Thats a sweet truck. I believe you are right about the 3208 of which I have toyed with the idea. I have seen in person a 1979 f7000 4x4 with the 3208 factory installed which gave me the idea of that engine swap but I don't know for sure. I'm not willing to give up the 4x4 with factory a/c which is why I wanted to upgrade over body swap/go with a new truck.
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Mattel1985 did you get the registration taken care of on your swap?

Doc. Dewey have you considered finding a 2wd diesel truck and swapping in the transfer case and front axle making it 4x4, you'd have to swap gears to match the truck but I think it would be the easier way to go.
Ford didn't make big trucks in 4x4 till later years, the trucks where sent out to supplier shops and converted, your F600 is a conversion.
55000 lbs is a pretty good load, more than a 429 will want and even a 3208 will struggle with it.
My 93 F-800 single axle tractor with 250 hp 8.3 Cummins is only rated for 62000 gcvw.

 

I know my f600 was a conversion. It was done by Rockwell. I am not going to rip the 4x4 components out of my f600 and put them on another truck. That would be blasphemy. I know 55000 is a fair size load but I'm not trying to move it at 75 down i80. I just wanted to go a little faster than 40mph I'd settle for 55 max if I have to. That's about as fast as that truck will go bobtail anyway seeing as I run bias plys

 

You might get 55 out of it with a 429.

Any oil burner conversion is going to end taking the truck apart to make room and adapt to the motor, (esp. the 7.8) and not in a good way.

I hope you're making money running it!

 

I am making money running commission and that 370 can do it. I just wanted something a little faster than 40. I still have reservations about swapping anything on that truck because I know how rare it is especially with factory a/c and dual 50 gallon saddle tanks. What I'll probably end up doing is finding an old f800 and putting deuce and a half axles under it. That would give me an 8.3 Cummins or equivalent and would require less work. It would just be expensive so I would have to wait until I have made enough money with my f600 to afford it.

 

You'll notice some improvement with a 429, I hauled logs with a L800 that had a 391, it wasn't fast but would go around a 370 any day, a 429 would pass it.
Beyond that another truck with a decent size diesel would be the best way to go, skip the deuce axles and go with 5 tons from a 900 series, better axles with full on air brakes, not that air over hydraulic crap like the older 800 series had, or find a axle out of a salvage utility truck, proper gearing would be easier to find for that one.

I drove trucks for 30 years professionally, most as a owner operator, I know what it's like to call an cancel the order on a new car because you just blew the front diff out of your truck, the repair was nearly a 1/3 the cost of a new car back then. I know what it's like to go over a mountain in South Caroline with no trailer brakes, only thing the truck brakes would do was keep it from going faster, luckily to be here today, and even 42 years later I still sometimes get real annal about having good brakes.
I sometimes come on strong and if I do I'm sorry, but I just like to see people go down a better path than I traveled.

 

I drive a semi for Werner and had considered going OO but decided company was the better choice at my age. I didn't know that air over were that bad because the f600 doesn't have issues. I'm passively looking for an f800 4x4 with an 8.3 C or 7.8 ford or equivalent caterpillar instead of cutting up the f600.

 

The old trucks had single master cylinders and if you blow a line or a wheel cylinder you had zero brakes, air over still uses hydraulics and you can lose everything, air brakes if you pop a line, brake chamber of lose a compressor the spring brake chamber well bring you to a stop, you may be stuck on the side of the road but you'll get stopped.

 

You have a point about blowing a line vs having spring chambers but that is why we do a pre trip and check these things. It'll lessen the chances of an issue like that, but it won't prevent it.

 

Periodic brake bleeding will tell you if you have rust in the wheel cylinders. The seals don't like the rust. Serving suggestion, but you knew that.....

 

My truck had been sitting for 20 years when I bought it so all cylinders were replaced shortly thereafter. I wasn't taking any chances on bad cylinders on a truck that size.