About two weeks ago, I replaced the drum shoes on my 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport. The brakes worked amazingly for about a week and felt firm.

Well after that week I was driving to work and heard a clunk clunk clunk followed by my brakes being spongy halfway down and my brake pedal would vibrate when braking at low speeds (what felt like my ABS kicking in). The clunking never came back.

However the ABS would continue to activate when stopping at a slow speed. I took my drums back off and tightened and loosened the self adjusters with no success. I then replaced my brake pads and rotors (they needed replaced anyway) but that just made the problem worse. I the cleaned my front ABS sensors but the problem remains. The distance between the front sensors and the front tone rings are within spec.

I then took my ABS fuses (12 and 13 I believe) out and now the ABS/pedal vibration doesn’t happen, but when I come to a stop I lurch forward and the brakes don’t feel smooth.

I’m really struggling with this and I could really use some help! What was supposed to be a simple drum shoe replacement has turned into an absolute nightmare for me!

 

Did you check the sensors/tone rings on the REAR brakes?
Given the fact that you were messing around back there and the bad noises it's a likely suspect that something got trashed.

 

Check the rear ABS tone rings inside the drums. One is likely cracked or has a damaged tooth from the brake work. This fools the rear ABS sensor into thinking a wheel is locking up, triggering the system at low speeds. Inspect the rear tone rings carefully.

 

So I just got done checking the rear tone rings and sensors. The sensors were decently dirty so I cleaned them up. I also checked the tone rings and they looked to be in good condition. I cleaned them with a wire brush just to be sure. I completely readjusted the drum shoes again and reinstalled the ABS fuses. ABS still kicked in so I started incrementally tightening the shoes via the access port on the backing plate. I got to the point of where it was almost gone (only doing it on decent inclines and declines). I tightened it about three clicks from this and now it’s slightly worse. I’m about to go insane haha.

 

Might have a problem with the booster/master cylinder, or the abs module. You said it didnt start immediately after but a few weeks. Is the abs light on?

 

Yup, it started about a week after doing my brake shoes. The ABS is not on and doesn’t light up when the ABS system kicks in. I do know the ABS light works though because it comes up when I start the car and it stayed on when I pulled the ABS fuses.

 

Couple things if I'm reading all this correctly:
1) everything basically worked ok until you worked on the rear brakes
2) things worked ok after you worked on the brakes until the bad noises
3) things stopped working ok after the bad noises
4) the abs light functions(comes on when you first start the vehicle) but then goes off as it should if no abs problems

My guess is that the weird brake behavior is not abs related but is related to the bad noises. Something broke/bent,/misaligned. I have no idea what but it'd be good to find it ...it is the brakes we're talking about.

So that's helpful, not ...

 

So you’ve got everything correct. I took it to a mechanic to have it checked and they couldn’t find anything wrong with the brakes. It was a classic kid at the doctor’s office situation. The kid doesn’t cough at the doctor but throws up once they leave. I was literally getting food yesterday and I was stopping just before the road to leave and my brake pedal started vibrating again. I thought I was going to skid out into the road. So far here is what has been done:

Brake rotors replaced
Brake pads replaced
Brakes Bled
CAB Relay 31 replaced
Drum brakes readjusted multiple times
Pulled fuses to confirm something is triggering the ABS system
Cleaned ABS front and rear sensors
Checked front tone rings (they looked fine)
Checked and cleaned rear tone rings

I don’t know if this is related or not, but it’s also making a really loud noise when doing a tight turn in reverse, however it’s done that since I bought the XJ last year. I’m really grasping at straws here. Could one of my diffs be destroyed or something? Are one of my CV shafts done? Do I have a suspension issue?

 

Did you check the sensors/tone rings on the REAR brakes?

 

Low Speed ABS Activation is almost always a ABS Sensor related. It could be a bad sensor (one side or the other or both) or that the Air Gap is improperly set (IIRC it is .050 sensor to tone ring clearance).

I had this issue with mine and the ABS kicking on at low speed is classic symptom of sensor issue.