One thing that no one has mentioned is to remove the bed. It makes the job a whole lot easier. It sucks bad enough with the bed off.

It also gives you a clear shot at the brake lines that are probably rusty too along with the rear shocks. Perfect time to do those jobs.

Unfortunately, you will also see the ugly, rusty top of the fuel sender on the pre-OBD-II trucks. Just make sure to anti-seize the bed bolts so it comes off again easily later when the sender starts leaking.

 

got it done today. started at 11, was putting tools away by 5:30. a torch is defintly helpful. while pulling the bed may help, i didnt want to go to that extreme, thats 4-6 more (major) fasteners, i had no help, and as badly rusted as things are under my rig, it would just be more time spent than i felt was worth. first thing i did was get the but up in the air, just as high as my jackstands would go. i pulled both rear tires and put the jack under the differential. unbolted the lower shock mounts, pulled the exhaust pipe out of the muffler. (i just put a new exhaust on it a few weeks back and used anti-seize on the joints, wasnt a problem) tried taking off the bolts holding the shackle to the spring, right side nut came off, left side just turned and collaped the rotting shackle. took the torch to the left side nut at the spring/shackle. torched off all the rivit heads. on the left side of my truck the back 2 (up and down) were bolts, torched them also. torched off the shackle where it meets the spring, lowered the rear axle with the floor jack as much as possible (rear brake line limits you here) took a hammer and chisel to the edge of the old brackets to seperate them from the frame. was able to knock rivits/bolts out o.k. on left side, right side only 1 would knock out, fired up the torch again and burnt them out. for removal of the spring bushings from the spring, i heated it up good with a torch, put the impact gun to the remaining bolt head and just kept at the trigger, it worked itself out, pried out the rubber from the spring eye with a screwdriver. putting the new bushings in was super easy. clean the spring eye, get some all-thread with nuts/washers.(you want it to just fit through the bushing) pass the all-thread thru the bushing & spring eye, put on bolts/washers, a little anti-seize for thread lubrication and i also lightly coated the bushing. the spring eyes were still warm from the torch, im sure this helped a bit. ratchet on one end of your all-thread, wrench on the other. and just "draw" it together. i cleaned the frame and sprayed on some areosol truck bed liner (i did my brackets and shackles the night before also) let it dry while i was putting the torch and air compressor away. put on the brackets, attached the spring to the shackle. hooked up my shocks and exhaust, tires back on, jackstands out, tightend wheels and hooked up diff vent tube (i had forgot about it when lowering the axle, it simply pulled out of the sot in the bed rib where it had been stuck) put tools away and headed home. (i did this at my folks farm, most of my tools are there, theres a nice slab of concrete to work on, and most of all dads torch! thres no room for a grinder) i didnt take the camera with me and its rather pointless to show you the new parts on. i did take pics of the old shackles after i removed them, they were much worse than i thought. the heating and banging really loosened more rust. got to do dads '94 3/4 ton next, the r.s. on it has seperated completely. one thing i found odd, on the 3/4 ton fords its basically the same bracketry (just bigger) but its installed upside down! (compared to how its on a ranger) heres the pics of the old junk once removed, 2 are of the left side and the last is of the right. wouldnt have made it another year!

 

Replaced the rear hangers and shackles this past Saturday, took my time and showed my son a few things too. LOTS of rust, had to remove the trailer hitch receiver to complet the job and tossed the receiver out as it was so rusted. Thank god for a set of torches and a 4.5" grinder....
For pictures, use the lnik below

Dans 1996 Ford Ranger Photo Gallery by Royce Taylor at pbase.com

Royce

 

yes, i wouldnt want to do that job without a torch. dad's '94 3/4 ton is next on the list, has a rear fuel tank to deal with, yuk! i was able to leave my receiver hitch on, but it would have been easier to have torched it off also.

