ABS swap with explorer parts

[Fogged408w]

Hello. I'm working on an old AMC Rambler. Its getting a Cut down Explorer 8.8 rear end swap and I'd like to install an ABS system into the car.

Do the Explorers have a stand alone ABS system that I could use for an easy swap? Meaning I would only need the main ABS box/motor, rear 8.8 sensor and front hub sensors? If I would need other parts what are they?

Thanks for any help.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Interesting idea. I'm pretty sure you'll want the RABS (Rear ABS) equipment off a 93-94 Explorer. Should be a control module under the hood, and a valve under the truck. Hopefully a 1st gen explorer expert will chime in.

Later models with the 4 wheel ABS used a computer mounted under the hood behind the battery, a big ABS pump controlling the front wheels seperatley, and the rear together, sensors on each front wheel, the VSS, and the tone ring sensor in the 8.8, and lots of other electrical inputs.

 

[gijoecam]

RABS wouldn't be too difficult.... all you have there is the rear tone ring in the diff, the sensor, the light in the dash, and the RABS module which mounts under the frame rail on the driver's side. I believe the brake on-off switch is also tied into it, but my schematics don't go back as far as the first-gens. There isn't much more to it though.

-Joe

 

[Rhett]

Interesting idea. I'm pretty sure you'll want the RABS (Rear ABS) equipment off a 93-94 Explorer.

...

(most 93's and all 94's have a 4-wheel ABS system.)

(Only 91-92 have RABS)

 

[Rhett]

Hello. I'm working on an old AMC Rambler. Its getting a Cut down Explorer 8.8 rear end swap and I'd like to install an ABS system into the car.

I like your project...AMC Rambler. If you really WANT to put ABS in the Rambler you can do it, but...well...if you ask me, ABS is just another thing that can go wrong in a vehicle. If you are making the Rambler into a trail vehicle I don't know if I'd bother with ABS. Mostly street, I might.

If you are using an Explorer 8.8 rear end, then SHOULD have a rear abs sensor bung already in place. I don't know if your 8.8 came with the ABS sensor in it. Probably not? The rear abs sensor screws into the rear differential casing on the front-facing side of the diff, near the top. If you don't have the sensor, you should have a big hole where the sensor screws into the rear diff. That's not good.

Do the Explorers have a stand alone ABS system that I could use for an easy swap? Meaning I would only need the main ABS box/motor, rear 8.8 sensor and front hub sensors? If I would need other parts what are they?

What axle are you using in the front? On Explorer ABS, the front ABS sensors are set in holes that are machined into the ends of the beam, and the rotors have a tone ring set behind them that the sensors use.

I'd say, based on what you've got already, for an easy ABS swap, you can get rear-wheel ABS fairly easily. But for 4-wheel ABS, it would be more difficult.

For rear-wheel ABS, you've already got the differential with the sensor hole in it, and the tone ring inside. All you would need would be proper wiring between the RABS sensor and the ABS computer, the ABS computer itself, the proportioning valve, and...I believe that's about it.

If you want 4-wheel Explorer ABS, like the 93+ trucks have, you'll need front sensors and their wiring, tone rings on the end of each front axle, and a way to mount the front ABS sensors such that they would be in the proper position to give good readings to the ABS computer. But again, I don't know what front-end setup you're using.

 

[CDW6212R]

I have added ABS to a vehicle that didn't come with it. I have two 95 Crwon Vics, and I collected all of the parts to add ABS to one of them. Adding ABS to a vehicle which had it as an option is a big project.

I lerarned that it would be possible to add ABS to some other vehicle. The big trick would be fabricating the spindles to work in the desired vehicle. Most of the mid 90's and newer have stand alone ABS computers, mounted to the ABS hydraulics. The wiring is complicated. The easiest way to dot it would be to pull as much as possible from one vehicle. The dash harness wiring is probably something you could create from scratch, but the perimeter wiring that connects everything else should be pulled from a donor vehicle.

As mentioned, the big problem is the spindles, the hub sensors. It would most likely be easier to fabricate control arms to mount a proposed spindle onto your vehicle of choice. Choose an ABS vehicle which is close to the same weight and suspension design as yours. The Crown Vics are plentiful, and many later models have four wheel ABS. Most ABS systems are three port ABS designs, the rear is treated as a single brake. I call that three wheel ABS.

These are just suggestions from someone who has done it. Do what you want. I think fabricating a hub ABS sensor to attach to an older spindle would be harder than fitting the whole ABS spindle. Good luck,

 

[Fogged408w]

Thanks for the replies. I need some hard answers on a few questions.

So the 93 94 explorer would make a good donar? Did these yrs explorer rears also have disk brakes on them?
QUESTION.. Will the 93 94 abs computer work without using the main vechicle efi computer? Is there any online wire schematics of this or can anyone recomend a book?

I also want to add that I have access at machine lathes and have no problem fabing anything from metal or machining abs rings for the front rotors. The rear will be an explorer rear with tone ring and sensor. My main concern is with the abs computer and electronics.

this is a pic of the typical abs computer thing I need to get under the dash from a junkyard "typical not exact"

And this below that is the hyd part I need too "typical 97, so not exact"

And these rings are what I'll be machining for the rotors so the sensors can read them

 

[CDW6212R]

Use matching year and model of ABS module, and ABS pump. No Ford that I know of has any connection between an ABS module and a PCM. They are separate systems, though they may use some of the same sensors(speed sensor). 1995 was the first Explorer with rear disk brakes. Try to get wiring from same model of vehicle, the connectors will match, as well as the wire colors. Look into DVD service manuals on Ebay. There are tons of them, and they are not very expensive. They are not quite as good as factory service manuals, so you may need to consult with the dealers for some research. Good luck,