Removing ABS off early 97

OSquires

OSquires

Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2022
Messages
27
Location
Albemarle, NC
So I don't have the ABS rings on the rear axles in my Dana 35 (replaced the axles). My TJ is low miles (69k) and I'd like to remove the "spaghetti" that is the brake lines near the pump. Need to replace the lines sometime I'm sure.

Suggestions? Yeah, nah?

Thanks!

Owen
 
I got into 2minor collisions because of absent abs. Both were on slippery ice road . One gave me small bump that can be repaired with push, other bent front bumper. On icy road i cross my fingers and hold my breath
 
  • Like
Reactions: OSquires
You can disable an early 97's ABS by simply pulling the ABS relay, no need to remove the extra brake lines used by the ABS system. This is all I had to do with my ABS-equipped '97 TJ when I replaced its rear Dana 35 with a non-ABS Dana 44.
 
Do it, I did it on my 99 and am glad. Bought new non ABS lines from Inline tube, made it fairly easy and straight forward. Don't think it helped braking performance any but did seem to make the system easier to bleed and got rid of the mess under the hood.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OSquires
TJ Jim said:
It was just an example that Jeeps do just fine without ABS.
Click to expand...
I dunno I'd agree they do "just fine". It'd be fine in normal incident-free driving on dry roads but personally I'd rather have ABS for street conditions. ABS works well and it can out-brake any human in an emergency situation like trying to perform an emergency stop on a curve in slick conditions... no matter how superb of a driver someone might think he is. I disabled my previous ABS only because of the rear axle swap and my '04 Rubicon doesn't have ABS... but I wish I had it. Of course both of my daily driver cars have ABS. There's no downside to a properly functioning ABS system. Offroad, a Jeep's ABS system is automatically disabled at speeds under 5 mph like when offroad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OSquires and SkylinesSuck
Same boat as Jerry. Pulled the ABS relay when I did the Dana 44 swap. Been working like that for around 8 years with no issues.
 
ABS is great. I cannot agree more. Didn’t know it disables below 5mph.
So do the 97’s give you a light saying there is an ABS problem?
If you have safety inspections in your state does that create a problem getting it to pass?
 
TJ Jim said:
ABS is great. I cannot agree more. Didn’t know it disables below 5mph.
So do the 97’s give you a light saying there is an ABS problem?
If you have safety inspections in your state does that create a problem getting it to pass?
Click to expand...
Yes it will light the ABS light on the dash if there's a problem. I don't think they check for a working ABS here in California but I know anything like that has to be working in some other states.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TJ Jim
I did this when I 44 swapped my 99. Pulled the relay and I think I had to pull the bulb from the cluster. It's been a minute so memory is fuzzy. I also removed the cabling going out to the speed sensors.

Would have been nice to ditch all the hardware under the hood but not enough to be worth it. It's amazing how much more tidy the engine compartment looks on my non-ABS LJ (which also, if I'm not mistaken, all came without ABS).
 
My PO removed all my ABS...brakes aren't terrible. Relay pulled, brake lines rerouted, dash bulb pulled...no check engine light. Same with the airbags. Thinking of putting a second battery or an air compressor in the spot.

-Mac
 
  • Like
Reactions: OFF2BFE
I put on board air in that spot. Works great. An older neighbors fence was falling apart, so I took the Jeep and a pneumatic nail gun down and repaired his fence. He never even knew I was out there fixin it. 😁
 
  • Like
Reactions: OFF2BFE
Top Bottom
Back