops pretty good on pavement - even with a load; and is a little funky on gravel, but is at least manageable.

However, last week I've gone down icy hills and through icy intersections with my foot all the way down and the pedal making all kinds of nasty noises and the wheels turning, and the truck not stopping or barely even slowing down!!!

It was not a good feeling!!! In fact, it almost felt like I was accelerating, and I was really fortunate that nasty things didn't happen to paint and body parts.

(and it wasn't me - I've been driving on ice all my life, and have at least a tiny bit of common sense on dent-prevention on those nasty days)

The truck has 17's with new snow tires and studs - it GOES great on ice, holds corners good, and is one of the "stickiest" rigs I've driven on the slick stuff, except.... it will NOT stop. I put chains on it to see if it would help, and it is actually worse with chains on (pretty embarrassing not being able to stop at a red light with chains on!!!).

I've never been a big fan of ABS, especially on ice, as I learned to drive the old-fashioned way - use enough pedal to stop without locking them up so much you lose control - but with this truck, it just won't stop if it starts to slip even just a little bit.

I probably should take it to the dealer, but today, we had a big storm and I had to make a pretty good trip on some pretty bad roads.

In desperation, I unplugged the connection in the front of the ABS pump on the master cylinder. (I first tried taking the fuse out, but lost other things in the process)

And now - I LOVE IT!!! It stops as good as anything I've ever driven on icy roads, if not better. The pedal is a little stiff, but it feels like I'm actually in control, especially at stop signs.

I'm eventually going to talk with a mechanic, but for now, I'm just going to leave that silly black box unplugged. Maybe I'll eventually hook up a switch so I can turn the ABS off when driving on ice.

Has anybody else had these problems with ABS on ice???

Has anybody else disconnected their ABS??? If so, is there any unforeseen repercussions or nasty computer reactions that I should know about???

Any ideas about if putting my ABS on a switch is feasible??? If so, any ideas about the easiest way???

Sometimes I think it's too bad that they make rigs so automated and computerized that we can't actually drive them. (Makes me appreciate my other ride - a '41 military dodge.)

 

Reading thru this thread, I'm glad to see someone tried disconnecting their ABS - the results make sense. But I question the ramifications of what happens should you get into an accident that you could have steered around, but were unable to, because your ABS was disconnected. Too much chance for an unfavorable outcome to any lawsuits that may ensue, due to the owner tampering with a built-in safety system. Just something to keep in mind...

While ABS helps the driver maintain steering control under some heavy-braking situations, it does not really reduce stopping distances to a great degree.

In some circumstances, it will increase stopping distances. These situations include snow and gravel, where it is desireable to have a bit of lockup to help stop the vehicle (the "wedge" of snow or gravel that is created in front of the tires actually helps you stop quicker).

I'm not certain how ice works into the equation, but I believe you really need some lockup on ice as well. The logic behind my thinking is that, if the surface has little friction to begin with, ABS will search for traction that isn't there and pump in vain, while lockup will at least take advantage of what little traction is available, albeit with no steering control. And you may also get a bit of the "wedge" effect. Keep in mind these are just my thoughts about ice, and are not based on any testing or other factual resources.

In the end, heavy trucks, braking demands and slick roads really don't mix too well.

 

You can say that again! I about went thru a barbed wire fence last year on a steep snowy/icey hill because of ABS. It was either the fence or a 50 foot drop off to a creek, so I was goging to take out the fence. Luckily there was a patch of gravel before the fence and the brake found something there to grab onto about 2 feet short of the fence. The next time I hit that hill when it was in that condition I used 4HI and 1st gear to engine brake. All the ABS would do was lock up on the ice patches and make me speed up (slide) faster than I was originally going. If someone comes up with a sure fire way to disconnect the ABS with no ill effects of lights, I will probably try it.

 

You also have to flush your brake fluid to keep the ABS working right. The brake fluid is a magnet for water out of the air, especially in those plastic resevoirs. Bottom line, if it looks like coffee, flush it.

 

I'm not sure what to say except that my 99 with the rearwheel ABS only was like trying to stop a raging gorilla that truck would not stop at all on wet or winter roads it's as if the brakes are not there for about 2 seconds at a time. But my new 01 4x4 ORP with the 4 discs and all wheel Abs is like a dram to me! It stops on a dime in comparison to the 99 and we just had our first snow 3 days ago. All I can say is that it's drastic improvement.

Another thing people are always putting down the Wrangler RT\S but IMHO they far exceed the the snow traction of the the winter slaloms that I had on my 99, they were not better than my Wrangler AP's that were original on the truck but the rt\s seems better IMHO.

 

My 99 4x4 is the first vehicle I've owned with ABS..its 4 wheel disc. It seems ok in rain...but snow or ice...you might as well open the door and do a Fred Flintstone with your feet. Wet snow with marginal tires is a real treat..I took a ride last year into a snow bank to avoid an rear-ending a guy who stopped in front of me..he had an Escort with summer tires..he stopped just fine... I have shiny F150 4x4 with BFG Long Trails, and off into the boonies I go !! And the guy behind me stopped just fine..he had an 87 Caravan with all season tires.

I also had a dry pavement, heavy load near miss. Hauling an ATV in the truck, and towing a 4,000# boat..50 mph..had to stop to avoid a tractor mowing roadside grass..no way in heck..pedal just gradually went to the floor..couldn't even get the tires to "chirp" say nothing about"bite"...never did stop, had to go around him. Luckily, no other on-coming traffic.

I think the manual should say"Congratulations, you now own the most advanced ABS system in the World..If you allow for (3) times more stopping distance than any other vehicle without ABS, you'll be just fine." And remember guys, you get an insurance rate discount for having ABS..I think we'll see a study in the near future from NHTSA on how many accidents are caused by Ford F150 ABS, not avoided.

Can this system be by-passed, defeated, un-hooked? I'd just like to get back to the good old days when I decide how I'm going to stop the vehicle..not some pre-programmed gizmo under the hood that can't possibly anticipate or detect every possible condition out there in the real world.

 

Ah, new vehicle technology I just love how a bad "sensor" can make the engine run bad, but if the sensor was not there it would never miss a beat The U.S. government is only trying to protect us from ourselves, lol. Somehow our ability to do that seems to degrade each year in their eyes, sigh. Having control over your steering ability while braking is all well and good, but what if there is no place to go? A well maintained and adjusted manual(power) braking system would have been good enough for me.,,,,98

 

Here, here! I second that philosophy.

It's just a matter of time before our steering wheels are replaced by some type of sensory systems as well. We're all doomed to become passengers in driverless trucks if technology keeps replacing functions we once controlled with "superior" electronic devices.

 

You'd have to file a "drive plan", akin to a flight plan, lol.,,,,98

 

Heeheehee......we'll have fry by wire instead of fly by wire.

 

But hey, you could drink all you wanted and not have to worry about it!? They could even have an auto recline function for when you can't make it into the house,,,,98

 

Come on now, some of the some is good. Somebody needs to save us from ourselves. I have been reading a post in tires where a guy is bitching about his snow tire tread coming apart at 100MPH. At least somebody needs to save me from him!!!

 

We were just joking No offense meant. Besides, if that guys' vehicle wasn't so safe, he would not be here to b***h about his snow tire blowing out at 100mph. Would he? Makes you think, the people who have enough sense would be the ones who kept the species going, lol! With all this said, I'm still joking. We were just making light of how some things were better before "technology" stepped in.,,,,98