Broken tone ring

Hello.

The right rear tone ring is broken on my 96 Outback wagon

causing abs light to come on.

Could anyone tell me what is involved in replacing it.

Thanks for any info.

Your tone ring is not on the axle, it is on the hub behind the rotor. You have to pull the whole hub apart to replace it tho, kind of a pain. Subaru will sell you a new one, or a junk yard would be cheap.

lol i need to work on more subarus haha.

 

usually they are on the axle....on most cars

 

This is true, subarus are one of very few that are on the hub.

to replace the tone ring you have to take apart the hub / knuckle and replace the wheel bearing in addition to the tone ring.not impossible but not desirable in my opinion.

 

a cheaper and IMHO much better solution rather than doing all that is to buy a used knuckle / spindle and replace the whole unit. a low mileage knuckle can be had for ~$30. go to http://www.car-part.com and have one shipped in from the NON-rust belt.

 

before you start the job, spray some PBblaster or the like on the bolts involved for several days. you can't do this too much.

Thanks johnegg and Subikid.

Helpful as always. This DIY stuff is addictive. Haynes manual doesn't make knuckle/spindle replacement seem too bad. I am going to buy used low mileage knuckle as suggested and give it a shot.

Any tips not explained in the manual will be greatly appreciated.

Looks pretty cut and dry.

What is the latest model year knuckle that will fit my 96 Outback, and does it have to be an Outback knuckle.

Also, Haynes manual says to loosen axle nut before jacking car. Shouldn't weight be off of wheel before loosening/tightening of nut.

johnegg, what would the part be called on car-part.com. Can't seem to find it.

Edited July 21, 2011 by LegacyOutback96

Mine broke a few months back, a quick spot weld did the trick perfectly. No issues at all!

While it was still on the car?

No ABS light after spot weld?

car-part.com calls it a rear spindle. 90 -99 are all the same except some have ABS and some don't. but the software at car-part will handle that for you and return a list of several years.

 

spot weld sounds interesting. i wonder what it would cost to have some one do it for you??

Edited July 21, 2011 by johnegg

Yes while it was on the car. I unbolted it so it was loose, used vice grips to hold it solid and straight, and put a single bead on the crack. Let it cool and bolted it back up again.

Thanks Chuckadian.

I have a friend who is a welder. Might as well give it a shot.

That would be a sweet fix. I'll let you know how it went.

I just finished fixing my front driver ABS tone ring on a 1999 Legacy Outback Wagon. I hit the ring with a hammer while doing a wheel bearing replacement (after the new one was in so I would have to replace seals again if I took it back out). A 2 inch section of the ring broke free. I tried to JB weld it back in place which worked for about 100 miles. The broken section flew out on the road and was lost so no chance to weld.

 

My solution was to cut the good ring on my scrap hub in half with a 1/8 cutoff wheel on an angle grinder. I cut in the recessed portions of the ring pattern so as to not affect the sensor readings. When held up next to each other the missing section from the 2 cuts was very small. One of my cut sections has three (3) bolt holes and the other has two (2). I removed the broken ring from my hub by slicing it with the same cuttoff wheel after unbolting. Next I bolted up the replacement sections. Final step was disconnecting the battery for a few minutes to clear the ABS codes. I went for a long drive and not only did the ABS light stay off, I noticed a significant improvement in shift performance and drive-ability. ABS really improves the brake power!

 

I want to dispel some myths I have seen around the internet for people that are researching to fix this problem on their own.

 

1. Disabling ABS either through the broken tone ring or sensor (or unplugging a sensor) does NOT only disable the anti lock brake system. The system also acts as a wheel speed sensor. When disabled, the transmission will shift strangely and at times slam HARD into gear when accelerating from a stop or slow speed.

 

2. The sensor is counting magnetic impulses from the raised pattern on ring. As long as your repair does not interfere with the raised sections of the pattern there will be no problem. Be it a gap from cutting or a tack weld, it should not interfere as long as there is no raised material.