Ford Repair: ABS Brake problem 93 Explorer, wheel bearings, brake job

Question
   Hi and happy new year. First a little history I have a 93 Ford Explorer 2 wheel drive lot of miles over 2K car runs great. I have the usual maintenance problems but with over 200,000 miles it's been good to me.
   But back to the brakes I did both front pads about a year ago no problem went fine. This time I did the wheel bearings they were starting to growl. Everything went OK I put the caliper aside (wired it up out of the way), did not disconnect the brake line, and pulled the rotor. Fought  to get the races out and the inner oil seal was a bugger.
   This is were I think my problem may lay I bent just slightly the slotted disk sensor thing on the inside of the rotor. I straighten it out pretty well maybe not precisely. Also for some reason I had a sanding tool in my hands and clean a small area in-between the slots from the pervious black to a shiny bear metal. Put it all back together (this is the passenger side).
   Now when I brake as I press the pedal it starts out normal then the ABS seems to kick in and the pedal gets a pumping action and you can hear the pop and whine and it will pull slightly to the left. I'm assuming this is the right brake releasing. I see the sensor looks like a magnet like thing fixed on the back plate. I wonder if my problem is a very slight bend in that slotted disk thing on the rotor or maybe the clean metal is screwing with the sensor or something else I'm not thinking about. The caliper was removed but I did this before with no problem maybe the wire going to the sensor. I was careful not to stress or stretch it.

Any help, what about discounting the ABS altogether? What do you think about this and how to go about doing it.

Thanks for your help
Bruce

Answer
Bruce,

Yes that little ripple in the ABS exciter ring could be causing all your problems.  I would suggest simply replacing the rotor. They are so cheap anymore it is not even worth turning the old ones on a brake job. Plus the new rotor should come with a new exciter ring on it.

For future reference there is an easy way to remove that inner dust seal. After you pull the nut, washer & outer bearing off put the rotor back onto the spindle. Install the nut alone the slide the rotor hard down the spindle. Once the inner bearing hits the nut it will pop that seal right out in one piece and usually can be re-used.

Good Luck!!!