Bad hubs = bad braking?

[tdjb]

I have an '01 4wd Ranger that has been having some brake issues. The pedal is very spongy and actual braking power is at a minimum, to the point that I didn't feel safe driving it. The front pads, rear shoes, and brake booster have been replaced and I've attempted to bleed the lines. None of this fixed the issue so I decided to take it to a mechanic. They are telling me that the hubs are bad which is impacting the ABS and that they'll need to be replaced.

I had known the hubs were probably on their way out, but would this really impact braking? My issue is that the hubs are pretty expensive and they are worried the m/c might also have a problem but they can't diagnose it until the hubs are replaced. I'm not very familiar with Ranger's but is it really possible that the bad hubs would give me such poor braking performance? I guess that doesn't seem right to me.

 

[modelageek]

I have an '01 4wd Ranger that has been having some brake issues. The pedal is very spongy and actual braking power is at a minimum, to the point that I didn't feel safe driving it. The front pads, rear shoes, and brake booster have been replaced and I've attempted to bleed the lines. None of this fixed the issue so I decided to take it to a mechanic. They are telling me that the hubs are bad which is impacting the ABS and that they'll need to be replaced.

I had known the hubs were probably on their way out, but would this really impact braking? My issue is that the hubs are pretty expensive and they are worried the m/c might also have a problem but they can't diagnose it until the hubs are replaced. I'm not very familiar with Ranger's but is it really possible that the bad hubs would give me such poor braking performance? I guess that doesn't seem right to me.

did you adjust the rear brakes?

 

[tdjb]

did you adjust the rear brakes?

Yes, the rear brakes were adjusted when the shoes were replaced.

 

[gribly]

The complete hub assembly for that year has the tone rings and abs sensors included in it, and you can also buy all the parts individually. If your hubs and sensors are going bad, get the complete package. How to tell if the abs is causing the pedal problem is by pulling the abs fuse. If your brakes then work fine, you need new abs sensors and/or tone rings.