my trucks been leaning to the drivers side for a while now, and when going over rough new england roads, it's been banging around in the rear really bad.

i crawled under yesterday to find that the drivers side rear leaf hanger and shackle have been destroyed. i checked the passenger side too, and it looks like the shackle is almost ready to blow.

my question is, can someone explain how to replace the hanger, and shackle or point me in the direction of a write-up somewhere. it looks like the hanger is riveted in, so i'm guessing some grinding is in order. also, since it looks like i'll be replacing the passenger side shackle, should i just go ahead and do that hanger too?

thanks!

 

Well, removing the bed is a big help and almost needed if you plan on drilling out the rivets.
You need to jack the back up and get the wheels just off the ground, no more than an inch. Use a jack and like 1.5' of 4x4 wood as a extension on the jack and lift it by frame. Then stack some blocks or wood to act as jack stands.
Easiest way to remove the rivets is to center punch all the rivets then use a big *** drill bit to drill off the heads. Or grind the living hell out of them. Then beat the living **** out of the shackles till they fall off.
Replace all the rivets with 1/2" grade 8 bolts. I know on my truck I had some clearance issues with the bolts, the bumper brackets that bolt to the frame get in the way a bit.

Oh, and do both. It's not worth having to go back and do the other later.

 

Best price around
SHACKLE AND HANGER KIT REAR FORD RANGER 1983-2007 : eBay Motors (item 310198126842 end time Mar-03-10 1027 PST)
Took me and my friend a solid 3 hours. Your going to need a grinder with good cut off wheels, an impact a breaker bar. Definitely take the bed off makes life much easier. If you have a hitch use that as the point to lift the back end up using a Jack.

And here is a How-to using the shackles and hangers from the link above:
https://www.ranger-forums.com/f43/re...hackles-97011/

 

If your good with a cutting torch it look at min or two a side for mine

 

thanks for the info and links. big help.

any tips to removing the bed? i've tried in the past, but can't get the torx bolts out for the life of me!

 

spray some wd40 on them and let in sit for a while

 

First, i assume you have the correct torx bit, use an ait ratchet and try that..All else fails you'll have to use a regular 1/2" ratchet and cheater bar....Spray the bolts down good with wd40, pb blaster or whatever you have...its tough but take your time

 

https://www.ranger-forums.com/f43/re...hackles-97011/