Help Needed: Damaged Sensor Wire on Road trip

[Aonarch]

So I'm on a cross country road trip about 3,000 miles in. I drove through an insane storm last night and service 4wd, abs, tc and esc lights came on.

A stick was lodged in between this wire and the knuckle. Which wire is this?

Driver's front. Picture is taken from the front of the vehicle looking rearward.

Also does anyone know if it can be replaced relatively easy?

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[AggieJeep]

I haven’t looked closely at mine yet, but I believe that is your wheel speed sensor. This would confuse the computer as it will think that wheel isn’t turning.

I have replaced them on my JK and would think the procedure would be very similar for the JT. On a trip like yours, I likely would just keep driving it, knowing the computer does not have the data for proper traction control, ABS and such. We drove for decades without these features just fine. I don’t think you will damage anything.

I’ll stand corrected if others have updated info or I’m mistaken about this being a wheel speed sensor.

 

[BumbleBee]

That is your wheel speed sensor. Very easy to change. Take wheel and brakes off, disconnect sensor, remove little allen head screw holding the sensor in, and replace. Be careful pulling the sensor out of the hub, they can break off very easily. Then you will need a drywall screw to get it out. You can have the auto parts store plug in their code reader and it will tell you for sure if that is the real cause. I'm sure it is tho...

 

[Kevin_D]

It does indeed appear to be the wheel speed sensor.
It’s probably just two wires: do you have the tools to just splice it together for now?

Kevin

 

[BumbleBee]

I don't think the Jeep will let you drive very far or very fast with this not functioning. The JK and newer will send the Jeep into limp mode if it is not fixed.

 

[Aonarch]

Made it home. 1,000 miles without cruise control or ABS was not fun.

No limp mode though!

Thanks for the replies all.

 

[AggieJeep]

Made it home. 1,000 miles without cruise control or ABS was not fun.

No limp mode though!

Thanks for the replies all.

Good deal. I’m glad you made it.

I ran with a bad sensor for a while on my JK because I lacked the time to swap it. ABS, cruise, traction control didn’t work and had a few lights on in the cluster, but it did not trigger limp mode. It won’t hurt the truck at all. Just drive like back in the 70s when most cars had none of these features. Do your own ABS, cruise and such which can be a real pain. I do love me some Adaptive Cruise on a drive. The vehicles I drove in my youth had none of these features. I appreciate them but also know they are not “necessary “ to get where I’m going.

As @BumbleBee noted, it is a fairly easy driveway fix. I would likely not attempt it roadside, maybe in an O’Reilly’s parking lot with access to parts/tools I don’t have with me.

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