2021 Cummins 1075 lbft peak torque at 1356 rpm
Apparently the 2021 Cummins makes its peak torque of 1075 lbft at 1356 rpm. Are you still impressed?
Forum Discussion
If the goal is to win the race up the hill you're absolutely right, more gears and high horsepower get the job done. Consider the following scenario:
Think about what happens with the Powerstroke running up a hill heavily loaded, foot to the floor at ... 2500 rpm. Everything is wonderful. Now the grade increases from 6 to 6.5 % and the engine needs to deliver another 55 lb ft of torque (this would be the approximate value if you were towing a 20,000 lb trailer). The truck will slow down until that additional torque is delivered. (slowing down reduces the power required but the torque requirement does not change much at all). If you follow the torque curve of the Powerstroke you see that the slight increase in grade would bring the engine rpm down to 1600 rpm before it would be back at an equilibrium with the hill. So obviously it would slow down only to whatever rpm is necessary to bring about a shift. So, the truck would slow down and shift, then probably speed up a little and as soon as the hill levelled off just a bit it would accelerate shift up and slow down a bit again.
Now look at how the Cummins would handle the situation if it were running at 2500 rpm and the grade increased a bit requiring an additional 55 lbft of torque. The Cummins makes about 878 lbft of torque at 2500 rpm. With the high torque rise of the Cummins, torque builds rapidly and so by 2300 rpm it is making more than enough torque to satisfy the demands of the hill. When the hill levels off again the engine would speed back up to 2500 rpm.
Think about what happens with the Powerstroke running up a hill heavily loaded, foot to the floor at ... 2500 rpm. Everything is wonderful. Now the grade increases from 6 to 6.5 % and the engine needs to deliver another 55 lb ft of torque (this would be the approximate value if you were towing a 20,000 lb trailer). The truck will slow down until that additional torque is delivered. (slowing down reduces the power required but the torque requirement does not change much at all). If you follow the torque curve of the Powerstroke you see that the slight increase in grade would bring the engine rpm down to 1600 rpm before it would be back at an equilibrium with the hill. So obviously it would slow down only to whatever rpm is necessary to bring about a shift. So, the truck would slow down and shift, then probably speed up a little and as soon as the hill levelled off just a bit it would accelerate shift up and slow down a bit again.
Now look at how the Cummins would handle the situation if it were running at 2500 rpm and the grade increased a bit requiring an additional 55 lbft of torque. The Cummins makes about 878 lbft of torque at 2500 rpm. With the high torque rise of the Cummins, torque builds rapidly and so by 2300 rpm it is making more than enough torque to satisfy the demands of the hill. When the hill levels off again the engine would speed back up to 2500 rpm.
