Hi, I have a 1996 f-150 and was just wondering how heavy of an engine it could handle without having to put new springs and axel under it, i would greatly like the advice.

 

id like to know too lol coz a big block would sound pretty sweet....

is ur truck 2 or 4wd and whats ur spring code....

its on the door sticker

 

A 5.0 weighs about 450lbs, a 460 weighs about 700lbs. Roughly 250lbs difference. Grab a couple buddys and have them sit on the end of the hood and see how much it sinks the front end, LOL. Seriously a 250lb difference shouldn't make much change in a empty 1/2t truck, altho your total payload capacity will be affected.

Keep in mind that doing a 460 swap is more than just yank and drop too. You will have to deal with the trans or bellhousing if its a stick. Wiring harness, brackets, mounts, exhaust, etc.

 

What do you know about spring codes? I've been trying to understand what they mean for awhile now.

 

lol not much of anything... i keep looking... i got a V front and a V rear... so idk wtf that means...

 

Check the VIN sticker in the driver's door jam and look for the front axle GAWR and see what the pounds are.

Go to a public scale and weigh just with the front axle on the scale and compare. If the GAWR is more than the actual weight on the axle-the front axle actual weight is lighter and the difference is more than 250 pounds-you are good to go with the big block.

 

front 2500

rear 3166

total gvwr 5250

could probably put a 6bt cummins lol

 

Thought I would post this quote from a thread I started that has had 53 views and 0 replys to date. I might ask this question at the shop I'm having my mounty worked on, maybe they have a book that tells them what springs to order based on door codes. You have a front and rear spring code??

 

Both pickups have the same front axle-and it's capacity is 3800 pounds at the ground. The spring capacity is what makes the difference between your GAWR s.There is a difference between "axle capacity" and "GAWR". GAWR includes BOTH the axle capacity AND the spring capacity. Axle capacity is ONLY the axle capacity.

The absolute maximum front GAWR for the F150 is 3800 pounds-and this is with the heavy duty front end factory option for snow plows that includes a heavy duty front frame and very heavy capacity front springs(3800 pound also ). Same standard front axle though.

My 92 Ford Shop Manual states that the first character is the "usage code" of the front axle and the second character is "front spring code" and the third character is the "usage code" for the rear spring. And the fourth character is the rear "spring code". The manual gives a example of one of these four character codes as: "2D29".But I have never seen a four character code-just three character codes for the springs.

My shop manual then gives the Ford part number for each of these spring codes.

This part number will translate into a spring rate-ie-inch/pounds. These inch/pounds tells you how much pounds of load or pressure it takes to depress the spring one inch.

My code is "C4L" And I have a 2900 front axle and a 3776 rear axle GAWR. And a GVWR of 6100 pounds. I have a short wheelbase 4x4 F150.

There is a good thread on this site that will give the spring rates of the different factory springs. There is also a Ford publication called :"Ford Specification Book for Light Trucks" that will give the spring rates for different spring codes. You can get one of these books on Ebay.

 

So I can interpolate from this then with the 2nd digit being a 4 the front GAWR for the front is 2900 lbs and with a 5 it is 3125 lbs. now we are getting somewhere.

divide thos numbers by 2...
2900/2 = 1450.0
3125/2 = 1562.5

While these do seem pretty damn close. I don't think my f150 would come with CC844 springs from the factory