Canadian Karebear
Saint Albert Alberta
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Joined: 10/22/2007
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Im reading so much about gear ratio's and given the poor performance of my vehicle on hills while towing, Im wondering if it's the gears that I need to be concerned about.
How much time and effort (or is it even possible) is it to change the gears to increase towing performance?
Sorry about the dumb question, but I am rather inept when it comes to mechanics of a vehicle.
Thanks.
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bufordt
Pennsylvania
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Joined: 03/21/2007
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If you have to ask you probably should not attempt to do it. But a competent mechanic can do it and the cost is usually around $600 - $800 per axle. It can make a great improvement in both your towing ability and economy. A vehicle that is lugging a trailer through the hills is way less that a comparable vehicle that is at higher rpm's but at better torque multiplication.
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Road Ruler
Canada
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Joined: 09/11/2003
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Getting these vehicles to handle with trailer in tow has been a challenge over the years.
The towing specialist here in the area have worked on many and have come up with a formula that works. The one mod you should check out is this one....
Upgrade the P235x75x15 tires with a 215x75x15 LT (load range C) tire.
The LT tires have a stiffer side wall, fit the Ford rim better and is smaller in Dia so you get a similar effect as changing gears. The whole combination will feel much more stable overall. To verify the info you could check with Can Am RV here in Ontario.
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Canadian Karebear
Saint Albert Alberta
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Joined: 10/22/2007
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bufordt wrote:If you have to ask you probably should not attempt to do it. But a competent mechanic can do it and the cost is usually around $600 - $800 per axle. It can make a great improvement in both your towing ability and economy. A vehicle that is lugging a trailer through the hills is way less that a comparable vehicle that is at higher rpm's but at better torque multiplication.
How many axles does my vehicle have?
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Jacdanboy
North East
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Joined: 05/21/2003
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Canadian Karebear wrote:bufordt wrote:If you have to ask you probably should not attempt to do it. But a competent mechanic can do it and the cost is usually around $600 - $800 per axle. It can make a great improvement in both your towing ability and economy. A vehicle that is lugging a trailer through the hills is way less that a comparable vehicle that is at higher rpm's but at better torque multiplication.
How many axles does my vehicle have?
Ok you are banned from doing it
SUV has 2 differentials - which is what you are worried about in most cases. (oh and the axle term is technically wrong, your vehicle probably has 4 of them)
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hemi-kz
Eastern PA
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Joined: 06/14/2006
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If lugging on hills is the problem, no need to go to all the expense of changing axle gears, just down-shift the transmission. Higher axle ratios help with getting a load started from a stop. Because there is no gear lower than first. But if you are going up a hill in, say, third gear, then shifting to second will allow the engine to run faster, where it makes more power. It's the total (transmission * axle) gear ratio that matters.
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horton333
Newmarket (Ontario)
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Joined: 11/08/2006
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Canadian Karebear wrote:
How many axles does my vehicle have?
Your sig says 4WD.....
For such a small trailer a gear change may not be required. I had good results with going to a lower profile tire as is suggested upthread. Even has a side benefit of the kid driving slower, as I never changed the speedometer programming so it reads 'high'.
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Caddywhompus
Southeast WI
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In addition to Road Ruler's very good reply, I will add the following;
Is the high cost of having your differentials changed to a steeper final drive really worth the expense? What kind of performance issue are we talking about here, and exactly how much of an annoyance is it for you? Enough to spend $1000-1500 to correct? Is it possible that we are just expecting a little too much from our tow vehicle by asking it to climb every grade at the speed limit without down shifting? I'm just speculating is all.
Lets say you have a tough time climbing a grade in direct drive (3rd gear for you) so the truck wants to drop to 2nd gear. Why not slow down, move over into the truck lane and let it pull the grade in 2nd at a slightly lower speed. Once you remove some of the aerodynamic drag from traveling at the higher speed and allow yourself to drop 10-15mph you may well find you can easily pull the grade with some pedal leftover AND without listening to the motor scream along at 4000rpm needlessly.
Sure it might take a few minutes longer to get to the top, but your aren't flogging the motor for everything it's got. And by running in the lower gear you reduce the input torque required to move the combo so your transmission sees less load as well. You will probably find that on these steeper grades you aren't moving any slower than OTR trucks or older Winnebagoes anyway.
Just food for thought.
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mecreature
Indianapolis, IN
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Joined: 09/27/2004
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the tire suggestion is a good one... since at some point you will need tires anyway..
and dont be afraid to slow it down a bit.
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eurohazard
Travis AFB, CA
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Joined: 12/09/2006
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Road Ruler wrote:Getting these vehicles to handle with trailer in tow has been a challenge over the years.
The towing specialist here in the area have worked on many and have come up with a formula that works. The one mod you should check out is this one....
Upgrade the P235x75x15 tires with a 215x75x15 LT (load range C) tire.
The LT tires have a stiffer side wall, fit the Ford rim better and is smaller in Dia so you get a similar effect as changing gears. The whole combination will feel much more stable overall. To verify the info you could check with Can Am RV here in Ontario. Pretty good solution and cheaper. Odometer and speedometer will be off, but that might be able to compensated for through adjustments/calibration.
Canadian Karebear wrote:How many axles does my vehicle have? 2, if that was a serious question. 
-2006 Nissan Armada LE 4x4
-2007 Coachmen 19FLB SE
-2007 Regal 1900 w/ 4.3 EFI Volvo
Supercharged wrote:4-in-a-fiver and my statments make the same amount of since.
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