so the 4.0 numbers match what I've read in the past and will vouch it definitely feels like 180hp or less with 33s and stock gearing at elevation haha. @Sixpack this is a very elementary and possibly dumb question but is it possible to swap in a cam and 4.6 internals without pulling the motor? I have my suspicions the answer is no but figured it can't hurt to ask. I have done just about all the car work one can do except engine internals work so my apologies for the overly simple question.

 

The cam itself, yes, no problem.
Pull the lower intake and lifters, and the front cover and timing chain/cam and crank gears.
Swap cams, reassemble, done. New lifters are a good idea for a new cam too.
Cam bearings, if you need them, will be a pain.
Radiator will have to come out for room for the cam bearing tool.
And, the cam bearing at the rear of the block will be nearly, if not impossible to change with the engine in.
As for the crank, you would need to seperate the block from the transmission.
The bare block is around 60lbs, add in the crank, and it's not much over 100 lbs(you can remove pistons and rods with the block and crank in the truck).
2 people could lift the block and crank out of the engine compartment too. Not the easiest way, but doable, but renting an engine crane makes it easy.
Tearing down the engine to the point for a crank swap is more time consuming than difficult, and it's really not much more work to pull the engine, which you'll have to do anyway.
If you had the transmission out, you could leave the block in the truck for a crank swap. But unless you already have or had to remove the trans, that's just more work.
But, techically, yes, you can swap the crank with the block in with the trans out...but that's the long way around, pain in the a** way to do it, vs leaving the trans in and pulling the engine.

 

Also
NO SUCH THING AS A DUMB QUESTION

 

thanks for the quick lesson! I wouldn't hesitate to pull motor if I had a driveway or garage but with just street parking at my house I was curious to see how much I could do without pulling motor. The more I'm reading and seeing ACE's swap kind of die out swapping in 4.6 internals, new cam and a port and polish on the heads seems like a cheaper and better bet to bump up a decent amount of power with less headache than a full blown swap.

 

I'm not looking for a ton of power but it would be nice to hold let's say 60 headed up into the mountains and not be flooring it and watch the speedo continue to drop lol. Re-gearing is on my short list to do this spring/summer bu that's not going to really solve my issue.

 

I understand the whole street parking thing, but swapping an engine is much faster and less involved than trying to do any of it in the truck.
If you have one empty parking space in front of you, that's all you need, and a rented crane with a load leveler.