i have a 1997 frod ranger flare side i broke the shakles and shackle holders all 4 i know how? hauling hay lol. My question is where do i go to get them?

 

Just get stock replacements from Ford. I replaced one that was rusted on my son's truck. As I recall, it wasn't that expensive. Only pain is having to drill out the two rivets on the old one. Still, not too difficult a job.
- Bill

 

actually there are 4 rivets on each rear spring mount (shackle holder as Ken calls it).......easier way is to use an angle grinder and grind the head of the rivet off, then use a punch to punch the body out......

get the new parts from a Ford dealership......i got mine for my '97 for $125 for all 4 spring hangers, 2 shackles, and all the grade 8 hardware to mount them back up....

 

use a torch to get the rivets out just be carefull with it and you can do it just fine like i did mine took me about 30 min to do one so in about 2 hours you can do all of them and you get get everything you need one ebay if you just look around thats were i got mine.

 

do you haul a lot? If so I'd suggest while your down there doing that to get a set of chevy 1/2 ton leaf springs and swap those in.

 

easier said than done on a '97 Ranger.....the front hanger is a V shape unlike the newer Rangers that are a U shape....it takes a lot more measuring.....also, the Chevy leafs ride rough from what I understand.....

 

thank u all for the advise i went to ford and got what i needed for $185 my buddy said he will help me seeing that i know very little about trucks i was gonna work on them this week but we lost power in a very bad ice storm and then got hit with 27 inches of snow all in one week thank you mother nature!!!

 

ouch, good luck with that. For the brackets on the frame, have a grinder with a grinding wheel and a cut off wheel. The easiest way to get the rivets out is to cut off the heads with the cut off wheel and then just hammer them out through the frame. You dont have to worry about damaging the old brackets with the cut off wheel obviously as they are now scrap steel. Make sure you have a good amount of grade 8 1/2 inch bolts and nuts to bolt all the brackets back to the frame with. I believe 1" long bolts work good but I can't remember for sure, just be sure you use grade 8 bolts and nuts.

If you are having any trouble accessing the parts from under the bedsides, it is pretty easy to pull the bed off if you have two people, you just unbolt the 6 inner bolts and then there are 3 screws holding the fuel filler to the bedside. After you get all that off there is a plug at the rear driverside under the bed that connects the bed wiring to the frame wireing, you just have to unplug this and then the entire bed can be lifted off with two people and placed next to the truck while you do the work with plenty of room.

 

i would 1000000x recommend taking the bed off to swap out the spring hangers.....it will reduce your headache when you are trying to put on the new driver side front hanger.....there isn't much room between the frame and fuel tank to get a hand in there to put the nut on the bolt.......and getting to it from the bottom is harder than the top....

 

i actually just replace the front brackets, rear brackets, shackels and bushings on a 97 the other day at work.. it was a pain in the butt, but it only cost him 800$

 

what i did was use a telescopic magnet.. and kind of pushed it up in there, and when i dropped the bolt it grabbed the end and pulled it through, slapped a nut and lock washer on it, hit it with the impact and tightened it down..

 

Weld it. You don't even need to get behind it then.

 

i love the weld response welding fixes everything lol

 

I did both actually, I didnt trust the bolts that much for some reason, so icleaned up the surfaces and welded it on there

Torching the old rusted through brackets off was the hardest part.. next to the gas tank..