Anti Lock Kicking in when not needed making the truck jolt.

[hawks06]

I have a 2002 xlt v8 68k miles. Whenever im coming to a stop at a traffic light and i step on the brake the car comes to a shaking stop. This happens at any speed and even if i lightly step on the brakes. Its like can feel the anti lock kicking in putting on the brakes and taking them off really quickly. It kind of shakes you up. It even does this on the freeway going 70 lightly stepping on the brakes which is pretty scary because the steering wheel starts to shake and pull to the right as if i was slamming on the brakes at 120mph. Oh yeah i need new tires, my tires are dryrotted and have a little tread left but arent close to being almost bald. Do you think this has anything to do with it.

Has anybody else had this problem. I dont really want to take to ford for servicing unless its covered in the warranty since im a poor college student. Its not as bad as it sounds its still driveable. Just keep both hands on the wheel and im cool.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Clean the area around the sensors. A dirt build up might cause false triggering.

 

[modette]

Yeah, the dirt build up might be doing it. My wifes 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP was doing that and I took off the driver side front wheel too check the brake pads and they looked good so I put everything back together and that fixed the problem...although I swear it still does it lightly (I do not drive the car much)...might be the otherside...while under there all I did was blow off all the brake dust built up.

It is a free fix (worth a try), better then going to the stealer.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Here's a picture of a second generation front ABS sensor from V8BoatBuilder's photo gallery:

 

[prerunner02]

You might also want to check the parking brake shoes. There are alot of people that dont check these and they break apart and can cause that shuddering effect.