How critical is axle ratio?
In the modern day of 10 speed automatics, how necessary are 'towing' gears? By 'towing' I mean anything over 4.xx. These new transmissions have such low first gears compared to just a decade ago, is ...
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Looking at the 2015 F150 6 speed:
1st: 4.17
2nd: 2.34
3rd: 1.52
4th: 1.14
5th: 0.86
6th: 0.69
With a 3.73 in 1st gear, that's an overall ratio of 15.55.
Ford 2017 10 speed:
1st: 4.69
2nd: 2.98
3rd: 2.14
4th: 1.76
5th: 1.52
6th: 1.27
7th: 1.00
8th: 0.85
9th: 0.68
10th: 0.63
With a 3.31 rear end in 1st gear, that's an overall ratio of 15.52
That's less than 0.2% lower overall gear ratio in 1st gear. With newer motors being stronger, I would give the edge to the 10speed with the lower (numerical) gear ratio but not much difference.
And as someone mentioned, if you have 4x4, you can drop down into low range and make crazy torque at the wheels regardless for low speed manuvering.
Reverse: The 6 speed is 3.40 (12.68 overall ratio). The 10 speed is 4.86 (16.09 overall ratio)...the 10speed with lower (numerical) rear end ratio, has a significantly deeper overall reverse ratio.
As long as you aren't exceeding the max tow limits, there really isn't an advantage in getting a higher (numerical) rear end. Especially if you only tow a small percentage of overall truck miles.
1st: 4.17
2nd: 2.34
3rd: 1.52
4th: 1.14
5th: 0.86
6th: 0.69
With a 3.73 in 1st gear, that's an overall ratio of 15.55.
Ford 2017 10 speed:
1st: 4.69
2nd: 2.98
3rd: 2.14
4th: 1.76
5th: 1.52
6th: 1.27
7th: 1.00
8th: 0.85
9th: 0.68
10th: 0.63
With a 3.31 rear end in 1st gear, that's an overall ratio of 15.52
That's less than 0.2% lower overall gear ratio in 1st gear. With newer motors being stronger, I would give the edge to the 10speed with the lower (numerical) gear ratio but not much difference.
And as someone mentioned, if you have 4x4, you can drop down into low range and make crazy torque at the wheels regardless for low speed manuvering.
Reverse: The 6 speed is 3.40 (12.68 overall ratio). The 10 speed is 4.86 (16.09 overall ratio)...the 10speed with lower (numerical) rear end ratio, has a significantly deeper overall reverse ratio.
As long as you aren't exceeding the max tow limits, there really isn't an advantage in getting a higher (numerical) rear end. Especially if you only tow a small percentage of overall truck miles.
