Replacing the 60A ABS Fuse/Fusible Link (lessons learned)

[U.S. Lex]

Trying to follow a friend's advice to "disable the ABS by yanking the 60A ABS fuse/fusible link in the engine-compartment fusebox", I promptly shattered it--because he nor I knew it comes bolted in--and from below.  (Once again, thank you, engineers who don't work on what you design.)

I posted this as a reply on another forum, but decided the info was rare enough on the web that it should be here as well. (The Lexus mechanic confirmed that a lot of the specifics were missing from his computerized shop manual.)

Re: the pix

1. The engine-compartment fusebox is actually a "split box," an upper half snapped into 3 tabs on the lower half and bolted to the fender well with M6x1.0 bolts (10mm). The label inside the box cover identifies the ABS fuse as the one in the upper left. It's yellow.  It is held in by two small bolts underneath. The box must be separated and the internal module holding the high-current fuses dropped out from below. 

2. The internal module is snapped and held in place by three internal tabs. A reasonably sized flat-blade screwdriver is enough to release all the tabs (including the external ones). At least some of the connectors to the upper half might have to be disconnected to get enough slack to drop the module out and get access to the screws. (Several electrical diagrams I looked at indicated a 7.5A "ABS 3" fuse was located at the top of the 3-fuse column to the right of the main fuses. When the upper half is off, one can see there's no electrical connections to that area.) Incidentally, the upper-left shows what happens to a fragile 60A fusible link when attacked with pliers because one doesn't even suspect it might be bolted in. (I actually Dremeled it, thinking I could see how it was held in. The screws are through the sides of the conductor tabs, not into the body.)

3. The screws are revealed. They have 10mm heads. Probably want to torque them well if you haven't enjoyed the journey this far. Please don't drop either one of these. For heaven's sake, treat them as if your father were watching you handle them.

4. If activity has lifted the lower half of the fusebox, you may notice that the mounting hole to the front of the vehicle is impossible to align to bolt the box back onto the fender well. I found a "locator foot" molded into the bottom of the lower half of the fusebox and that it was outside of its locator hole, causing the entire box to stand about 1/2" too high.  There just wasn't enough working room for me to "influence" the foot back into its hole.  In the end, I had to remove the battery, and even then found the task difficult.  Before I accidentally got it in, I was contemplating sawing it off...  When the holes finally lined up, I immediately dropped one of the mounting bolts which wedged itself under the air filter so I had to go to town to get a replacement. Don't drop either of these either. This is tough enough without suffering your own carelessness.