Okay, I would have expected that all you need to do is replace that cheesy tone ring when it cracks. I watched my brother (who is an experienced mechanic) replace this. By the time you remove the axle, and you do need to remove the axle to replace the tone ring, you may as well replace the entire assembly which will give you new CV joints and boots. My brother said that you would have to press the tone ring on (if you only replace the ring) and if not done properly it will crack. Take my word for it, this tone ring is a piece of garbage. It is very thin and brittle...very fragile. So I paid $118.00 for an axle assembly with tone ring and an hour of labor ($60.00)
2005 Escape Replaced Entire Front Axle for ABS Tone ring
Aug 27, 2011
3 Replies
I know it's too late now, but I have read of people who cleaned the area that it sits with steel wool, cleaned the inside of the cracked ring, used something like Gorilla glue and glued it back in place, using a pair of needle-nosed vise grips to hold it in place and together until the glue set. Haven't had to try it myself, knock on wood :-)
That might work if you can clean it good and the glue joint is strong enough to prevent the tone ring from slipping on the shaft. I took to old one and bent it open and broke it into two pieces. Very brittle alloy almost like white metal. Very cheesy disgraceful design.
Just Gorilla glued the second front axle tone ring. First one intact afte r six winter months. This time, I squeezed the tone ring tight with a pair of vise-grips. It worked best to garb on a couple tone ring teeth either side of the break. It is now very strange to drive around without the ligh ts flashing and periodic wierd braking. Note: After a couple week of drivi ng with the tone ring broken, the surfaces were already pretty cleaned up a nd I only did a slight brush up with emery cloth. Good luck. I am elated.
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