Anyone have experience removing/replacing the rear ABS wheel sensor? Mine had one small bolt next to it that I removed, but I still can't get the sensor to budge. My shop manual says just "remove the sensor from the knuckle". Not so simple?

 

They have a tendency to get fused to the housing. Squirt some PB Blaster or your lubricant of choice on it and wait.

Why are you removing it?

 

Poppin' the knuckle/hub off to take into a shop and get the wheel bearing pressed in....figure I might as well spend the time so I don't pay for that work as well

 

The easy way out, because it is easy to trash the sensor, is to unplug it from under the back seat. Just unplug it, push the grommet out of the bottom of the car and take the hub to be pressed with the sensor in place. The grommet is a mild pain in the *** to get back in it's hole, but it can be done and it's a lot easier than getting a stuck sensor out.

 

+10000000.

If you frig with trying to get the sensor out of the hub, chances are VERY good that you'll destroy it. Do as manufan says, and either leave it in the hub once everything is off the car, or if you prefer, once the spindle is off the car, you can see the end of the sensor inside the housing, where the axle fits. At that point, you can easily get the sensor out by gently tapping on the visible end of the sensor, and tap it backwards out of the hub.

You're probably fine just leaving it in there though. If you try to take it out of the hub from the "outside" though, you may as well use a sawzall, a laser, and some C4 because what remains of the sensor when you're done is going to look like you used that stuff anyway.