Hey everyone,

Just new to this site and looking for some help.


I have a 1994 F 150 2WD, And I have been having a hard time braking in the snow, as does everybody I know. But when I hit the brakes the front wheels lock and the rears do not?

So the truck tends to continue to push. I have adjusted the adjusters on the rear shoes today and no difference.

Should all four wheels lock?

Thanks,

JR

 

Ford has ABS on the back brakes, on light duty trucks. They had this funtion since the late 80's.

 

Can you tell me where the abs sensors are located? when stoping the truck on a slick surface and visually looking at the rear tires they continue to rotate ahead no surge from an ABS. Did all models come with ABS?


This truck 1994 2WD LT 302

 

The rear abs sensor is on the top of the diff, the abs pump in along the frame rail under the drivers side door. If the back arnt pulsating and they dont stop, then your wheel cylinders might be frozen and not working at all.

 

Rear ABS feels different than 4-wheel ABS, and needs to be used differently. Your front brakes will still lock (no ABS), so you still have to pump the brake pedal when stopping on slick surfaces with RABS. This is still better than no RABS, because in that case, the rear would come around on you on a slick surface. I've also never noticed any pulsing in the pedal with my RABS trucks. Key point is that you still have to pump the brake pedal with RABS, just not as fast as without--you only let off once your front end starts to drift.

(I think all this is in the owner's manual...)

Jason

 

The remedy is to THROW IT INTO NEUTRAL when coming to a stop in real greasy slippery conditions, and pump as necessary.

 

What is the best way to check if my ABS sensor and pump are working?

 

Ford's rear ABS is right next to worthless. As long as your brake system is in good working order, I wouldn't worry about the ABS. Working, not working, it pretty much does the same thing.

netscaner, I don't see what putting the truck in neutral will do, except remove a little bit of the truck's tendency to creep forward at speeds below about 3mph, and that's easily overcome by the brakes if the rears are working correctly.

 

I agree with 95f350xl. You will have to check to make sure your rear brakes are working. Jack rear up and get helper to press brake pedal and see if rear wheels lock. As far as RABS is concerned I have a `87 F250 and the pedal does pulsate when RABS kicks in.

 

andy, lift and put blocks under your rear axel high enough to get the tires off the ground,...............Then put your tranny in drive and let the rears spin up at idle.

Then apply your brakes and see how much brake power it takes to stop the rear tires from spinning.

I think you will be surprised at how much it takes to drag it down.

Dropping to neutral makes a HUGE difference when coming to stops on greasy roads, even with rear brakes working perfectly.

 

Andy, you really need to try it out side by side with a truck that doesn't have it on ICE. It makes a huge difference. It's still, admittedly, not as good as 4-wheel ABS, but it is better than nothing. It keeps the back end from coming around on you.

Jason

 

I am going to have a look at the rear pistons tomorow night and see what I find. Probably bleed the rears as well, I changed a line from what I believe now is the abs block? located on the inside of the frame rail under the drivers door, from there all the way back. Did that this past summer bled both rear brakes and everything seemed fine at the time.

So the ABS sounds to be a waste of money for me to look into repairing? I have never felt the surging in the pedal you get with abs brakes so I am assuming it is not operational? Unless you only feel that when you have front ABS?

Thanks.

 

I've never felt it with RABS, only in vehicles with 4-wheel ABS. But, I know it's there because of the difference between RABS and a truck with nothing.

Jason

 

I ****ing hate 4-wheel ABS. Our Subaru has it and I swear it causes more near misses than it prevents. When I stomp on the brakes I want them to work.. not release if a wheel locks up. What brain dead engineer thought releasing the brakes in a panic stop was a good idea? If people aren't skilled enough to handle a vehicle that's sliding then they don't deserve a drivers license, it's rediculous we have to drive vehicles that are engineered to accomadate the lowest common denominator.. those that have no business behind the wheel to begin with.
FWIW the RABS on our trucks seems to work fairly well, it keeps the truck pointed straight ahead in a panic stop instead of doing dognuts. My old '83 4x4 Ranger was ABS free and it was an adventure stopping that thing on snow covered roads.. more often than not I was sideways by the time I got to the stop sign.

 

4wheel ABS is a good thing, if you stomp on the brakes and need to turn to avoid a colission, you need 4 wheel abs to do so, If you dont have front ABS your just going to slide in which ever direction your truck pushes you towards, assuming you lock em up. With abs on the front your given the ability to "Control" the skid, the pulsing of the brakes allows the wheels to grab momentarily alowing you to turn. Believe me when i say it works wonders. My truck has RABS only and my dads 03 f150 has 4wheel abs, if my front locks, i cant turn, i just continue to slide. With my dads im able to turn enough to avoid obstacles. This is why its a good idea to test your truck in a snowy parking lot so when you need to control your vehicle in a freak case, you can.

And you dont feel the RABS kick unless your really on the brakes, it takes less pressure to lock the front then it does to lock the rear. the pedal will become very stiff when RABS kicks in. go into a parking lot and get to about 20, then really hit the brakes hard, you'll see what i mean. Living in New England we all need to know how to control in the snow =P its not fun, almost hit a tree one morning cause of black ice