When I first bought my Ex over 8 years ago, I had a spongy brake pedal. I heard the same thing - "you need a special tool that hooks up to the ABS pump" yada, yada, yada....
Anyways, at the time, no one had the tool readily available for sale, so I went for it via the classic two man brake bleeding method. I went through about 3 quarts of brake fluid to no avail, I still had air in the system. On the advice of a Ford service tech, I bought a hand held Harbor Freight vacuum pump. He swore by them and said you could use them for a lot of things other than brakes so what the hell, I bought one (at the time $30).
Between the Harbor Freight pump and a quart of Valvoline Synthetic DOT 3/4 brake fluid (get it at Pep Boys) total over all four calipers: BINGO - Problem solved. I sucked out a few bubbles of air and the pedal was (and continues to be) riding high and hard.
I can't say enough about this tool, and use it exclusively when bleeding or flushing brakes on all modern brake systems. I also use it to bleed the power steering rack on my Ex after I flush the P/S fluid every year. Check the price on replacing a 4wd Ex P/S rack and you'll learn why I flush the P/S fluid.
The HF Pump is simple and reasonably priced - like $15 - 17 with a HF Coupon. Get it and try it. Pull 25 - 30 inches of vacuum and after the bleeder is cracked don't let it fall below 10 inches. You'll be amazed what you pull out of the braking system.
NOTE: DO NOT allow any brake fluid to get sucked into the pump or it will ruin it. Make a "cradle" for the bottle that the old brake fluid goes into out of a wire hanger and hang it from a suspension part of frame point.
Trick: dab some automotive grease 360 degrees around the outer edge of the brake nipple where it screws into the brake caliper - this will create a positive seal when sucking the air out.
