OK, I'm the proud new owner of a 97 4dr tracker 4x4 auto and I've got two ABS questions:

1) I got the ABS to come on in the rain a while back and it sounds awful.  It sounds kind of like someone is scratching/crushing an empty beer can on the firewall.  Seems to work fine though and I'm used to GM ABS sounding horrible, so I'm inclined to think its nothing.  Am I right?

2) Every time I start the car up and start to drive (Forward or reverse) the ABS comes on for a second or two, making the horrible noise, and then goes away.  This only happens when the truck first gets rolling.  I can put it in park for a second and then start up again and it won't happen unless the engine is turned off and started up again.  Its almost like the ABS does an initial check whenever the truck is started up.  Is this normal?

I'm tempted to unplug the ABS completely as ABS only seems to annoy me most of the time when I'm off-road.  At the very least, I'd like to work out a cutoff switch for the ABS to use when in off-road.

I pulled mine.  Had a bad sensor wire running to the rear and I got tired of looking at the brake idiot light.  It takes thirty seconds.  Just look under dash behind your steering column and you'll see the abs box.  The connector on mine was on the left side.  Just take a screwdriver as a pry tool and push in the lock on the connector and pop the connector out.  Take a drive and see if your noise is gone.  I find the brakes on my 2 door are really lacking anyway.  Takes a good push to really stop the vehicle quickly and I have a new master cyclinder/rotors/pads ect.  Of course I am sure my 31" tsls bite pretty good and have a lot of rotating mass.

Mine ('02) checks itself after driving about 10-15 feet or so after starting, too.  Sounds more like a fart than crushing a beer can, though.