 

I'm just about done with this job and just installing the new bushing which I got from NAPA is different than the originals. The originals are three peice while the new ones have a metal sleeve on the outside. I wire brushed the hole in the leaf spring as well as I could but the bushing still dosn't want to go in. I tried a long bolt with a large washer on either side and cranking it in but now the thing is just stuck. Anyone figure out how to get around this or did you all just get the bushings from Ford/

Thanks,
Ethan

 

I think what you are saying is that you have the old bushing out of the eye of the spring and that you are trying to get the new bushing into the eye. all i did on mine was load it all up with grease and used the bfh and pounded it in......my bolt was just a little tight because of the pounding but it still worked out. I had a big giant bar that i used to secured the spring from bouncing.........

 

i did get dad's F250 done, was back in july. on that truck i used a air hammer with the chisel and punch bits, i did it that way due to the truck having a rear fuel tank. i actully liked it better than the torching method. bed bolts were too rusty to come off, so this was also done with the bed on. when i pressed the bushings into the spring eye, i first cleaned the inside of the spring eye real good, then heated up the spring eye with a torch and then used a long bolt with washers to draw the new one in.

 

Had a 93 ranger and had to replace the shackles on the leaf springs. No fun job. Then the cab mounts rusted out so I got a 98 ranger from Florida with no rust. It is still like brand new, the salt in WI hasn't eaten it away yet. Must be lousy steel to make these parts fail like they do. The best part of the ranger is the 2.3/2.5 motors that go on & on & on &on!

 

did the front spring hangers last week. took out all the bed bolts but the back 2 and they were loose almost all the way, tilted the bed like a dumptruck and must have bumped the fuel lines. so the next day i pulled the bed completly off and changed out the pump/sender/pickup assy. with a loader on a tractor and forklift forks, it was a easy job. even left the cap on.

 

on my son's '96 extended cab 4x4.....Please tell me that I can replace the front leaf spring mounts without pulling off the bed and more importantly pulling the gas tank off...as you can see by the original post, I have already done the front mounts...

I'm starting to hate New England..

thanks
Royce in NH

 

You "can" do it without pulling the bed, but you'll be hating life pretty quickly.
If you don't pull the bed you WILL have to remove the fuel tank. Even with the bed off, one mounting bolt is inaccessible due to the gas tank. I usually weld that corner of the mount to the frame.

Pulling the bed is easy enough and makes the whole job much less of a PITA. You'll most likely find that the brake line on the frame is rusty and just waiting to cause a problem, as are the tubes coming out of the fuel sender. With the bed off both of those are much easier to deal with too.

 

+1 on pulling the bed. it takes about an hour and will make it much much easier. buy your Son 2 torx 55 sockets, use a breaker bar, pipe or impact wrench and have him wrestle the bolts out. then you just take the 3 bolts off of the gas cap and disconnect the lights at the bumper 2 men can pick it up easily.

 

i did do mine without pulling the bed, removed all the bed bolts but the back 2, and they were loosened almost all the way, tilted the bed and blocked up with 2x4's. bad news is that the next day i did pull the bed because in the process of being between the bed and the frame, i moved the fuel lines on the sender/pump assy just enough that a leak developed in the metal lines of the sender/pickup/pump assy. $100 dollar part, but i guess i dont have to worry about a fuel pump for a long,long time.

 

Well, In an effort to have my son realize I might not always be around my wife & I decided that he would take the truck to a local shop and pay, we have known the owner for a long time and he takes care of us a lot. So I got a call today from the shop and was expecting a quote of $500 plus knowing the rust and everything else I know I would hit, they quoted $285 to replace both hangers!! I can not believe it, I even called back 20 minutes later to re-confirm the price... So my son will pay, I will not have to spend a weekend fixing his truck (I can fix something else).... I just hope I do not get a call saying they have to replace all the brake lines along the frame rails... as I have already replaced all the lines that I "could" get to. I'll update when we get the truck back to see if they say "oh we have problems..." if not I'll be happy but I'm sure something will break in January in the middle of a blizzard....

Thanks
Royce in NH

 

looks to me like the parts are about $70( $35 a side) with a new bolt and bushing.so that price seems right...............I would make your Son really learn a lesson and have him replace them himself.........doesn't look like to tough of a job and the bed comes off easily.......