Overall gearing ratios versus crawl control

When wheeling, crawler gears are actually easier on the drivetrain. You have much better control, and you don't need to spin tires as much or be as aggressive with the throttle.

Have you ever seen the "Slowest Tacoma", Big Mike from Marlin crawlers Tacoma build? He has like a 500 to 1 gear ratio. He can point the thing downhill, get out of it and walk down the hill faster than the vehicle will idle down it.

The stock gears in the 4Runner would actually be referred to as "high" gearing. Numerically low is high, and numerically high equals low in gearing terminology.

2.73 gears are "high", 5.89 gears are "low".

 

Maybe he made another account.

 

He's definitely over on Wrangler forum. I popped in last week, and it's the same as here. The off topic thread is just about all him lol.

 

I think @Yoytota means higher gears.

As mentioned in @Trail Runnah 's post, a lower first number in the gear ratio is actually considered a higher gearing.

 

They were saying taller gears/lower gear ratio numbers like Toyota uses are harder on the driveline. Kind of like how hard it is on everything when you tow in overdrive all the time

 

I was thinking hired gear ratios would be harder on it because it would cause your engine to operate at higher RPMs on average

 

That would be "lower" gearing. You have to think of it backwards. Higher RPMs equals lower gearing. Lower RPMs equals higher gearing.

Also, I'm not afraid to operate this engine at higher rpms. My 1987 MR2 cruised at 4000 some RPMs at 80 miles per hour.

I think the higher RPMs really only hurt gas mileage. I think a well-built engine isn't going to get hurt by running at 3,000 RPMs.

 

Put the same survey up on the Tacoma chat room and they currently prefer crawl control and low gearing ratios over no crawl control and actual crawler gear 8 votes to 6. Right now 4runner people prefer an actual crawler gear and no control 5 votes to 0. I thought they would be more aligned


Vs

 

Not badmouthing anyone, but it seems that a lot of people buy Tacos as their first 4x4, coming from a WRX or similar. I think they're probably more impressed by tech, and less knowledgeable about the mechanicals.

 

Just some sarcasm. Reminded me of seeing nitpicky threads and multiple posts from OP prior to anyone responding from the last breed before he was banned.... twice.

 

Sometimes an issue on technical trails is that while moving slowly along in high range the water pump isn’t spinning fast enough to move enough water through the radiator to cool the engine, and overheating can occur. The higher RPMs of low range solve that problem.

 

Looks like higher gear ratios " low range " are better on the engine and especially the transmission so it looks like Toyota is sacrificing some engine and transmission wear and tear and some performance for better EPA numbers with their lower gear ratios but who knows...

Impact on Wear and Tear
A higher numerical gear ratio doesn’t automatically reduce wear and tear under heavy loads.

Energy must be transferred somewhere, notes Ram Trucks. The wear and tear will increase in one area and drop in another depending upon what the load is and the drive cycle. Most wear and tear is dependent upon driving habits, e.g., slipping the clutch, jack-rabbit starts, over- and/or under-revving the engine, etc.

But a higher numerical ratio will save wear on both the engine and transmission. It is more of a benefit to the transmission because it will have a greater mechanical advantage over the load when trying to get the load moving.

The recent proliferation of transmissions with more gears makes the overall gearing more effective. Multiple speeds give multiple options to keep the engine in the most efficient operating range at a particular speed.

It’s all about balance. A manufacturer may choose a 3.73 because it knows the customer of a heavy-duty truck is going to tow, but isn’t going to tow a 20,000-lb. combined package. So, the manufacturer tries to provide the best performance with a 3.73. Then there is the customer that has the 3500 dually; it has the small 17-in. tire and 4.10 axle ratio. This will give the customer the best performance for the 20,500-lb. combined package.

The best advice is to fully understand your application. The axle selection also impacts many factors other than fuel economy. That axle ratio is key to thermal performance. If you are going to tow a lot of weight, the higher numerical gear ratio will actually improve the durability of the vehicle.

 

Haha funny! Toyota is sacrificing Vehicle wear and tear? I am not judging but seriously? Out of all the vehicle manufacturers I believe Toyota has some of the longest lasting and most reliable vehicles out of any manufacturer! So to say it producers wear and tear quicker. Well if I still own my 4Runner at 500,000 I am sure it will still be going strong!

 

Yeah I know it's crazy because the 4Runner has the lowest overall ratios of every truck and suv that I looked at lol

 

Maybe it has to do with the lack of availability of a manual transmission. Where “crawlers” are concerned an automatic is not ideal.

 

Those charts can be misleading. What exactly are they trying to point out? All the lower geared trucks in green come with 35s, yellow come with 33s, red with 30.5-31s. If those other trucks were sold with 265/70/17s on them they would be geared more similarly to the Toyotas for gas mileage purposes. If you put 35s on the Toyota and ZR2 bigger gears would be in order. Hmm

 

You still have the terminology backwards. Higher ratio = lower RPM's, lower ratio = higher RPMs.

 

Why do you say that?' I'd say that rock crawling is probably easier in an automatic, if everything else is equal.

I would say, though, that a manual transmission would benefit from a crawler gear more than an automatic, due to our torque converter. If I had a manual, I'd definitely want a crawl gear, or a crawl box.

 

That's a great call out. Something more comparable would be like the frontier overall ratio in 4low is in the mid 50s I think with the ZF 9-speed. Still much shorter gears than the 4Runner coming in at the low 30s overall ratio. Interested to see where the 6th gen is going to fall on the gearing spectrum. I doubt it will change much though unfortunately because Toyota takes such a conservative approach to gearing in their trucks and SUVs

 

The rock crawler rescue guy at Disney, Grand Lake, OK., swears by manual's in his crawlers. Automatic's utilize a pump to provide the pressure to lock-up the clutch discs. When going very vertical for long periods of time the pump could starve for fluid and cause a pressure loss and clutch slippage. The rescue crawlers are all manuals with minimal engines. His latest creation is a rotary powered rig. It is so low geared that he is doing nearly 9,000rpm just to roll it along.
If you're just going through a rock garden, an automatic would be just fine.

 

That makes sense. Thank you!

 

The ratios in the table are incorrect for the Tacoma rear end. The automatic has 3.91, the manual is 4.30.

Final ratio in the manual is 44.

 

Also "incorrect" I guess is the Jeep. It's a "Rocktrac". Also, it's available with 4.56 or 4.88 axle ratio, so 100:1 crawl ratio in the manual. It's works, amazingly well offroad.