alright, 97 4x4 xcab, so took the bed off yesterday to replace both the cracked gas filler neck (that was easy) and to replace the badly rusted through and almost off rear driver's side leaf spring shackle and shackle mount. i can't for the life of me figure out how to relieve the tension on the leaf spring to safely remove the shackle and mount and reinstall. i figured you'd just jack up the frame with the wheels on the ground and at some point the leaf would be released of tension. however i have an almost 2 ft chunk of wood spacer on my jack and have everything up in the air with wheels off the ground and the spring is still not released (and the jack/wood spacer is not looking safe at all) what the hell am i doing wrong? i know i read some people's posts before attempting this and it seemed it was just jack up the frame? everything is put away until tomorrow. anyone help me out please? thanks. chad

 

Unbolt the shocks.

 

on mine i unbolted the shocks and had the frame supported by jackstands, the rear axle supported by a floor jack. did the rear spring hangers one year and the fronts a year later. id recomend relpacing the hangers in sets, i coated mine with areosol truck bed liner before installing for added rust-protection. a air chiesel or torch is very helpfull here. i used a torch on the rear hangers and a air chiesel on the fronts (because of the gas tank behind the l.f. hanger) you might as well replace all the bushings, youre there and they probly need it!

 

did you unbolt the rear u-bolts that hold the springs to the axle ?
if not then you need to and then you can jack it up a bit and then you will need to unbolt the springs from the frame , they are light enough to easily handle , then set them aside till your done with the brackets ! would be good time to replace the eye bushings as well !

 

ok, so unbolting the shocks did the trick, although it wasn't much further to have to jack past that point of full shock expansion. since my rear shackle was completely rusted off and resting on the rear leaf, i think that was holding it up some too, as well as with the sharp edges, i didn't know what to expect from the spring tension. used cutoff wheel and air hammer to remove the 2 rivets of mount and 2 nuts on mount actually came off easily. couldn't get the large upper shackle bolt to mount out, but that didn't matter since i was replacing both. now, the big bolt in leaf spring bushing, that was the pain in the ***. spent a long time trying to push that thing out of the bushing/metal sleeve. ended up having to use a pulley puller and pushing the bolt with stuck sleeve out of the rubber bushing, cutting bolt off, punching it out in vice, reaming out the rust inside and pressed the sleeve back in rubber bushing and reused it (it seemed it good enough condition for me, plus i read that replacing this bushing was a real pain so i wasn't in the mood). new parts all bolted up nice and good to go, after a full day of work yesterday on this. amazingly the fronts mounts/shackles of both sides look ok (albeit with a lot of rust delamination) and the rear passenger shackle is the same condition and that mount has some perforations but is in much better structural shape, so quite frankly, i'm not messing with them if i don't need to. i did find it interesting why the driver's side rear bracket used 2 bolts and 2 rivets, while the passenger rear uses 4 rivets? of course after not finishing up until 8pm last night, my neighbors were not available to help lift the bed back on, so i'll finish that up tonight and see how it rides tomorrow. i'll say one thing, that side doesn't sag anymore. i'd post a before/after pic, but i don't have it on this computer.

and no, i didn't unbolt the ubolts or anything.

 

i didnt unbolt my u-bolts either. even the full-size pickups use the 2 bolts/2 rivits on the drivers side, not sure why. yse the bolts can be a pain going through the bushings. i found a torch real helpfull there.

 

was answering a post on another forum & found my source for parts, may be helpfull to someone else. this place was great to deal with and id use them again.
Complete Ford Ranger Leaf Spring Hanger Kit - Front & Rear
i had first priced stuff through lmc truck, this is a much better deal.