"strong" 3rd gear
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 897
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From: My Own Private Idaho
"strong" 3rd gear
I am puzzled when someone refers to a particular gear in a car as being 'strong'. In what way?
The car has the same cam, same power band for all the gears, so if you shift the car at the same RPM, how is one gear stronger than any other?
Unlessssss,
It's because a certain gear may be closer to the previous gear in ratio and gets in the higher rpm range quicker. EX. If the diff in ratio between 2 and 3 is less than from 3rd to 4th, the 3rd gear maybe be considered 'strong'.
The car has the same cam, same power band for all the gears, so if you shift the car at the same RPM, how is one gear stronger than any other?
Unlessssss,
It's because a certain gear may be closer to the previous gear in ratio and gets in the higher rpm range quicker. EX. If the diff in ratio between 2 and 3 is less than from 3rd to 4th, the 3rd gear maybe be considered 'strong'.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 62,139
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From: Athens AL
C7 of the Year - Unmodified Finalist 2021
C4 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
Re: "strong" 3rd gear (cgtarga1)
in a 700R4, the 1st gear is something like 3.06 and the 2nd is way below that, so the RPMs drop alot on the 1-2 shift for example. This is not the ideal situation for drag racing so many people change to a TH350/400 for the closer ratios.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 897
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From: My Own Private Idaho
Re: "strong" 3rd gear (vader86)
Thx Vader. I guess it was such an obvious answer noone else bothered to chime in. :D
One more 'easy' question...to confirm my understanding:
So based on the below ratios of my 3.45's
Final Drive 3.45:1
1st Gear Ratio 2.68:1
2nd Gear Ratio 1.80:1 67% of 1st
3rd Gear Ratio 1.30:1 72% of 2nd
4th Gear Ratio 1.00:1 77% of 3rd
5th Gear Ratio 0.75:1 75% of 4th
6th Gear Ratio 0.50:1 67% of 5th
4th is closest to its previous gear than the others are to their previous gear, so my 4th would be 'strongest'. True? Albeit not by much.
One more 'easy' question...to confirm my understanding:
So based on the below ratios of my 3.45's
Final Drive 3.45:1
1st Gear Ratio 2.68:1
2nd Gear Ratio 1.80:1 67% of 1st
3rd Gear Ratio 1.30:1 72% of 2nd
4th Gear Ratio 1.00:1 77% of 3rd
5th Gear Ratio 0.75:1 75% of 4th
6th Gear Ratio 0.50:1 67% of 5th
4th is closest to its previous gear than the others are to their previous gear, so my 4th would be 'strongest'. True? Albeit not by much.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 797
Likes: 2
From: Westminster MD
Re: "strong" 3rd gear (cgtarga1)
Frankly I think that a lot of that is pure SOTP (Seat of the Pants) dyno work :)
In my LT4 3rd gear just seems like the most fun, in most situations. Dropping to 3rd while rolling along (or better yet getting to the "front of the line" in traffic) is just a whole lot of fun - the car seems to accelerate great there.
In my LT4 3rd gear just seems like the most fun, in most situations. Dropping to 3rd while rolling along (or better yet getting to the "front of the line" in traffic) is just a whole lot of fun - the car seems to accelerate great there.
Former Vendor
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 7,204
Likes: 6
From: St Marys PA
Re: "strong" 3rd gear (TravisD)
For the 700 R4
1st is 3.06
2nd is 1.68
3rd is 1.00
so with 3.07 gears
your total gear ratio is:
1st = 9.3942
2nd = 5.1576
3rd = 3.07
You can see the big drop between 1st and 2nd. That is why these trannies are not really ment for racing.
Speaking with Dana at Pro-built he said the idea setup for 1st gear is to be somewhere between 9.00 - 12.00 gear ratio.
You can see that mine with 3.07 gears is at the lower spectrum. With 3.73 rear gears you would be around 11.41, if my quick calculation is correct.
Although the ideal setup is really dictated by your engine setup etc. Many people here report slower ets with lower gears because it is not matched to their setups.
I for one would like to get a set of 3.73s, but I can't justify the cost difference until the dana 36 goes.
If you are looking for a good racing tranny the 350 or 400 is the way to go, but there are added costs associated with mounting the tranny up.
:cheers:
1st is 3.06
2nd is 1.68
3rd is 1.00
so with 3.07 gears
your total gear ratio is:
1st = 9.3942
2nd = 5.1576
3rd = 3.07
You can see the big drop between 1st and 2nd. That is why these trannies are not really ment for racing.
Speaking with Dana at Pro-built he said the idea setup for 1st gear is to be somewhere between 9.00 - 12.00 gear ratio.
You can see that mine with 3.07 gears is at the lower spectrum. With 3.73 rear gears you would be around 11.41, if my quick calculation is correct.
Although the ideal setup is really dictated by your engine setup etc. Many people here report slower ets with lower gears because it is not matched to their setups.
I for one would like to get a set of 3.73s, but I can't justify the cost difference until the dana 36 goes.
If you are looking for a good racing tranny the 350 or 400 is the way to go, but there are added costs associated with mounting the tranny up.
:cheers:
