JTNWEvo
New Reader
1/7/18 10:34 p.m.
Hey guys, me and some buddies are modding a 2002 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor for a bit of off-road fun. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about lifting them a couple inches? We want to fit larger offroad tires and gain some ground clearance.
Everything we have found online is for jacking them up to install giant wheels for rolling around the hood. We are hoping for something a bit more GRM and really just 2 to 3 inches is all we need.
Thanks for any input!
JT
Vigo
UltimaDork
1/7/18 10:51 p.m.
You're in luck, there is extensive research on lifting Crown Vics due to the Donk scene.
$79
Eaton springs makes 2" lift springs for Vic's, i think it's around $400 for all 4 corners if i remember right. or you might measure the diameter of the vic springs and see if maybe some truck/suv springs can be cut down and still net you a lift.
I personally wouldnt use any 'donk' lift parts as they are barely good enough for road use, let alone any kind of offroad with meaty tires.
IIRC, certain Super Duty front coil springs work on the rear of P71s.
Crown vics use pretty short front arms, so scrubs and geometry can get WAY crazy deviating too far with a spring swap.
Maybe dig through the blue oval parts bin and see if there are some knuckles that would bolt in that have a lower spindle?
There's always the cut-to-fit option for bigger tires...
I would unbolt the fenders, get the thing up in the air, and start measuring to see what you'll be able to fit with just some trimming/hammering/bending. You might be surprised how much tire those can fit without having to lift it!
I think the most popular Gambler 500 car is a Crown Vic. There's a knowledge base there.
There's also the Trophy Vic if you wanna get wild.
thatsnowinnebago said:
There's also the Trophy Vic if you wanna get wild.
I've never much cared about/for Crown Vics, but that is freaking SWEET.
Vigo
UltimaDork
1/8/18 10:50 p.m.
I personally wouldnt use any 'donk' lift parts as they are barely good enough for road use, let alone any kind of offroad with meaty tires.
Most offroad stuff is barely good enough for road use..
If instrumented testing was done on vehicles modified for offroad use and the results became common knowledge, a lot of things would be outlawed.
Some already are, like bumper height laws.
I don't feel any more likely to be hit and killed by a Donk that can't turn and can't stop than a lifted truck that can't turn and can't stop and weighs even more. And then there's normal trucks towing trailers.. And then there's semis... slippery slope.
I'm not against offroad mods, just the pot calling the kettle black. My .02
In reply to Vigo :
I think the point is more that some of the donk parts are blatantly bad in the sense of cheap parts likely to fail. The concern isn't how the thing reacts / performs after the mods, it's whether the stuff like those spring clamp things they use to spread springs, etc. will just outright fail to do its job at some point (with potentially bad results).