Brian71583

Friday night I replaced both front hubs and u joints. In the process we broke the ABS ring so I pulled all 3 ABS fuses/relays to disable ABS until I can get a new one.

The calipers were never removed and the same rotors are on so the brake system hasn't changed but the pedal feels a lot more responsive now. Its firm... but not to firm. This would seem to be a good problem but the back brakes lock up very easily now. I have to actively try to only push the pedal a little bit. Push it to far and the back will lock up.

What could cause this?

I don't think it has to do with the ABS, I think that just allows me to notice the problem now, in fact before all of this it would seem like the ABS would start to actuate sometimes right before coming to a complete stop. I was told that was from the hubs creating play but maybe it was from whatever this problem is.

Fsher21

So you disabled your abs, and now you wonder why they are locking up... Sounds like everything you said is normal for what you have done by disabling the abs. Fix what was broken and see if any real problems come from it.

Brian71583

I know what your saying and how dumb what I am asking sounds... but I mean the back will lock up with less than 1" of pedal sometimes.

I did put the fuses back in and the ABS light comes on as one would expec. The first time I press the pedal I feel it try the ABS then it feels normal.. No ABS but no locking up easily either

So for anyone who reads on here... "just pull your ABS fuses and you'll be fine", think twice!

Potatowalker

I've been messing with my hubs/brakes both front & rear a lot in the last year (and they've been messin with me right back) so here's my .02 and it's really just a stab in the dark since I don't have ABS...

Maybe since your hubs were loose, the calipers were being forced to retract the pads more so you had more pedal travel before they made solid contact with the rotors (which would have had play along with the hubs). Now that there is no play in the hubs, you get solid brake contact sooner than you're used to which combined with no ABS where you're used to having ABS makes it way easier to lock things up using the amount of pedal pressure you're used to from before? Does that make any kind of sense? At least the brakes work and aren't all squishy and soft... maybe your foot just needs to relearn modulation for non-wobbly hubs? Or maybe you could try adjusting out the rear pads with the star-adjuster on the shoes to keep them from locking up - are they dragging?

Just tryin to help, good luck!

Fsher21

Are the rear hubs warm/hot after driving a while? Like you said the abs could have been compensating for a problem, like a shoe contacting when it shouldn't.

rrschott

from what I understand, the abs runs through a separate master cylinder, allowing a computer to pulse the cylinder to prevent brake lockup. When you disable this, the default is compress this (to make sure that you still have brakes, rather than having none), causing the issue you're describing.

RenegadeT

I cut the ABS sensor wires and pulled the relays/fuses, it was awesome, drove like I expected it, locked up only whne I really stood on it, not twitchy as described in the origainl post. Maybe the 2001 is different than my '95 was, dunno. The only other thing to check is to make sure the height of the new hubs is the same as the old ones, there are at least 3 different heights. Check from where the hub mounts to the knuckle to teh wheel mouting surface. I've put junkyard unithubs on, didnt know there were so many different heights, and had the rotor lock up when I put it all back together.

caged

i did the exact same thing on my 99 tj. doing the u-joints, i broke the abs tone ring. so i pulled the fuses and relays. works great now, even after 2 years.

so, i think your problem is with either the rear brake setup (drums/shoes/springs/adjusters), or possibly front pads/calipers.