torque vs. horsepower

From: CSiano@banyan.com
Date: Fri Mar 01 1996 - 07:09:10 EST


>just today someone wrote that torque gets you down the road not
horsepower.

Actually, Torque is what gives you the acceleration off the line, and what
moves heavy loads, but its horsepower that determines top speed and moves
the truck once the RPMs are up. Since Horsepower is really just a function
of Torque and RPMs, even that last statement is really just a rehash of
torque, but it does show the relationship of the torque curve and RPM.

>My question is how can I find out my gear ratio?

Chances are, it says on the emissions tag under the hood. However, you can
figure it out for yourself as follows.

Crawl under the truck (ignition off, parking brake set, lets be safe here)
and tie a piece of string tight around the driveshaft Align the knot so it
is at the bottom of the shaft. Now use a piece of chalk and mark a rear
tire where it is touching the ground. Have someone roll the truck in a
straight line (forward or reverse doesn't matter) until the tire makes one
(1) revolution. Again crawl under the truck and count how many wraps of
string are on the driveshaft. It should be one of the following:

3.21:1 (string wrapped 3 and a quarter times)
3.55:1 (string wrapped 3 and a half times)
3.90:1 (string almost wrapped 4 times)

Christopher Siano | "How do you control this thing?"
CSiano@Banyan.com | "Who Cares, Go FASTER!"
                     | -Suicide
----------------------------------------------------------
 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:07:20 EDT