I posted awhile back about how those brackets seem to rust off in layers. My 1995 F150 needed major repairs. I did them all myself took about 2 days worth of work to replace the leaf springs, front and rear hangers, shackles, radius arm brackets, radius arm bushing and a new front gas tank plus fuel pump. I currently have 157,444 miles on my 95. I pulled both gas tanks out of the truck to do this job. I didn't want to risk a fire. The front tank needed replacement as well as a pump so now was a perfect time. The pictures are under suspension repair. I hope everyone that reads this will check their truck after the damage I found. I had large rust holes in many of these brackets that where hidden by the thick layers of rust. My 82 F100 which has been in Michigan since new has never had any of these problems. I feel ford used a cheap quality of steel on these brackets. I included part numbers as well for the brackets. Hope this helps any of you that might need similiar repairs, Fred.

 

thats wild looking and amazing it was all still together
and running down the road
looks like the frame is better metal and still safe to run
great photos there also
damn I love living in the south
no salt damage even living on the coast
the e350 is almost as clean as when new
with just over 100,000 on the clock

 

Thats freaky crazy rust! My '78 wasn't even that bad lol. But is was almost the opposite. The brackets had rust on them, like the frame, but it was the frame behind the brackets that rotted out, not the brackets. I found the sheet metal is the same way. . .one layer of metal at a seam is rotten and swelling, and the lip its welded too is near perfect

Go figure

Very impressive work you did there! Nice pics as well

 

Thanks for the responses. The frame was completely fine behind the brackets, just surface rust. I did clean it up and paint the frame behind the bracket with some zero rust I had. I try to take pictures so that if someone else where to do the same job they would have an idea of what to do. The amount of rust actually scared me a little bit. I hope to be able to drive my 95 for at least another 4 to 5 years now that I have these repairs done. That should get me well over the 200,000 mile mark.

 

I'm in SE Michigan too and rust is a major problem with my '92 truck. Spring hangers are now on the "to do" list. Just last week I took a peek under the truck to check out the spring hangers. Like you say, they are rusting in layers but fortunately they don't appear to have rusted through as of yet. My brake line rusted out behind the front gas tank and I replaced that two weeks ago. I was going about 2 mph in my driveway and tapped the brakes and it let loose. I had planned on cleaning up the back half of the frame and axle and putting on a coat of POR-15 this summer. I did the front half last summer and it looks great. Pics in my gallery.

The road commission uses way too much salt around here. I went through an intersection last week that still had a wind row of salt in the turn lane.

 

"Like you say, they are rusting in layers but fortunately they don't appear to have rusted through as of yet."


do them before they break.

better to change in the spring than the winter.

they will break some day soon if you do nothing.

 

Well, I'm nursing her until I get my daily driver back from the E.P.A.

 

If I would of known that my brackets where this bad I would of replaced them a long time ago. The layers of rust actually hide how bad the brackets are. These two pictures of my passenger rear hanger are a perfect example.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...148944&width=2

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...148945&width=0

I used a air hammer to punch the rivet shanks out after grinding the heads off. The vibrations made all of the rust fall off.

 

Hey, I'd say I have the very same problem with my 94 F-150. I have been searching unsucessfully to find replacement hangers. Were yours oem or aftermarket? And in any case, WHERE did you buy them? I have surfed about 3thousand links after a web search and all they want to sell me is bug deflectors and shiny stuff

 

Other threads here say the dealer has the replacements....It's a kit they sell......do a search here and you should come up with some of our sponsors too.....Direct Ford Parts and Y2K. Seemed like I remember the sponsors had better prices even with the shipping.

Sure glad mine hasn't reached that point.....something to be said about the "south".....

Good Luck

 

All my hangers and shackles where oem ford pieces. I listed the part number in the gallery that has all of the spring replacement pictures. The leaf springs are aftermarket 1650lbs springs from jeff's bronco graveyard. I got the rear shackles and hangers from them as well along with the radius arm brackets and bushings. The front spring hangers I got from the local ford dealer. The bolts are all grade 8 from a local hardware store.

 

Hey I was wondering if this was a common problem..My truck started alot of squeaking and would clunk occasionally when going over bumps..After looking it over I finally noticed the spring shackle is broken completely in two and the rear spring is now riding on the floor of the box!