I just went through this, so Im going to post some pointers (despite the Tech threads on this).

-PAINT THE DAMN THING. I cleaned it up with a wire brush on my drill, went to work, woke up the next morning to find it all rusted up again. Hang it up using the hole for the Grade 8 Safety bolt and paint it. Make sure you let the paint dry too.
-Get new hardware. Hardware is cheap enough where its pointless to reuse the bolts that are on there. It cost me less than $10 for 4 M12x1.25 50mm Class 8.8 Bolts, and 4 each Stainless Locks and Flats.
-WD-40/PBBlaster is your friend. Use it ont he bolts holding the stock crap on.
-Get a ratchet, and a couple 3" extensions you dont mind breaking. I broke a ratchet, and 2 extensions trying to take the stock bolts off.
-Get a pipe abotu 5 feet long, that will fit over your ratchet. Believe me, you will need the extra leverage.
-You dont need to bend the skid plate out of hte way. I dont know why the other How-Tos tell you to do this, but my hangers cleared my Skid Plate by a whole 2mm.
-Tighten up the bolts as tightly as you can tighten them. I put all my strenght into my 5' long ratchet. That beast is not going to move anywhere.

 

if youre speaking about my writeup, which i think is the only writeup on this topic, you have to bend the skid plate because i had to. perhaps your year 4runner has a narrower skid plate or steve made them more narrower.

also, you should prime the metal instead of just painting on it. one thing i forgot to mention (and do) is to clear coat it as well, though mine has held up well and frankly speaking, i dont need this to look shiny and pretty. its a shackle hanger, after all

and i beg to differ on your "tighten as tight as possible" advice. seems to me you are compounding your problem with getting off rusted bolts caused by the weather in your neck of the woods. while steve did not post any torque specs, i always like the rule to hand tighten + 1/4 to 1/2 turn.

bob

 

just my opinion, but 8.8 bolts may be on the weak side, 8.8 is equivalent to a grade 5, while 10.9 bolts are equivalent to grade 8, i certainly wouldn't want that thing flying off (which it probably wont) again, just my $.02

 

grade 5 is pretty strong... i have grade 5 bolts holding half my truck together...

 

I was under the impression 8.8=Grade 8. Guess Ill go looking for the 10.9 bolts then. (Took me a while to find these 8.8 bolts)

Bob, I believe it was your writeup I was referencing. I wasnt taking a stab at you. I saw another writeup else where that asked for bending hte skid plate also.

I did prime the metal. Couldnt find any of that metal etch stuff, so I just used Rustoleom primer, then Rustoleom Flat Black. I was going to use the Rustoleom primer, then Duplicolor wheel paint and clear coat, but didnt have the time to wait for that paint to fully cure (8-10 days!), and I dont need, nor want it shiney. If this paint ever comes off though, Im going to have it sandblasted, and Ill find that metal etching stuff and use wheel paint.

 

no offense taken at all, dont worry. just adding a rebuttal and additional info

 

Shackle hangers are made to pull the FULL weight of your vehicle.

USE GRADE 10.9 bolts (Grade 8 equivalent) or anything that is going to see any kind of real loading. If you are holding it together, Grade 5 is fine.

Those bolts I imagine would need to be torqued to somewhere around 70 ft-lbs cause you DON'Tt want them coming/wiggling loose by any means.