Bought a 2000 Ranger 4x4 Off Road last year.
Love the truck, just wish you could stop it.
I have had it to the dealer, and 2 brake shops.
They say everyting looks fine, but if your running
over 30-40 miles per hour, it just won't stop.
I'm 225 pounds, and if I stand on the brake peddel
I still can't get the ABS to kick in. If you are on
wet pavement, or snow, it will work. I finally took
it in, and had everything replaced, as far as the brakes.
New pads, rotors, shoes, drums. And it still won't stop.
Any ideas???:confused :confused :confused

mines sorta the same its extremely difficult to get the abs to engage

wonder if it's just a sensor that needs to be replaced, new brake lines too?

What do YOU mean by "just won't stop"? It's a cheap truck with cheap brakes. It will not stop like a sports car. It deffinitely will not stop like a sport bike. The ABS works on snow, wet roads, mud, and slop, esp with no load in the back. It's not supposed to work until the tires lose traction and start to slide. What size tires do you have? Very tall tires easily overpower the stock brakes. The best upgrade seems to be RacinRanger's 13" rotor kit and an Exploder disc brake rear axle.I have not seen any 60-0 tests to say how much shorter a Ranger will stop after these mods. Hope this helps, Kenny

ranger brakes are not cheap. the 4x4 spec brakes work really well in my opinion. better than most other brakes.

MY90GT - > you may want to check your abs sensor and have the lines bled again, all four of them.

check your brake fluid level to make sure its up...if its not you might have gotten air in the lines and youll need to bleed them but i would just bleed them anyway...its not hard at all but you need 2 people and it takes about 5-10mins per

make sure when you bleed them that you have some extra brake fluid so you can fill the res. to the line

I'll try bleeding the brakes this weekend.
Would a bad sensor show if I pull the codes
off the computer, or does it take special test
equipment to test the ABS sensors. The brake
peddel is firm, and doesn't fade when you stand
on the brake.

Mine does the same thing, and I don't believe mine has 4wheel ABS like yours.(Just rear) Anyway, mine will not lock up on pavement above 45mph unless if it is the cement type. You should of had the rotors and pads replaced with performance ones. Ceramic(OE) is not the best for stopping, they are quiet though.
I'd change the pads to hawk or similar performance semi-metallic pads. Note that you may get slight break noise even if you do bed them in properly. Also, the brakes may not be as bad as you think. Mine stops pretty quick below 80mph despite not being able to lock them up.

Sounds like a brake booster problem to me. The brake booster helps you apply more fluid pressure. It is especially noticiable when it is supposed to have it and it dont work.

shag

Sounds like a brake booster problem to me. The brake booster helps you apply more fluid pressure. It is especially noticiable when it is supposed to have it and it dont work.

shag


+1

in regards to brake booster, you should start by making sure you don't have a vacuum leak.

To check for proper booster operation with the engine off press and release the brake pedal several times to exhaust all of the vacuum. you pedal should now be high and hard. now while pressing on the brake pedal start the engine. does the pedal drop? if it does your booster is probably working fine, but if it stays hard with no change then you need a booster.

Checked the booster, don't think that's the problem.
Pumped the brake several times, brake firmed up, and
didn't go down. Stared it, brake peddel went down about
2-3 inches, and softened up. I will try bleeding the
braked this weekend.

Mine stops pretty quick below 80mph despite not being able to lock them up.

Your truck will stop sooner if the breaks DO NOT lock up. Sliding tires do not have as much stoping force as a rolling tire being slowed down. Learned that in physics class.

It's not the fact that I want them to lock up, just the
fact that they won't lock up. It kind of reminds me of
the old manual brake (4 wheel drum) days. A couple of times someone has pulled out in front of me, and I stood on the brakes. You feel that initial grab, and then nothing.
Thinking of going to disk on the rear!

Disc's in the rear will make a world of a difference, it did for me.

I have about the same problem on my '05 (100% stock, no mods, oem wheels and tires)

Sometimes, when I need to brake somewhat hard (driving at 45-50mph, cars pull in front of me, traffic jams ahead, etc) the brake pedal goes hard under my foot and I have to put most of my weight (270lbs!) on the pedal to barely stop in time.

The brake pedals always feels stiffer than it should be and I already told the dealership (still on factory warranty) about that issue, they test drove it and they haven't found anything wrong with my truck... they pretty much told me it was between my 2 ears and billed me an hour of labour for the diagnosis.

