They had 460's in half tons in the 70's. Im not sure what year they last put them in, i believe 79.

 

I don't think they ever put 460's in half tons, but I could be wrong. They didn't use them in 4x4's until 83 or 84.

 

Yeah they did, I have a 77 with a 460 in it from stock, and a couple of guys in our chapter have them also.

The newer styles (80 and up) im pretty sure never did have a 460.

 

I've never thought a 5.4 could out-tow a 460, but even I'm really surprised by this one. Like someone else said earlier, part of me wonders if it's more of a difference in perception since the 460 makes so much low end power, whereas the 5.4 makes most of it's power at higher rpm's. However, I can't really argue with the man since he owns both trucks, but not really what I would expect.

 

We have both of these (460 and 5.4) in our yard care fleet and I know this- when the 26' trailer(4300lbs) has the 401 TLB (9560 lbs) on it the 88 460 powered F250 SD ex cab in front of it as around town you can stay with traffic without sweat and if you try that with the 5.4 powered F250 SD ex cab you have to floor it alot of the time and hope for a lane to open for you. The 460 has a rv stlye cam, 3" dual exhaust and a K+N air filter, 4.10, the 5.4 has K+N and exhaust and 4.10. You can argue all day about numbers on paper but I have 4 drivers who know what I do- you can't beat the 460 around town or up on-ramps with the 5.4 when towing heavy!!

 

on a completely stock engine the difference between 3.73's and 4.10's is barely noticeable when it comes to racing. i took a bone stock 91 mustang 5.0 to the track with 2.73's and then put in 3.55's, 3.73's and 4.10s and only saw an improvement of .2 seconds from the 2.73 to the 4.10. all it did was make me change gears faster. on my built mustang i saw over .5 second improvement going from 4.10's to 4.56's. the less power you have, the less difference youre going to see with the gear changes. especially something as close as 3.73 vs 4.10.

 

I see you are still at it. Placing suppositions against the 5.4 3v when you have ZERO experience with the motor, or the rest of the drivetrain...and yet you feel it necessary to belittle it

Please try actually towing with a 5.4 3v...especially the 6 speed 2009+ model. Then come back in here with your assumptions.
I don't understand why you and a few select others are so bound & determined that the 5.4 3v is a worthless motor

 

Seems you are thinking as i am. All I'm seeing is peoples experience with older 5.4's with less power and less gears. Put the 460 into my 09 f150 and im sure it will tow better than my 5.4 but this ain't what the comparison is about! The only way you can get a comparison is look at a F150/F250 with a 460 and then look at a F150 with the new 5.4 and 6 speed seeings the whole thread was about the new 09 with new 5.4 and 6speed and not the old 5.4 with 4 speed. The figures Show the new 5.4 to have better power figures and that coupled with the 6 speed makes it a far superior setup than of old. Now if you guys want to argue it with the old engine and trans then go ahead and post over on the 08 forum but this is about 09's. But so far like i have said all the figures i see for HP/TQ, 0-60 and Towing show the 09 f150 setup to be better than the 460 f150/f250's and just so that you are aware the 09 tows nothing like the 08 tows so can we stop tow comparrisons and keep it to the 09.

 

Hello-

The '09 DOES work better than the previous years' 5.4 trucks with their 4 speed automatics. The 5.4 , other than a few tweeks is essentially the same engine , and the 10 hp is only a 'token' from Ford just to say they did something. The 6-speed made most of the difference. The REAL change will be with the addition of the 5.0 Coyote engine next year to replace the 5.4 . This will not only get better performance (ie: torque/hp) , but also better fuel milege . The next step up will also be the 6.2 'Boss' or Premium option. With these two, it will be game over for the competition , and a much anticipated 'Goodbye' to the underachieving 5.4 . At this time next year other 'correctly engineered solutions' will be available for Ford power other than smoke & mirrors 5.4 'weezers'.
thanks -DSC

 

You keep saying this thread is about the 5.4 with the 6 speed tranny, again I wish you would go to the very first thread and read what the ops original question is. You seem to have alot of opinions, but failed to read the very first thread, and ive yet to see you post some facts to back up what you say. Just your own compariosn from your older 5.4 trucks to your newer one, no comparison to a 460.

Again with the exception of the "new" 5.4 having ten extra horsepower, on regular gas, and yes it does have a few more when using e85 (which again most people dont use, look next time you will up) then this is a very valid topic for this 09 forum.

You also have seemed to fail to read what phillips wrote in his thread about where each engine makes is power, which basically explains why the 460 is better suited for towing.
Very hard to argue with the mathematics of it, especially when a guy that has both trucks came on and told us his experience, and he has both trucks sitting in the driveway! (and I know the differences in gearing, etc)

Off topic
Also regarding the old 4 speed tranny to the new 6 speed one, does anyone have the ratios of each gear? When I was researching buying an 09 f150 (ended up being too light duty for my needs for a second truck) Someone posted the tranny ratios, and I thought the last two gears were both fairly high overdrives.

 

Exactly, but thats on regular gas, the power does go up when using e85, which ALOT of people dont use!
100 percent right about the tranny too, although this thread was started about just the engines, which some people forgot!

 

Here you go buddy:

6R80

1st: 4.17
2nd: 2.34
3rd: 1.52
4th: 1.14
5th: 0.86
6th: 0.69
Reverse (in case anybody wants to know): 3.40



4R70W

1st: 2.84
2nd: 1.55
3rd: 1.00
4th: 0.70



E4OD/4R100

1st: 2.71
2nd: 1.54
3rd: 1.00
4th: 0.71

 

Well so far all i have seen on here about user's compaireing both is that it's faster. Which from the figures i have seen online show it to be as much as 2 secs slower to 60 than the new 5.4 with the 6 speed!!! I dont class one person's results in how quick the truck is as 10% when every figures i see shows that it's slower and produces less TQ and HP than the new 5.4. I also like the way you say that because not many people use e85 then it cant be included in the figures but the engine in stock form can put out these figures!! Just because you dont use it it dont mean that everyone else dont. So yes the truck does have more power. No matter how you look at it the 5.4 has more HP, more TQ, better fuel economy, Faster 0-60, More gears, Smoother and quiter. Which in my eyes makes a better tow vehicle. I dont care if i can leave my truck in 6th gear going up a hill because i have more than one gear. It seem to me that people think a truck that has to use it's gears is a worse towing vehicle than a truck that can stay in it's high gear the whole trip even when using gears increase's fuel economy! Perhaps they should now one make engines with no HP and loads of TQ and have one gear!

 

Well, you guys may not like me saying this but the V10 will out pull both.
There are so many ways that the 5.4 and 460 are different that it is comparing apples to oranges. The main difference is the gearing. I think that with the same gearing the 460 would get the 5.4 off the line, but the 5.4 would come back as it got the revs up.
With pulling more or less the same, then you have to look at economy.
I think it goes unsaid what the winner their is.

 

We can win a bet with the confirmation of your vin number. On another Fourm there is a bounty for a real "J" code F150. Many have said they had one but No one ever produced real proof like a window sticker or a picture of the vin or rubbing EVER.

Intrested ?
Its easy if you have the truck right there.
thanks
Rob