Thread: confuzzling gear ratio definition.. wanna clear this one up?
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Unread 23-06-2002, 23:13
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Re: confuzzling gear ratio definition.. wanna clear this one up?
Posted by Jim Meyer at 1/19/2001 10:30 AM EST


Engineer on team #67, HOT Team, from Huron Valley Schools and GM Milford Proving Ground.


In Reply to: confuzzling gear ratio definition.. wanna clear this one up?
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/18/2001 11:04 PM EST:



I believe the gear ratio is the # of teeth on the driven divided by the # of teeth on the driver, or the ratio of pitch diameters, driven/driver. So if the output (wheel) is spinning slower than the input (drill motor) the gear ratio is larger than one. I would assume everyone agrees with this point. Axle ratios on RWD vehicles are always greater than one, 4.10 and 3.43 are examples for GM trucks. The place where I sometimes get confused is which is a higher gear or lower gear.

When you downshift your car you actually get a higher gear ratio. When something is really "geared down" the gear ratio is infact really high. The lowest gear in your car is the one with the highest gear ratio. "Low Range" on pickup transfer cases and tractors produces even higher gear ratios.

Are all of these things wrong? I don't think so. So in conclusion it depends whether you are talking about gear ratios or just gears. My robot has really low gears = My robot has a really high gear ratio. "Low Gears" seems like more of a slang term to me but I still downshift my car (5th to 4th) when I want a higher gear ratio.

Even though I am a firm believer that there are stupid questions, I think this was a good one.


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