roundman

Another way of saying it is "lower gears have higher numerical gear ratios" and "higher gears have lower numerical ratios"
Lower gears improve acceleration by making the engine rev faster for the same wheel speed but they will limit top end speeds some because the engine will reach maximum rpm at a lower top end speed. higher gears help gas mileage by letting the engine run slower for the same wheel speed and will let the top speed go higher before the engine reaches its maximum rpm.
Gears like 3.73 and 4.10 are good low gears while 2.73 and 3.08 are good high gears.
NegadivOne you're confusing "quicker" and "faster"- quicker refers to acceleration and how quick you get from point A to point B while faster refers to how fast the car is moving when it gets to point B. In drag racing terms, quick refers to the ET or elasped time while fast refers to the speed at the finish line.

NegadivOne

hey thanks for the help guys. that makes more sense now. i understood the concept of the different ratio gears before, but for some reason reading about the tire rotations just made my mind go retarted for a bit. anyways, thanks again for explaining it to me!

roundman

You're welcome! Glad to be of service!

Stinger

LOL Dang Roundman you the man !! You should give classes bro! [8D] Sound like Rocket mustang guy heheheh. BTW havent seen you on in a while whats been going on?

roundman

I've been fighting a bad summer cold and haven't felt like getting on the computer too often lately. I'm finally getting over it I think and I will be checking in more often I hope. BTW, thanks for the compliments! Working as a maintenence engineer I often had to figure out gear ratios and sheave/sprocket sizes to make equipment run at certain speeds and that helps me understand this subject a bit better than the average guy I guess. I also was a vibration analyst and to do this correctly, you must be able to calculate shaft speeds on the internal shafts in double and triple or quadruple reduction gear reducers in order to properly analyze the vibration data signatures to determine if there are bearing or gear defects. It can get a little bit hairy when the driver is a variable speed motor too.