Originally Posted by deathrunner

Awesome explanation Flamed.

4Crawler- So you're saying that an auto will crawl up things better than a 5 speed....well, at least smoother. I guess that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Flamedx4

Here's the best analogy I can think of for why gearing is the single most effective and also the most COST-effective way to increase power, or more importantly - to restore lost power when you put on bigger tires.

"Picture if you will..."
Your day job is to move boulders. You can't lift them, so they gave you a 6' lever and a block for a fulcrum. Using the lever you can, with only a little effort, move boulders from A to B all day long. Sometimes you have to move a boulder up a hill, but it's only a little harder, you can do it. Your health is great from this amount of exercise - your doctor says you're in great shape - probably gonna live forever!

One day, you come to work and the boulders are all bigger! You shove the lever under there and roll that first boulder, but now it's much harder. You can still do it, in fact the boulder even rolls farther with each application of the lever, but now you really break a sweat and you're starving at lunchtime. This hard work is killing your back, your shoulders, knee joints, wrists and everything hurt all the time, there is no way you're gonna be able to keep doing this for too long. And then there's the uphill boulder - oh no way, it's almost impossible - this is ruining your health and you're starting to age rapidly! BUT, you have no choice, it's your only job and you have to work.

So what can you do? Well, you can build more muscle. Go to the gym, buy some equipment, change yoiur diet - spend lots of time and money on equipment, vitamin supplements, trainers, etc. Eventually, with enough time and money and effort you might gain enough extra muscle mass to toss those boulders easily again.

But there is a much simpler solution. Why not just get a longer lever? Get one exactly the extra length percentage that the new boulders are larger. Now you are back to being able to do the job with just the right amount of effort, at the right speed to keep up your quota, uphill is okay again, and you feel great and are back on your sensible diet. Wasn't that easy?

You DO realise the boulders are your tires and the lever is your gear ratio - right? That food energy is fuel, and time and money spent at the gym equates to engine mods?

You can put 30% more tire on, and change your gears for $750 to get back to stock power and economy. Or-
You can put 30% more tire on, and spend thousands of dollars hoping to get 30% more horsepower, all the while killing reliability, longevity, and fuel economy. But wait! There's more! 30% more horsepower STILL won't get you back to stock, since final leverage at the differentials still has not changed - the entire drivetrain is still working under that 30% handicap, and so you need MORE than 30% more power to compensate for the losses.

Change the gears.

Originally Posted by Crux

Awesome!
Thnx for the replies- makes more sense now.

What can be done to help use the engine as a brake when descending steep hills while 4wheeling? Even in 4LO and 1st (automatic) I seem to fly down steep hills to fast- always having to brake a lot. I was told that people with stick shifts are able to creep slower, but not sure why?