I recently replaced the left front wheel bearing on my 95 Tacoma. It drives smoothly now and is quiet.

However whenever I brake now, I can hear (and feel in the brake pedal) the ABS system activating as I slow to about 5 mph. Otherwise everything seems fine. The ABS light is not on.

When I picked up the knuckle from the machine shop, I did not look to confirm that the tone ring was positioned correctly (to be opposite the sensor). So I guess my question is... if the tone ring was put on the wrong end of the bearing and the sensor therefore is not reading anything, would that create the symptom that I have?

If not, how do I approach this problem?

Note: I did not remove the sensor from the knuckle as I feared breaking it. I unplugged it under the hood and kept the wire attached.

 

Maybe look for loose pieces of metal inside the tone ring cavity or stuck to the speed sensor magnet since someone has recently worked on it. I don't think you can misalign the front tone ring off hand,. thought bit has a fixed position but its been awhile, the rear tone ring can be misaligned.

 

Thanks for the reply Malcolm.

I had left the speed sensor in the knuckle because I was sure I was not going to be able to remove it without breaking it. I have been unable to find anyone who has this sensor for my truck, otherwise I would take it out and check it as you suggested. I agree that the tone ring is not mis-aligned.

There was not enough purchase area to press this assembly apart, so they had to use a BFH. I think it's possible that the speed sensor was affected by this trauma and/or some rust or debris was dislodged and is affecting how the sensor reads.

There must be something unique about the early Tacoma ABS system which makes this sensor impossible to find. If you (or anyone) knows if a sensor from a later model Tacoma would fit, I would be willing to go ahead and remove that sensor and check things out.

For now I have pulled the ABS fuse.