anti-lock brakes

[Gordon Maney]

I suspect SAE, or some Chrysler engineer, would say anti-lock brakes do a much better job than we can. Having said that, I don't like them. My life has been filled with vehicles lacking them, and I believe I have had a good, intuitive ability to brake in a controlled manner so as to not lock up.



Here in Iowa we have had virtually no snow this year. Up until tonight. It is nice to know how slick it is, and a good way, traditionally, has been a light brake application to see how quickly a wheel slides on the ice or snow. Well, with anti-lock, it won't do that, so it is virtually impossible to get any meaningful feedback from the brakes.



My '99 V10 truck had anti-lock only on one end, so I could kind of do it my way with that truck. This one (2001), no way.



I find myself tempted to disable the anti-lock system, just so I can have my feel back. Go ahead, tell me that is absurd... . then tell me something I can use.



Sign me, wishing for my standard brakes, such as my 1967 W300 or my 1948 B1PW have.

 

[illflem]

I never cared much for the 4 wheel ABS on my '95s either. A few weeks ago I had the underhood fuse block open on the 2500 and saw the ABS relay and pulled it. Sure seems to stop better to me so I'm leaving it off, only problem is the ABS warning and Brake light stay on, working on that next...

 

[Dave MacArthur]

Gordon-



I have found that I can still get quite a bit of feedback on slippery surfaces. When the tires start slipping you will feel the ABS kicking in. You can tell after a little practice how slippery it is by hitting the brakes a little at a time untill you feel the ABS chatter start. I think it is a very good idea to practice a while in an empty parking lot. You really do have to unlearn the old way of pumping and steering while skidding. Once I learned how to jam down on the pedal and steer I like them better. I think I stop faster with the ABS (I can't pump the brakes anywhere near as fast as the computer). One major thing to be carefull of, that the studies have shown to be the biggest problem, is that you can really steer while the system is working. In other words, when pumping and skidding without ABS you have to jerk the wheel fairly hard to angle off at say a 45 degree angle. With ABS, you may find yourself down the right or left embankment (off the road) using the same steering input.



Dave.

 

[fox]

I agree! The factory anti-stop brakes suck. It is , I believe a fed law so they must put them on. I want to remove it while I own the truck.

I have almost hit several idiots who pull out in front of me. One witness said it looked like I let off of the brakes and tried to hit him!! Even the slightessed water or sand on the pavment will cause any one wheel to rotate slower than the rest and it causes the anti-stop system to work.

I hate the legal system in most cases but ifI or my family gets hurt I will consider using it.

I am better at stopping my vehicle than some preprogrammed hydo-electic robot.



fox

 

[HC]

I suspect SAE, or some Chrysler engineer, would say anti-lock brakes do a much better job than we can. Having said that, I don't like them. [/B]

You are not alone. Due to bad experiences and near misses with Chevy anti-lock, I ordered without, while it was still possible. Those who have been lucky enough to get a good system aren't willing to admit it is anything other than "untrained drivers". I say BS. These people never drove my Chevy. Some of the ABS systems out there just aren't very good, activating early on dry pavement with excessive stopping distances, as an example. And even some good systems will have individual marginal or bad units, and the dealers are often unable or unwilling to bring these units up to snuff. I also enjoy this quote from the NHTSA web site:

"However, statistical analyses of real-world collision databases suggest that the introduction of ABS does not reduce the number of automobile crashes where it was thought ABS would have proved most effective. Crash studies show increased involvement of ABS-equipped vehicles in single-vehicle crashes and less involvement in multi-vehicle crashes. Specifically the increase has been in single-vehicle run-off-road crashes such as, rollovers or impacts with fixed objects. "



I know I didn't answer your original question; just wanted to say IMO, you're not crazy at all for disliking your ABS.

 

[Dan_69GTX]

Yes ABS can suck - especially just when it is on the rear -



What I've been looking for is a wrecked truck with rear ABS, take the ABS unit off of it and hook it to the computer connector so the computer thinks there is ABS and won't have the light come on.



Either that or just get a brake line and bypass the ABS unit.



Dan

 

[BV]

Just wait tell you get on a gravel road where you could have stopped faster with the tires locked and piling up the gravel instead of lock-unlock-lock-unlock and so on.



Your not crazy for wanting the ABS disabled.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Sure seems to stop better to me so I'm leaving it off, only problem is the ABS warning and Brake light stay on, working on that next

Just pull the bulbs . I disabled the ABS on my last truck (GMC Sonoma) because they sucked too. On that truck it had a seperate fuse for the ABS brake, only problem was that the same fuse ran the cruise control. So I installed a switch on the hot line coming out of that fuse panel and I only turned it on when I wanted to use the cruise control. I just pulled the idiot light bulbs out of the dash so I didn't have to look at it. I got in an accident with that truck because of ABS. Was in a hard stop situation and was threshold braking (tires just starting to howl a bit, just before lock up), I was going to be stopped just in time (about 3 feet short of the car). About 6 feet from the car I locked the brakes up (Would still have been stopped in time) - but the ABS released the brakes and I hit it. ON that system after a lockup the brakes would release for about . 25-. 5 seconds before they'd clamp back down. My dad is a GM exec and he was shocked when I disabled the ABS - he didn't believe that I could stop faster. I went out and did a bunch of tests with him in the truck on all types of surfaces including ice and in the worst case scenario I still stopped 25% better than the ABS brakes - in some cases up to 100% better!!! Because of my background in racing I'm much better than the average driver with threshold braking because I did it all the time - but it is something you can learn. When I bought the Dodge one of my requirements was that it had the rear wheel only ABS system and since I've owned it I've never had problems with it.

 

[illflem]

Only problem with pulling the bulbs is then you lose your parking brake warning also. Not sure on our trucks but on many others the parking brake light also warns of low brake fluid level. There must be a better way to trick the ABS unit.

 

[roadranger]

Originally posted by illflem

Only problem with pulling the bulbs is then you lose your parking brake warning also. Not sure on our trucks but on many others the parking brake light also warns of low brake fluid level. There must be a better way to trick the ABS unit.

Maybe there is some way to remove that underhood relay, then jumper across just the terminals needed to keep the indicator lights functional, yet have the ABS disabled.



Any electrical/circuit gurus out there??

 

[fox]

I have the book, so this weekend I will study it. I hope the super bowl allows me time !!



fox