I was wondering if there is any plug or something that i could do to eliminate the ABS brakes on my 2003 F-150? The other day i had to pull a jeep liberty out of a 3 foot snow drift in 8 inches of snow already on the road, and my ABS light came on and my ABS didnt work after i pulled it out but once i shut my truck off and turned it on again the ABS was working fine. I was just wondering what would have happened and the mickey thompsons got the job done rease good.

 

Wet pavement would be my concern. I ran M/T 36s once and I remember alot of bounce. When braking on water the pulse of the ABS helps.

 

yeah i "tested" my truck out when the light was on and the back tires locked up and started to hop on a wet road, but i would just like to take the ABS off for when the roads are snowy and have it on for like rain and normal conditions

 

I've unhooked a couple of buddys abs but thiers was a chevy and a dodge and all i did was pull the fuse. Worked like a champ. both trucks were diesels and pulled big loaded cattle trailers.

 

Not to flame anyone, but willfully disconnecting or disabling your ABS system is just plain stupid. Your vehicle was designed to stop much better in limited traction situations than even the best drivers could ever do. If the system doesn't work for some reason, get it fixed. Don't just bypass it. By the way, it you happen to slide into somebody with your ABS disabled, god help you if the other guy's insurance company finds out. Can you spell lawsuit?

 

I can hardly believe what I have just read here. I thought from the title this was a joke. Sometimes you people make me scared to drive home knowing what some of you will do to a vehicle.

 

i only asked if there is a plug or anything in my truck somewhere so when it snows i could drive around on snowy roads without ABS because ABS doesnt stop you at all on snowy or icy roads

 

That's not exactly correct. ABS is waaay better than anyone can do on ice, but there are snow situations where a locked up tire will stop faster than ABS. The theory is that a snow wedge builds up in front of the tire aiding in stopping. This is only slighly better than ABS. ABS is better in virtualy every other situation.

 

Wow and then you wonder why people have accidents, disconnecting the ABS would be kinda like taking out your seatbelts.

 

What's wrong with removing your seatbelts? Me not wearing a seatbelt has no relation to how safe you are on the road, only mine. How does that relate to ABS system? I wonder how we all made it on the roads when there was no ABS.

 

There's a relatively simple answer to that - some people couldn't drive without it. Yes, some folks could, but ABS makes it easier for everybody to stop faster in low traction situations.

As for disconnecting ABS and not wearing seat belts - it's a free country. I only have one request. Please make sure you pay higher rates for insurance than those of us that choose to do it the safer way.

 

What happened to my truck that it made the ABS light to come on and for it not to work though!? The truck was bouncing around because of the tires spinning, but what would the bouncing caused to turn it on?

 

Anyone who has tried to stop hard in the dirt wishes the ABS was disconnected. Broke an axle because of it. There is a plug on the 2001 under the hood in front of the master cylinder, just behind the radiator. Pull it and you can panic stop in the dirt. Makes a world of difference. Experience is what allows you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. Now when the truck is going to Baja for some off roading the ABS gets unplugged when we hit the dirt. When we get back on the hiway it gets plugged back in.

 

That would be one for somebody with far more technical expertise on ABS that I to asnswer, but let me try. Your ABS relies on a fairly complex system with all sorts of sensors to tell the magic box what is actually going on with the wheels and the truck. I've seen wheel sensors go bad and / or get temporarly messed up (like with snow) and kick a code. Some codes will automatically reset if / after the problem goes away, some will not. Sounds like your problem solved itself.

My main point is this. For 99.9% of the people and situations out there, ABS stops you faster than non ABS. If it detects a problem with itself, you should seek out somebody to fix it rather than rushing to disable it.

 

thanks...and the ABS light went off and it had to have reset itself because it works fine now