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Best brake mod

Tookie

Tookie

Member
Messages
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0
Location
Port Vincent, Louisiana
Not really engine related. Unplugged the POS ABS module today, it's
been raining, roads are wet, good time to try it out.
This is the best the brakes have ever felt! If I want, I can lock them, but
there's no butt clinch factor, it's controllable, unlike the ABS, which used
to detect any tiny slippage and release the front brakes.
Which made them go almost to the floor, just when you were counting
on them. Which had a tendency to increase my heart rate to unhealthy levels.
 
I always unplug mine, alway had them locking up, even on my 94 with only rear ABS. Wish I could figure out how to do it on our Grand Am
 
I unplugged mine a while ago cause I have one wheel speed sensor (LF I think) that drops to zero annything under 4mph. So when just about to stop it would release the other side causing the truck to "auto turn"... Not fun.
 
When I used to drive a tow truck (as a second job) - I had a 99 GMC 3500 brand spanking new with a dynamic self loader. The first heavy load (F350 dually) trying to stop on dry pavement, the front brakes would pulse causing them to lock up with every pulse and the pedal would just about bounce your foot off as it was pulsing along with it. At least the pulses alternated between right and left. After about a month the front tires had nasty flat spots all over them. If it was raining....well, just thinking about those days is making MY heart rate go up. :eek:

We un-hooked that crap.
 
To all that are unhooking it, for legal reasons, could you all consider installing pre-install blown fuses and relays, and have it all hooked up?

That away, no one gets taken to the cleaners if some D/A (and I dont mean Duramax Allison :) ) decides to sue you post wreck if it is determined that you messed with the ABS.

And also, all the connections stay clean and well conductive, so that if the next owner decides to hook it back up, they can.


My experience with ABS has always been good, but that doesn't mean i rely on it, as i only have front brakes currently on the 91 gas, meaning no abs period, and plenty of ice around here, so my skills are getting well honed! :)

But the rigs dad has with abs (98 and 00) both have stock rubber and stock brakes, and they perform well, even with a trailer in tow.

I feel the issues related to poor ABS performance are related to the variance from stock concerning tires and brakes.

Remove at your own discresion, but for goodness sake, leave it hooked up and put shot relays and fuses in instead!
 
I have mine hooked up and love it myself. I did upgrade the proprtioning valve and install stainless brake lines on mine. I know I can lock em up on a dry road at will if I want, but the ABS comes in quickly and does it's job right on mine.
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
I have mine hooked up and love it myself. I did upgrade the proprtioning valve and install stainless brake lines on mine. I know I can lock em up on a dry road at will if I want, but the ABS comes in quickly and does it's job right on mine.
Click to expand...

Ferm,

Did you disc the rear as well? My brakes on my Burb can't barely haul the fat pig to a stop?
 
^^ Same with my suburban. The only reason why mine is unpluged is cause of a bad sensor. Plus when I unpluged mine I filled both ends of the connector with dilectric grease and tapped it off so I could hook it back up when I buy the part but if you look at my sig you know I have more important things to buy as of now...
 
Veg_Out said:
Ferm,

Did you disc the rear as well? My brakes on my Burb can't barely haul the fat pig to a stop?
Click to expand...

Nope, I've got the stock brakes except for ceramic pads in front and the updated BURB proportioning valve for the rear. The wife will verify that I can throw her into the dash at will no problem, or choke her with the seat belt. I've towed 6-7K with it without brakes and never felt like I was in danger of not being able to stop it safely.
 
For those who say your brakes let go and what not, sounds like your system isn't operating correctly and instead of actually fixing a problem you just go around it. I have functioning 4WAL ABS on my truck and I love it. I can actually control my truck when i slam on the brakes. Also, my truck has 285/75 when the stockers were 245/75.
 
Green Machine said:
For those who say your brakes let go and what not, sounds like your system isn't operating correctly and instead of actually fixing a problem you just go around it. I have functioning 4WAL ABS on my truck and I love it. I can actually control my truck when i slam on the brakes. Also, my truck has 285/75 when the stockers were 245/75.
Click to expand...

