Diesel vs gas......................
OK folks, there have been a few to many diesel vs gas threads that have shall we say gone to "Hell and a hand basket"! So if all of you would put in you BEST, no flaming reasons for going gas vs diese...
Forum Discussion
Torque is what gives a vehicle acceleration. Big trucks need lots of torque multiplied by low gearing so they can accelerate the load. Once they start upshifting, the rear wheel torque starts to drop and eventually acceleration stops. This is the maximum velocity the rig can manage. The rpm WILL be at the engines peak hp number.
Chuck, I'm not sure if I am reading this correctly, but a big truck does not require lots of torque from the engine. As long as the gearing will allow the torque produced to be multiplied to the level that is required at the axle, you would be good to go. A case in point would be the turbine. Very low torque, but with the correct gearing, you would get all kinds of torque at the drive axle. The maximum amount of torque that can be present at the drive axle for a given speed is limited by the amount of HP available from the engine, with the caveat as you mentioned "as long as the gearing allows the motor to spin at that speed".
In sum, an old friend explained it best when he said "Torque is what gets you moving, but hp is what determines how fast you'll end up going".
And that is a good rule of thumb, as long as it is put in the correct context. As I mentioned above, the torque being referred to is that present at the axle, not necessarily that ouput by the engine.
Bert
