What’s an axle ratio?

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Axle ratio determines how many times the driveshaft rotates for each rotation of the drive tires, affecting a vehicle’s performance and fuel economy. Higher ratios allow for stronger pulls, while lower ratios provide higher top speeds. The gear ratio is determined by the number of turns the pinion gear must make to turn the ring gear.

An axle ratio or gear ratio refers to the number of times the driveshaft rotates for each rotation of the vehicle’s drive tires. This axle ratio number is important in understanding a vehicle’s performance potential, as well as fuel economy and engine speed in any measurement of miles or kilometers per hour. Typical non-overdrive transmission final gear output is a one-to-one, or 1:1 ratio of engine and transmission output. So, with the engine and transmission each turning one full turn, the axle ratio determines how many revolutions the engine will have to make to turn the drive tires one full turn. The more revolutions an engine makes to turn the wheels one full turn, the slower top speed and more power sent to the tires will result.

On vehicles that will need to pull heavier loads than normal, the vehicle manufacturer often offers a higher axle ratio as an option. Trucks and utility vehicles are often the recipients of these optional axle ratio packages, allowing the customer to choose a factory-duty axle package or a heavier-duty gear package that will allow the vehicle to pull stronger at all speeds. At the height of the muscle car wars, top of the line vehicles from all manufacturers included optional axle ratio options to allow for better drag speeds.

By adding a higher axle ratio to a car, the vehicle can accelerate off the starting line at a higher speed, thereby allowing the vehicle to reach its top speed faster than a similarly equipped vehicle with a higher gear ratio. more low. This throttle pairing is slower to react and get up to speed, and the lower axle ratio will provide a higher top speed. This is why the winning vehicle in a drag race may have the slowest top speed.

The ring and pinion gears on the driveshaft determine the gear ratio of the driveshaft, referring to the number of turns the pinion gear, or small gear, must make to turn the ring gear, or larger gear, one full twist. When trying to find the shaft ratio of an unknown gear configuration, it is possible to count the teeth on both the ring gear and the pinion gear and divide the number of teeth on the ring gear by the number of teeth on the pinion gear. . The result is the final drive ratio of the shaft.




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