Police car wheels on a Ranger?

[97RangerXLT]

um your point on the universal 5 lugs is completely not relevant to the issue. the universal 5 lug rims have the holes set up so that there is *no* side or sheer force on the studs because those wheels when torqued down the force pulls straight out on the stud like it should, and they can be properly torqued.

As for killing a bus load of nuns, doubtful that would happen in any case unless you steer your rig right into it (providing a bus of nuns was conveniently sitting out where you are wheeling) and and throw Molotov cocktails through the windows and yell "allahu ackbar"... However I think that unlikely since you are active military

My point is not that you would get killed or kill someone else or even kill cute bunnies and squirrels but that the wrong size, even .7mm off, will put a force on the lug studs that they were not designed to take. This will not be an issue right away, but down the road a bit. more than likely you will not lose a wheel, but it is more likely if you hit something hard while wheeling.

AJ

 

[crazybronco]

Well as the OP I am disappointed in the turn this tread has taken. I am interested in putting 1992-2002 FORD CVPI (Crown Victoria Police Interceptor) wheels on my 1983 2wd Ranger.
I will NEVER put anything but the right 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern wheels on my truck. Not worth the risk in my mind.
I did go to the salvage yard today and put one of the wheels and tire I want on my truck. They fit GREAT! They bolt on like they were made for the truck. No rubbing, the offset is perfect, the wheels do not hit at full lock and they do not stick out of the fenders. Too bad all the wheels had bald tires on them. I am going back on Friday to get a set off of another CVPI with good tires. I will post pictures when I get them. I think they look sweet.
The only thing I may add is the hub hole is slightly larger, I may machine some hub spacers just to ensure it is hubcentric.

 

[JoshT]

Crazybronco, thanks for updating this with your experience. Sorry for my part in the thread turning out the way that it did. I think you will be fine without the hub spacers. From my experience most Ford wheels can be run as lug centric just fine. Someone else can chime in about what ever they want, I'll try to avoid turning it into a big argument. My main experience is my 84 Ranger that was running 14" steel Magnum 500s from a 60/70s Torino, dad installed them on the truck back in the late 80 (I was less than 5 years old) and they were on there until about 2009. Those wheels did not fit tight on the hub and it was never a problem. Only reason the came off is the tired dry rotted, tire store had a special on 16" tires, and I had the stock wheels from my 99 laying around.

Are you going after the 16" or 17" version? I would ask if you can get a width measurement, but with the tires on that would be a little difficult.

 

[crazybronco]

I am not worried about the wheels being hubcentric, but have a lathe and milling machine I use at work. So, it would take me very little time at lunch to turn out some rings, why not.