I just replaced all of the Shackles and Hangers on my 1996 Ranger 6 cylinder 4.0 4wd. Its wasn't a difficult job for a weekend mechanic but you do need to have the tooling or a means to get all the tooling. Here are a couple of the tools i used. (FYI the easiest way to do this is to remove the bed. 6 #55 torx holding down the bed and three 8mm screws holding the filler nozzle for the gas. Very easy to access the 3 screws holding filler nozzle come out very easy and are easy to get to with a ratchet and extension. The bed bolts on the other hand are another story. I soaked them with PB Blaster and kept soaking them for about an hour. the 4 in the from came out with no problem just used a breaker bar and put even pressure on you dont want to jerk them because they might break. after i got them 1/4 the way out i soaked them again with PB Blaster and they wound right out thread intact on the bolt and the clips on the frame. The 2 bolts closest to the cab came out the same way only i broke the one on the passenger side. I just went to my local Ace Hardware and got a new one.
12x1.75x120. the 4 at the rear of the bed are 12x1.75x100. Then me and my friend just simply lifted the bed off. If I was to guess it was between 60 to 70 lbs. rough estimate. wasn't heavy at all.) Ford Riveted all the hangers onto the truck so if you see a bolt and a nut the hangers have been changed prior to you doing them this time or the rivet failed and a bolt was put in its place. Simply grind the heads of the rivet off (Grinding is easier than cutting it off. I used a Craftsman angle grinder with a 4 inch grinding wheel) take a pry bar and pry the shackle off. hit what remain of the rivet with a hammer and it should pop right out. I did the same on the Front shackles and rear. Everyone askes whats the best way to get the bolt out of the leaf spring bushing. my opinion is that if you have to change the shackles and the hangers don't be cheap change the bushings. Just get the biggest drill bit you have that fits and drill the hell out of the bushing until its reduced to sheds. 2 minuets of work instead of 2 hours of drilling and hammering and drilling and hammering. Just lube up the new bushings with some grease and pound them in with a hammer believe me save you alot of time and headache. after all that its smooth sailing. I got all the Shackles and Hangers from Napa cost around 130 with new bushings. (The front Shackle does not come with the bolt to attach it to the Leaf Spring so once again just go to a hardware store and get a grade 8 bolt and self locking nut) the hangers come with all new Nuts and Bolts. No thread lock is required as the Nuts are oblong so they are self locking I still like to use a little though. keeps out dirt and debris. So there you go if you have any questions about this or any other stuff about the good old Ford Ranger let me know. I just recently removed, rebuilt and installed the transmission as well. I have pictures of the Shackle and Hanger removal and repacement if you want to see them email me at L7iwoker@gmail.com