PLEASE HELP!! What is wrong with my brakes?

[mechanic]

Krochus is spot on with this.  The ABS is supposed to be a background system that only comes into play when you skid.  It does what we used to be trained to do..."pump" the brakes.  If it ain't working right, you are better off without it until you can get it fixed.  Personally, I've never liked the system, because in certain situtations, it give less control.  For the inexperienced driver...perhaps it does save lives.

When I pull a heavy trailer with my vehicle, the first thing I do is remove the fuse for ABS.  I put it back when no trailer is there.  On a wet road the surge brake on the trailer will cause it to help slow my truck...if I leave the ABS intact, it will go crazy and the trailer will jack knife.

[mirage1988]

  Sure did take a lot of flak over this one didn't you Dale. I would like to know if anyone has ever heard of a cop or insurance company checking to see if the ABS fuse was there?
     bobg

If I was a cop and saw skid marks on the pavement from a vehicle that I knew had ABS, I would do a little snooping as to why it didn't work. Of course you can always play dumb and hope the cop doesn't recognize you from graybeard outdoors. I don't like ABS either and believe they cause more accidents than they prevent when people let off when the pedal starts shaking, but you open yourself up to a whole lot of trouble if you disable safety features. That was all I was saying.
Dale- you need to realize when you ask questions, you are going to get negative answers as well as positive ones. I had the same thoughts as 30-30 man as i have read your comments about adding a body lift, a new engine,......... to a beat-up old truck, but yet you can't even afford to get the brakes fixed. Sorry if I am being harsh, I was out of work all summer too, but the last thing on my mind has been how to modify my truck. Luckily we have work now, we have 3 kitchens to do in 4 weeks overtime!

[ronp]

I had the same thing happen to my 2005 Chevy.   I pulled my fuse and that made the problem go away, but I could not get a NYS inspection with the brake light on.  I was stold to clean the rust from under the ABS sensor on the wheel bearing hub, but one of the bearings went bad before I got around to fixing it.  So I replaced the wheel bearings/hubs on each side.  The new hubs came with sensors already installed.  The problem was fixed correctly.  That being said, I don't like ABS.