So today my ABS light came on.. I'm in very very desperate need of front brakes. I have them at home, but I'm away at school so I haven't had time to install them. Would bad brakes cause the light to cut on?

 

This actually just happened to me. I'm willing to bet that what caused your light to come on is the ABS sensor. It reads the number of teeth per rotation and sends it to the computer of how fast to stop the truck. The sensor is magnetic, and when you have bad breaks, the shavings from the pads and rotors will stick to the sensor, causing it to cut off the ABS because it can't read it. On manual hubs, it's a simple fix. On our automatic hubs, the sensor is inside it, and to replace the sensor, you have to replace the hubs (about $550 a piece). It sucks really bad, but for $1100, I'm gonna have no ABS for a while

 

My ABS light came on a 300 mile trip with 99% highway driving in heavy rain, but when I stopped at a rest stop and was ready to leave i noticed my light went off, and then again it turned on about 30 min later down the road. After that my ABS light has not been on. So i dont know if yours does that.

 

When you do you breaks, clean the sensor and check for broken teeth on the back of he rotor. When that sensor gets dirty or goes out you get the abs light.