Well, that's great for you and the others who's brakes work like they
are supposed to, but I have been completely thru mine, changed everything
except the actual ABS control unit, and the brakes were still (IMO) unsafe.
I've spent all the money and time on it I care to. It's either a faulty unit,
or bad programming - either way, the brakes now function very well,
I can throw someone into the seatbelt if I want to, and I couldn't with the
ABS plugged in, pedal would go down as soon as ABS activated.
I agree that a properly functioning ABS system is a good thing to have.
I wish mine worked correctly, but I grew up driving cars without them,
and I think I remember how to stop without help if I need to. :smile5:
 
In my experience, on a 95 (OBD-I), I could not disable the ABS by just pulling the fuse or cables on the ABS controller. I tried. So I ended up changing the ABS sensor in one of the tire when it went out. May be it is just mine though, since the burb spent the early years of its life in the fire station. They did a lot of things that I still don't know.
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
Nope, I've got the stock brakes except for ceramic pads in front and the updated BURB proportioning valve for the rear. The wife will verify that I can throw her into the dash at will no problem, or choke her with the seat belt. I've towed 6-7K with it without brakes and never felt like I was in danger of not being able to stop it safely.
Click to expand...

Updated proportoning valve :confused: can you elaborate? like where to get one/whats it off?
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
I have mine hooked up and love it myself. I did upgrade the proprtioning valve and install stainless brake lines on mine. I know I can lock em up on a dry road at will if I want, but the ABS comes in quickly and does it's job right on mine.
Click to expand...

Can you comment on how the ss brake lines impacted brake pedal feel?

I've done them on a number of performance cars & the pedal feel improvement was quite noticeable & seemed to allow better brake modulation when braking hard, right near the limits of traction. These were non-antilock cars.

Had the same positive experience w/ ss lines on a non-antilock older pickup.

Several folks have told me to not expect quite the same benefit when going to ss lines on antilock equip'd vehicles. Their explanation logic relates to all the antilock valving being in the circuit, but that explanation is a bit too vague for me. Regardless, it's about if they actually improve pedal feel or not. My instinct is they'll improve pedal feel on our anti-lock trucks also, but would like to hear your thoughts.

As compared to newer vehicles, these trucks are plenty clumsy as stock. Seems like the braking performance has some room for improvement.

I've also got a set of the EBC Yellowstuff pads I'll be installing in the front when I go to a bit bigger tires. They're supposed to be a bit higher coef of friction. So will want to look at things that can keep the rear drums doing the % of braking they should, when adding the somewhat higher friction front pads.
 
Night and day difference with the SS brake lines. My brakes were good before, but I could push it to the floor if I got on em hard, can't do that now without planting somebody in the windshield. It did change the BS systems performance some though. It made it react much faster, and you can actually feel it when it modulates the brakes now. I've slammed on em on a dry road before and the truck actually felt like it was walking from the ABS kicking in and out and modulating the brakes to the wheels. And I can now get em to lock-up a bit whereas before the ABS would come in before I could hear the tires lock-up. One thing I have found though is that I now have enough brakes I can warp the rotors from the clamping force. I hit the brakes really hard one time just to see how far I could push the pedal down sitting still, and I had to replace the rotors afterwards as they pulsated after that.
 
saturntech95 said:
Thanks maybe between the proportioning valve (my rear shoes are brand new) and new front brakes this tank will haul down a little better with the 33"s on it.
Click to expand...

Since you'll have to bleed the brakes anyways, throw in some stainless brake lines. That was the best $70 I think I ever spent on the BURB.
 
GM Guy said:
To all that are unhooking it, for legal reasons, could you all consider installing pre-install blown fuses and relays, and have it all hooked up?

That away, no one gets taken to the cleaners if some D/A (and I dont mean Duramax Allison :) ) decides to sue you post wreck if it is determined that you messed with the ABS.

And also, all the connections stay clean and well conductive, so that if the next owner decides to hook it back up, they can.


My experience with ABS has always been good, but that doesn't mean i rely on it, as i only have front brakes currently on the 91 gas, meaning no abs period, and plenty of ice around here, so my skills are getting well honed! :)

But the rigs dad has with abs (98 and 00) both have stock rubber and stock brakes, and they perform well, even with a trailer in tow.

I feel the issues related to poor ABS performance are related to the variance from stock concerning tires and brakes.

Remove at your own discresion, but for goodness sake, leave it hooked up and put shot relays and fuses in instead!
Click to expand...

I had the wheel speed sensor go out on the front passenger wheel. I kept driving and towing with it out....until I had a scary incident while towing my boat on the I 5. Traffic suddenly stopped ahead of me, full on the pedal. When I slowed I let off the pedal it was like the steering that I held in place became unbound and the whole rig launched into the lane to the left. Thankfully no one was in that lane. After that, I replaced the sensor and now the stops are straight.
 
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