S
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Guest
On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 09:09:50 +0100, Paul Rooney <[email protected]>
wrote:
>On 21 Apr 2004 08:00:09 GMT, Adrian <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>>Paul Rooney ([email protected]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
>>were saying :
>>
>>> But what's the main use of the dual range gears on other 4x4s? Is it
>>> for really steep stuff, or mud, or what?
>>
>>Exactly that. Anywhere where 1st is too high a ratio and you want to be
>>crawling.
>
>Why don't they just have one extra very low gear rather than a whole
>extra set?
Jumping in a bit late here so I hope I am not missing the point. Many
of the soft roaders have a dual range of gears to allow "crawling",
they are often not as low as the workhorse type vehicles. This is
because as you use lower gears not only does the speed decrease but
the toque exerted by the motor to the wheels is multiplied. This
increases stress on the gear train which has to be beefed up to
withstand the strain. This is why earlier landrovers had to be in 4wd
before low ratio could be engaged, so that the load was spread as
evenly as possible across all half shafts (the weak point).
For what it sounds like you intend to use the vehicle for (basic
personal access) I don't think it will be an issue. If you were
considering towing a large trailer and load cross country it would be.
AJH
wrote:
>On 21 Apr 2004 08:00:09 GMT, Adrian <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>>Paul Rooney ([email protected]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
>>were saying :
>>
>>> But what's the main use of the dual range gears on other 4x4s? Is it
>>> for really steep stuff, or mud, or what?
>>
>>Exactly that. Anywhere where 1st is too high a ratio and you want to be
>>crawling.
>
>Why don't they just have one extra very low gear rather than a whole
>extra set?
Jumping in a bit late here so I hope I am not missing the point. Many
of the soft roaders have a dual range of gears to allow "crawling",
they are often not as low as the workhorse type vehicles. This is
because as you use lower gears not only does the speed decrease but
the toque exerted by the motor to the wheels is multiplied. This
increases stress on the gear train which has to be beefed up to
withstand the strain. This is why earlier landrovers had to be in 4wd
before low ratio could be engaged, so that the load was spread as
evenly as possible across all half shafts (the weak point).
For what it sounds like you intend to use the vehicle for (basic
personal access) I don't think it will be an issue. If you were
considering towing a large trailer and load cross country it would be.
AJH
