Holy Crap!!

The other day I was playing with my exhaust (getting ready to duel it out) and I noticed that my bracket that holds the shackle on the right rear side was barely hanging on, due to severe rust. (the one on the left side isn't much better) Every time I hit a bump I cringe b/c of fear of it breaking. I took a close look at it and honestly, I have no clue what is still holding the leaf spring up (yea, it's that bad). I have a two possible solutions like welding up a couple pieces of metal to reinfornce what is left of the bracket or I could replace it completely. But I dont think I could manuver well enough in between the frame and gas tank to get the bracket on properly. Has anyone else had this problem with rusted shackle brackets and could I please get some suggestions?

Dont mess with suspension parts. Thats not the area to be mickey mousing. Fix it properly. How posting a pic? Carnage pics are cool

I'll post a pic of it soon. I also wanted to add that I meant the bracket that holds the shackle to the frame, not the actual shackle. I also think I will feel a lot safer if I just got new brackets, just got to get that rusted-on hitch off.

Here are some pictures of the carnage. Does anyone know where I can find some new brackets? I've looked around on the Internet, but so far no success. Does autozone or advanced auto have these brackets?

Wow!! theres practically nothing left!

just go to ford and get a new shackle mine was so bad wen i broke it the shackle and leaf spring were against my body/floor

this goes for everyone once you get the new shakles before you put them on go to walmart and get some of the tuffliner in a spray can and spray them first this will keep them from rusting out in the future, oh and if you use a floor jack and a friend there not that hard to replace