Ram Eco-Diesel vs F150 2.7 TT - Davis Dam
You just know it's not gonna be close! So which is better? Horsepower or torque lol. (The answer is both, apparently.)
Forum Discussion
mt1729 wrote:
HP is great for a car but for towing, torque gets it done. I had a old Mack with a 350 hp diesel. It had about 1420 ft lbs torque. It was a little slow pulling 70,000 lbs up a 7% grade but it always made it. How fast do you think a high hp lower torque engine would do? Even a 850 hp Nascar engine? They would power out & stop.
Neglecting wind resistance, the Nascar engine would pull the rig exactly 2.43 times faster.
Here's a way to think about it, if the Nascar V8 makes 850 hp at 9000 rpm (496 lb-ft torque), and I bolted a 5:1 planetary gearset onto the bellhousing, then I would magically turn it into an 850 hp @ 1800 rpm, 2480 lb-ft @ 1800 engine.
If I bolted that onto the Mack's transmission, you wouldn't be able to tell that apart from a highly modified Cat C15, aside from the sound...
See, torque can be manipulated by gearing, while hp ALWAYS stays constant.
The only reason a Big Rig uses low revving diesel instead of high revving gasoline V8s is due to fuel economy and longevity. That Nascar engine would last 500 miles and get 1 mpg pulling a semi trailer.
