The Cummins soon to take on the Ike
Time to place our bets; I still haven't decided whether the Duramax did lousy or if the Ford is an over achiever. Ignoring the performance of the Duramax I'm going to say the Cummins will do the ru...
Forum Discussion
rjstractor wrote:RoyJ wrote:
If you read his post again, it's flat *power* curve, not torque curve.
A falling torque curve is desirable in a heavy duty motor, because as you lug down the revs in a gear, you get torque rise, thus fairly constant power.
The Cummins loses less power at lower rpm than the Duramax, and thus won't need 10 speeds nearly as much.
Exactly, the motor with the flat power curve maintains horsepower when shifting to the next higher gear, whereas the motor with a flat torque curve loses horsepower with every shift. The extra gear ratios help minimize this.
The power curve isn't "flat" either but it is more gradual.
I agree though, more torque at lower RPM's means more power at normal operating speeds and less shifting, even if you won't get up a hill quite as fast at WOT because peak power is lower.
