ABS and the Abbott ERA

[Archive]

John,

I read your post on the TDR bulletin board re ERA installation. I have an Abbott ERA on order from Rickson. My truck is a 99 somewhat similar to yours so I'm pleased to hear you had no problem. My question is, do you have 4 wheel ABS? I do and so does Glen. We have speed sensors on each front wheel in addition to the sensor at the rear that the ERA modifies. It seems to me that if the ERA alters the signal frequency from the rear wheels but not the front, the ABS controller may detect an imbalance. Perhaps that is the reason for Glen's dashboard ABS fault light coming on.

I would be very relieved to hear you had 4 wheel ABS and still made a satisfactory ERA installation. Please e-mail me or post the answer on the board.

Thanks,

Keith Hammond.

Greetings, Keith.

I do have 4-wheel ABS, ordered the truck with it (so I'm sure). So I believe you should not have a problem, mine has shown no ABS light in 3500 miles since I installed the unit. By my best guess w/o dissecting the system, or finding my shop manual which is still buried from moving, I believe that the ABS controller is simply looking for a failure of the wheel(s) to rotate (even for a split second), so the minor change in rotation ratio front-to-rear should not be a problem... . Best of luck to you both- the stripes on those wires are easy to miss the color on, I'll check the plug for the exact # of the wire if you wish. JJH



------------------
'99 White Sport 4x4 QC SB, 5spd. w/GV od, 4. 10, American Racing SilverAtlas mags & stainless hubs w/Dunlop 285/75R16's, CMI 3000 cap, Mopar fender flares, Linex, Luverne stainless boards, Q-logic bass, Painless Wiring, BriteBox and soon Ted J. 's 4" exhaust w/US Gear 4" Decellerator.

 

[Archive]

Thanks John. It's Sunday night here, so I hope my ERA will arrive tomorrow. I'll post if I have any problem fitting it.

------------------
Keith
'99 24v 2500 QC 4X4 AT 3. 54

 

[Archive]

I have '98. 5 2500 with 4-wheel ABS and have also added the Abbott Enterprises E. R. A. I installed this seven months ago with everything working perfectly since day one.

------------------
'98. 5 2500 QC 4x4, (black) SLT Sport, ISB, LWB, 3. 54 LSD, auto. , 275 hp. injectors, Glasstite Vision II "canopy", 285 BFG A/Ts on 16x8 M/T Challengers, Warn 4X Boards, Mopar fender flares, front and rear NW Custom stainless steel/rubber mud flaps, Mag-Hytec diff. cover and trans. pan, Edelbrock IAS shocks, VDO Vision gauges, BD exhaust brake and TorqLoc.

 

[Archive]

Just a note of caution Im not familiar with the products you are putting on but just to let you know I train people how to work on some types of ABS applications and there is a certain spec in which you cannot exceed as far as differences between the front and rear axles. Some abs systems though are different than others. Just thought you might want to know

 

[Archive]

Turbo- the Abott ERA (Electronic Ratio Adapter) is a pulse converter which either lengthens or shortens input pulses using a set of dip switches to create a large number of varied output pulses from a single varied input pulse. So by placing it in-line ahead of the speedometer, but after the ABS unit, you can correct the speedometer error caused by larger (or smaller?!) tires. Now that I think back on it, in the case of the RAM, proper install places the unit after the ABS, so the pulses to the ABS are not actually varied front /rear, so no confusion to the ABS. Due to the color code at the connector being hard to see, it's easy to goof and put it ahead of the ABS and that would likely cause the light to come on and the ABS to get squirrely... .

------------------
'99 White Sport 4x4 QC SB, 5spd. w/GV od, 4. 10, American Racing SilverAtlas mags & stainless hubs w/Dunlop 285/75R16's, CMI 3000 cap, Mopar fender flares, Linex, Luverne stainless boards, Q-logic bass, Painless Wiring, BriteBox and soon Ted J. 's 4" exhaust w/US Gear 4" Decellerator.

 

[Archive]

John H, My ERA still has not arrived so I haven't read Dan Richter's instructions yet. However I'd appreciate it if you let me know exactly which wire you successfully spliced into.
I can see from the wiring diagrams in the service manual (page 8W-35-2) that you could splice into one of the twisted pair wires colored RD/VT or WT/VT between the rear wheel speed sensor and the anti-lock brake contoller, or perhaps into the WT/OR wire (page 8W-35-4) between the anti-lock brake controller and the powertrain control module. Which wire did you use?

 

[Archive]

closing and moving to the products forum.

 

[Archive]

Keith, you cut the red with violet tracer wire, splicing the portion nearest the VSS sensor (located on the top of the rear differential) to the input of the Abbott E. R. A. , the other half of the cut VSS wire is attached to the output side of the E. R. A. The E. R. A. box should be mounted in the cab of the truck as the box is not weatherproof, and over time moisture may create a failure within the E. R. A. control module.

------------------
'98. 5 2500 QC 4x4, (black) SLT Sport, ISB, LWB, 3. 54 LSD, auto. , 275 hp. injectors, Glasstite Vision II "canopy", 285 BFG A/Ts on 16x8 M/T Challengers, Warn 4X Boards, Mopar fender flares, front and rear NW Custom stainless steel/rubber mud flaps, Mag-Hytec diff. cover and trans. pan, Edelbrock IAS shocks, VDO Vision gauges, BD exhaust brake and TorqLoc.