ABS Sensor / Emergency Brake

mucky · 04-28-2011, 05:59 PM

Just thought I would post an update to an issue I had with my T and how to fix it. Ill start with what happened.

Was driving on the highway going sledding when the ABS and BLSD sensor light came on. Got to where I wanted to go sledding and realized (at a terrible time) that my 4wd was all of a sudden not working. 4wd indicator light only flashed/blinked (the light would not stay lit) when trying to engage. Neither 4hi or 4low worked. After I got the truck unstuck, I now noticed this horrible grinding / metal on metal sound comming from the rear end.

I brought the truck home, lifted the back end and narrowed down the sound to the back wheel, could hear the grinding sound when spinning the tire freely. Took the tire off, took the rotor off, and WALLA, the emergency brake kit fell on the ground in pieces. I then learned that not only had the ebrake exploded, BUT, that when this happens it sometimes takes out the little ABS sensor that is poking threw the back plate. When this happens it will automatically disengage the 4wd system.

So if this happens to you, you will need to order your emergency brake kit (it will come with parts for both sides), ABS sensor, and a toggle lever to fix the problem. You can get the brake kit and the ABS sensor for MUCH cheaper at rockauto.com than at the dealer. My dealer quated me 254 plus tax for the sensor and rockauto shipped it to me for 41.00 taxed in. You will need to get the toggle lever at the dealership unfortunatly.

Hope this helps others, thanks to everyone who help me.

Todd400 · 05-05-2011, 08:48 PM

This happened to my 2004 2 weeks ago, I took the e brake shoes off and ordered my parts from oreilly auto parts, What is the toggle lever ? the piece that attaches the cable to the shoes ? Also did your abs exciter ring on the axle itself get chewed up any ? mine has some ground off but I figured I would put the new shoes and sensor on and see if it reads it before i pull the axle and press the old ring off.

mucky · 05-06-2011, 09:34 PM

Ya the toggle is the piece that the cable attaches to. To be honest I didnt look at the ring to see if there was any damage. There could have been but I didnt notice, but after I put all the parts back together its worked fine and no problems as of yet. Ive been driving it around for about 3 weeks now and so far so good, cross my fingers though.