Your truck will stop sooner if the breaks DO NOT lock up. Sliding tires do not have as much stoping force as a rolling tire being slowed down. Learned that in physics class.
Wasn't stating they should lock up to stop faster, but the fact they don't even come close(and barely on wet pavement, all with no front ABS) means to me there is quite a bit more breaking potential and I'm not getting it. These trucks have car sized rotors.(Should have a ~12in rotor IMO) So along with the extra weight and the bigger tires, the OE rotors and pads just aren't that great at stopping.
I forgot to mention a fluid flush can do wonders too if it's been over 2 years.

mine recently upon replacing the rear shoes found that the auto tensioner the wire had snapped not self tightening the pin when i reversed.

after u blead ur brakes since u have power brakes while ur pumpin the brake pedal, you need to have your truck turned on and running.

Here's something to check. It's sometimes overlooked but important none the less.It may be brake booster related but not the booster at all. On the end of the vacuum line that goes to your booster there is a plastic fitting that plugs into the booster. This fitting in most cases is actually a check valve. It allows a vacuum signal to keep vacuum in the booster against the diaphram. On the second hand it block the vacuum from being lost while you're driving.If this check valve is leaking or internally stuck in the open position ,the vacuum will be pushed bach out of the booster. The symptoms of this is you brakes will be fine at low idle or lower engine speeds say 0>>45 mph. Then after you hit the street running at about 1700rpm and up the valve will allow the vacuum boost signal to bleed off. Then you hit the brakes hard and the boost just isn't there because the valve isn't holding the vacuum against the booster diaphram properly. Remove the plastic check valve from the booster and hose. You should be able to draw air through it in one direction and not the other. if it leaks past in both directions replace it. Then recheck the brakes. Also make sure your rear brakes are adjusted properly. Loose rear brakes can diminish brake operation. Good luck

Here's something to check. It's sometimes overlooked but important none the less.It may be brake booster related but not the booster at all. On the end of the vacuum line that goes to your booster there is a plastic fitting that plugs into the booster. This fitting in most cases is actually a check valve. It allows a vacuum signal to keep vacuum in the booster against the diaphram. On the second hand it block the vacuum from being lost while you're driving.If this check valve is leaking or internally stuck in the open position ,the vacuum will be pushed bach out of the booster. The symptoms of this is you brakes will be fine at low idle or lower engine speeds say 0>>45 mph. Then after you hit the street running at about 1700rpm and up the valve will allow the vacuum boost signal to bleed off. Then you hit the brakes hard and the boost just isn't there because the valve isn't holding the vacuum against the booster diaphram properly. Remove the plastic check valve from the booster and hose. You should be able to draw air through it in one direction and not the other. if it leaks past in both directions replace it. Then recheck the brakes. Also make sure your rear brakes are adjusted properly. Loose rear brakes can diminish brake operation. Good luck


That's some good advice right there.
Exactly what I was thinking. I have a thread on ABS performance over here http://www.generation-edge.info/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5908 that might interest you, for comparison purposes.

I can tell you that when I do repeated rapid reverses to tighten the rear self-adjusters (go backwards fast, get off the gas, brake hard, release, brake hard, release, brake hard to an almost stop - all in about 4 seconds), I can overwhelm the vacuum booster and the symptoms mimic yours, MY90GT. Except I'm going backwards.

I disagree that our brakes are poor. I run ceramics up front; they are better than the OEM semi-metallics, but the originals were pretty darn good, but dusty.

That's some good advice right there.
Exactly what I was thinking. I have a thread on ABS performance over here http://www.generation-edge.info/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5908 that might interest you, for comparison purposes.

I can tell you that when I do repeated rapid reverses to tighten the rear self-adjusters (go backwards fast, get off the gas, brake hard, release, brake hard, release, brake hard to an almost stop - all in about 4 seconds), I can overwhelm the vacuum booster and the symptoms mimic yours, MY90GT. Except I'm going backwards.

I disagree that our brakes are poor. I run ceramics up front; they are better than the OEM semi-metallics, but the originals were pretty darn good, but dusty. Originals may be ceramics according to tire rack.(Ford recommends ceramic, as do most manufactures now, because they do provide acceptable braking with very few customer complaints) Ceramic pads are not terrible by any means, but premium semi-metallics, ferro-carbon, or composite pads will give better breaking performance. The trade off though is that they usually do so with more dust, and noise. (EDIT: Though thinking about it, maybe the semi-metallics, etc are just not for the typical driver, I drive spirited, therefore I have to brake spirited most of the time. Everything I have read states that ceramic pads are not for performance or towing, but rather quiet and smooth braking. Plus they do generally last longer for the average joe.
Premium ceramic pads can be had from Hawk and others if you must have them, they would be preferable over cheap ones.

Doing the reverse brake adjustment works well when there's just routine slight adjustment required. If your rear brakes are loosened more than a few clicks of the auto adjusters. Ya have to adjust them manually first or you,ll be all day yankin on the e-brake or reversing then panick stopping.