differences in crown vic rears?

61ford · Post by **61ford** » December 22, 2008, 10:50 am

ive been doing some hunting and reading on rears someome tends to think a 03-up rear is too wide and i dont understand if the front wont stick out with pos offset wheels why a rear from a matching car with same wheels would stick out?ive found a 99 police interceptor rear that is suppose to be a little bit narrorer that you cant notice it can anyone confirm this i just dont want to spent a bunch of money buying rears that wont work?

GDG · Post by **GDG** » December 22, 2008, 4:54 pm

That's right, the 03 is wider. I have a 2000 CV axle in my 64, it fits nicely with 17 x 8 Mustang Bullit wheels.
Doug

61ford · Post by **61ford** » December 22, 2008, 5:00 pm

does it match up perfect with the front?

GDG · Post by **GDG** » December 22, 2008, 7:13 pm

Ryan, when I put the wheels back on I'll measure it. I think it may be a little bit narrower than the frt.
Doug

JFCDeuce · Post by **JFCDeuce** » December 24, 2008, 12:30 am

I'm running an '02 taxi rear and an '04 Police front.
The '98-02' rear is right around 65.5" where as the 03+ is about 70"

My front measures 67.5" so it's a bit wider, but would work really well with a set of the 02 or older wheels on the rear (21mm offset as opposed to the 54mm of the CV and 45mm on the 05+ mustang. keep in mind those offests are approx.))

Aslso a 1" spacer would get you right even too, and you'd still have clearance if using a newer CV or Mustang wheel)

Currently I'm building mine with the '07 bullitt wheels as well, however to get a bit more tuck in the front I may go to the high offset police wheels (pulls the trie in at least .5" over the mustang) (the aftermarket 18x10 bullits for an '05 would fill the rear perfectly.

GDG · Post by **GDG** » December 24, 2008, 10:21 am

Ryan, my overall width is 2" narrower in the the rear, with the 03 frt susp, 2000 rear axle and Bullit wheels.
Doug

61ford · Post by **61ford** » December 24, 2008, 7:52 pm

ok thats gives me something to work with.what puzzles me is why the rear would be wider than the front on those crown vics that would cause the factory to use different offset wheels and then you cant rotate them.guess ill keep hunting for something that is 67.5 bc i wanna rotate my tires and what i want is the wheels off the 09 buillit mustang.be nice if i could find a 9 inch from some large car or truck but with that width it would prolly have to be something late model

61ford · Post by **61ford** » December 25, 2008, 12:44 pm

so would getting stock stang wheels for the front say 18x8 then a aftermarket wheel of 18x10 rear would even things up?what offset would i need to look for the rear wheels?really dont wanna do that but looks like ill have too

GDG · Post by **GDG** » December 25, 2008, 4:26 pm

Ryan, The rear is 2" narrower than the frt, I have 17X8 Bullit wheels and they all have the same offset.
Doug

MrEvil · Post by **MrEvil** » December 26, 2008, 4:42 am

61ford wrote:what puzzles me is why the rear would be wider than the front on those crown vics that would cause the factory to use different offset wheels and then you cant rotate them.

Ford never did that on the Panthers. If your rear axle is from the same vehicle your front came from (or at least from an '03+ Panther) you should be fine. I'm fairly certain Ford widened the rear width on the '03+ cars to match the front since they did make some changes to the rear suspension as well. I could ask the folks at Crownvic.net (I'm a member there) to doublecheck.

Here's a picture of my '98, which has the narrower front and rear.

jakdad · Post by **jakdad** » December 26, 2008, 12:32 pm

The rear should be more narrow than the front.

61ford · Post by **61ford** » December 26, 2008, 5:01 pm

it is wider idk how that works but even ppl over at crownvic.net says same thing 3 inches it does use the same 98-02 suspension though.im just going to sell my crossmember i did this swap bc i wanted something cheap with ps and disc brakes so im just going to go get a twin i beam front section done found a 79 with disc brakes i got the ps box and got a 79 column ill prolly just use i wanna keep the wheels lined up and thats bout the simplest im going to fist look into the dakota setup its a nice setup but i dont think i can afford the crossmemeber. anybody that wants the cv front let me know only thing im missing is the bolts to mount the lower control arm to the frame

61ford · Post by **61ford** » December 26, 2008, 5:02 pm

it is wider idk how that works but even ppl over at crownvic.net says same thing 3 inches it does use the same 98-02 suspension though.im just going to sell my crossmember i did this swap bc i wanted something cheap with ps and disc brakes so im just going to go get a twin i beam front section done found a 79 with disc brakes i got the ps box and got a 79 column ill prolly just use i wanna keep the wheels lined up and thats bout the simplest im going to fist look into the dakota setup its a nice setup but i dont think i can afford the crossmemeber. anybody that wants the cv front let me know only thing im missing is the bolts to mount the lower control arm to the frame

GDG · Post by **GDG** » December 27, 2008, 8:09 pm

I don't think I would give up on the 03 CV frt end over a rear axle width issue. You can probably find a 9" that would fit you needs or concede to it being 2" narrower in the rear with a pre 03 CV rear axle. I like mine, it fits great, it provides a balanced brake system and under those rear quarters I don't think you will notice the difference.
Doug

61ford · Post by **61ford** » December 28, 2008, 9:22 pm

i looked everywhere and a 9 inch or anything that old came that wide the widest 9 inch is bout 63 inches the closest rear ive found is 68 inches and that is for a 72 ford van 3/4 ton.i dont want the wheels to be uneven and dont like the big and littles look ive done found someone who might buy my cv front ive got a twin i beam being cut out tomorrow gonna take that 79 column ive got cut a hole in the firewall bolt it to the gear box go to the parts house and get mounts for my 351w and ill be fine i aint gonna drive it like a vette and itll be less headaches