Removing the ABS

[karl webster]

The abs on my black truck works fine. No faults etc. one day I had it go daft on me with 3.5t behind me on my trailer. I went straight onto a roundabout. Lucky I didn't hit anything.
I hate it

 

[Roger]

Mine is a August 92 with no ABS from Factory, but I figured as things could possibly be 24yrs old I would give the brakes a birthday so I've just replaced the Master Cyclinder, flexi lines (with St/St) and the front axle solid pipe (kunifer not copper) - I think all in its costs £150 ish - OEM (Aisin) Master Cylinder from Roughtrax was £70, St/St lines £45 and a some new fittings for the kunifer. I did all the calipers last year.

Brakes feel perfect now.

A couple of negatives to the Roughtrax St/St kit though, the four "hub" hoses are of good quality but the fronts now foul the top caliper bracket so its a spanner not a socket fit and they dont come with front and rear centre pipes - I had to have these made elsewhere (IMHO no point leaving the two rubber ones).

 

[Roger]

After alternator failure this weekend the obvious answer to ABS lights on the dash and mot sprang to mind.

What would stop an unscrupulous person wiring their ABS light inline with the Charge light - would show on ignition but would go out upon starting (assuming healthy alternator).

Not condoning such actions, just thinking out loud.........................

 

[Towpack]

I don't know why one would hate a correctly working abs system.

x2. If your ABS system has faults or malfunctions then that's a different story. Given the potential cost of repairing it and as it does seem to be legal from the info in post 9 then removal could be the easiest/cheapest option.
I'm just curious what an insurance Co's view would be as you would have to declare it as a modification.

 

[Mblinko]

After alternator failure this weekend the obvious answer to ABS lights on the dash and mot sprang to mind.

What would stop an unscrupulous person wiring their ABS light inline with the Charge light - would show on ignition but would go out upon starting (assuming healthy alternator).

Not condoning such actions, just thinking out loud.........................

The problem with this is that the diff lock ecu looks for the abs light. If the abs light is disabled, the diff locks don't work. The solution would be to break the abs light feed at the pod plug at MOT time. All theory of course

 

[chapel gate]

I took the abs bulb out. The diff locks work fine.

 

[Mblinko]

I took the abs bulb out. The diff locks work fine.

Yours must be different to mine then.

 

[Dave2000]

I too have seen the mod called good on the US 80's and noted Chapel Gates. For me it seems to work perfect, and without wishing to rock the boat, I have found some prefer to remove it rather than repair it. The reasons are numerous, too expensive to repair, it did not work properly...and so on. But, when you look at the posts of people that have removed it, it is mainly because they have had issues with it's failure and not because it caused problems during every day use.

For the record you can have a perfect ABS system and still get problems with it's operation, the 80 is a classic for this. The bushing in the front spindle wears, this allows the CV to oscillate. The tone ring moves away from the sensor and the ABS activates. This normally occurs when slowing and just coming to a stop, and you hit a small bump, I have seen it a couple of times on the 80 of customers and once on mine (left front), replacing the bushing and the 'pedal pulse' stops. IIRC a code is set for each ABS activation and if it was a simple wheel slip senor then it would clear at restarting. If it keeps triggering it during the 'key on' time then the code will not clear until the fuse is pulled?

Also, you can have a car that passes the MOT but is illegal on the road. Unsure if this is still the case but, years ago the tester never checked the battery security, so if it was not fixed in place he would never know, a traffic officer would know this and be one of the first things they check when they lift the bonnet and give you a fine. So, does this mean that if an MOT tester calls you car good, and regardless if he acknowledges the ABS system removal or not, and then later as you signed the insurance part where it questions 'has the vehicle undergone any modifications?' then you now move onto thin ice IMO if you fail to declare?

Lorin, I would grab a wiring diagram and a decent meter and start probing, 35/36 does normally react to wheel slip sensor fault, or more likely the wiring at the valve block? I know you have checked and cleaned but, an ohm meter between the connections would be the minimum to do.

regards

Dave

 

[Lorin]

ABS and LSPV now completely removed. All done in such a way to be fully able to be reinstated if ever required/wanted.

All subjectivity aside, braking is definitely improved. Brakes were already pretty good to be fair but there is now increased braking performance for the same pedal pressure. For me a brake bias adjuster is needed as the rears have a tendency to lock before the fronts - I'm fitting one next week.

Overall I'm happy with the result. If fixing the ABS fault had been possible I would have just done that but after a lot of faffing trying to fix it without success, removal was ultimately the simplest, cheapest and most robust solution.

 

[frank rabbets]

Rear wheel lock up is very dangerous. Perhaps your 80 was designed with ABS functioning and it is not possible to adjust out the lock up.

 

[Lorin]

Rear wheel lock up is very dangerous. Perhaps your 80 was designed with ABS functioning and it is not possible to adjust out the lock up.

Rear lock up isn't anything to do with the ABS, it is due to removal of the LSPV. A brake bias adjuster will sort it as it allows you to adjust the bias front to rear, as the LSPV did.

 

[chapel gate]

Were the pictures of any help?

i left my LSPV on and working. Any reason why you removed yours?

 

[Lorin]

Were the pictures of any help?

i left my LSPV on and working. Any reason why you removed yours?

Yes, thank you for the pictures they did help.

I played around with the LSPV a bit and realised that even when fully open the rear brakes didn't appear to be doing a huge amount of work. Even with the ABS off the rears wouldn't lock up the tyres. So that coupled with some of the reports from mud convinced me to remove it and see. It all came off cleanly and I have a brand new spare LSPV, so if I decide I want it back I can reinstate it. I'm going to see how things go with the bias valve first and see if I can't find a setting that works. As I leave all our camping stuff in and on the truck permanently, the weight is fairly consistent so I should in theory be able to set up the brake bias quite well.

 

[frank rabbets]

Mis read your post sorry.