The Importance of First Gear Torque and Its Impact on Acceleration

In this video, we'll be explaining the concept of first gear torque and why you have greater acceleration when you're in first gear. To understand this, let's start with the setup. We've got an engine connected to a gear and the transmission, which is connected to a larger gear going to the differential. The engine gear is going to be 2 inches, and then the gear going toward the differential is going to be 4 inches. So, we're going to have a gear ratio of 2:1.

The ratio of the torque is going to be the torque output, which is the torque of this gear going to the differential over the torque input, which is the torque coming from the engine going to this gear. The gear ratio is going to be equivalent to the gear ratio times the torque input. For example, let's say our engine has a torque of 100 foot-lbs. The output torque going to the differential is going to be twice the gear ratio times the torque input. So, in this case, it would be 2 x 1 (the gear ratio) x 100 ft-lb (the torque input), which equals 200 ft-lb.

This increased torque means that you'll have a greater acceleration when you're in first gear compared to other gears. To understand why, let's look at an example where we have second gear with a ratio of 1.5. In this case, the output torque going to the differential would be 1.5 x 100 ft-lb, which equals 150 foot-lbs. As you can see, using a driven gear that is two times the pitch diameter of the driving gear will effectively double the torque going to the wheels, resulting in greater acceleration.

Now, let's dive deeper into the equation behind this concept. We have two gears: the driven gear and the driving gear. The first gear has a radius of 1 inch, and the second gear has a radius of 2 inches. Our torque input is 100 foot-lbs, which we need to convert to inch pounds for our calculation. To do this, we multiply the torque by 12, resulting in 1200 inch pounds. Now, we want to find out what force is required to produce this torque.

We know that force times radius equals torque. Since the torque is 12200 inch pounds and the radius of the first gear is 1 inch, the force required to produce this torque is equal to 1200 lb. When we apply this force to the first gear with a radius of 2 inches, we get an output torque of 2400 INB (inch pounds). Dividing this by 12 will give us the same value as our earlier calculation, which was 200 ft-lb.

This equation is the foundation behind understanding how gears work and why using a driven gear that is two times the pitch diameter of the driving gear will effectively double the torque going to the wheels. By applying this concept to different gear ratios, you can better understand how it affects your vehicle's acceleration and performance.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso in this video I'll be explaining first gear torque and why you have greater acceleration when you're in first gear so here's the setup we've got we've got the engine connected to a gear and the transmission which is connected to a larger gear going to the differential the engine gear is going to be 2 in and then the gear going toward the differential is going to be 4 in so we're going to have a gear ratio of 2: one uh so we've got the 2-in driving gear and the 4in driven gear so the ratio of the torqus is going to be the torque output the torque of this gear here going to the differential over the torque input the torque coming from the engine going to this gear is going to be equivalent to the gear ratio the gear ratio is going to be 2: one so let's just say our engine has a torque of 100 foot- lounds well the output torque going to the differential is going to be two the gear ratio times the torque input 100 ft-lb so that's going to be 200 ft-lb so effectively using a driven gear two times the pitch diameter of the driving gear you're going to double the torque going to the wheels so that's why you're going to have a greater acceleration than if you're in second gear say second gear had a ratio of 1.5 well then you'd only have 150 foot- pounds going to the differential now where does this come from this equation right here so if you've got two gears here's the first one the driven the driving gear and here's the second one The Driven gear and so this has a radius of 1 in this one has a radius of 2 in so we have our torque input which is 100 foot- PBS and we want to convert that to inch pounds for this so we're going to do multiply that by 12 you're going to have 1200 inch pounds and we want to find out what this force is right here so the force times the radius of this shaft will give you the torque we know the torque is 12200 inch pounds we know the radius is one so that force is going to be equal to 1,200 lb all right so now that we know that force is 12200 lb we've got 1200 lb of force coming down on this gear so 1,200 times the 2 in radius is going to be 2400 INB if you divide this 2400 in pound by 12 you're going to get 200 ft-lb that's just converting it back so that 200 footb is the same we calculated earlier uh for the output of the differential with that so that's where this equation right here comes fromso in this video I'll be explaining first gear torque and why you have greater acceleration when you're in first gear so here's the setup we've got we've got the engine connected to a gear and the transmission which is connected to a larger gear going to the differential the engine gear is going to be 2 in and then the gear going toward the differential is going to be 4 in so we're going to have a gear ratio of 2: one uh so we've got the 2-in driving gear and the 4in driven gear so the ratio of the torqus is going to be the torque output the torque of this gear here going to the differential over the torque input the torque coming from the engine going to this gear is going to be equivalent to the gear ratio the gear ratio is going to be 2: one so let's just say our engine has a torque of 100 foot- lounds well the output torque going to the differential is going to be two the gear ratio times the torque input 100 ft-lb so that's going to be 200 ft-lb so effectively using a driven gear two times the pitch diameter of the driving gear you're going to double the torque going to the wheels so that's why you're going to have a greater acceleration than if you're in second gear say second gear had a ratio of 1.5 well then you'd only have 150 foot- pounds going to the differential now where does this come from this equation right here so if you've got two gears here's the first one the driven the driving gear and here's the second one The Driven gear and so this has a radius of 1 in this one has a radius of 2 in so we have our torque input which is 100 foot- PBS and we want to convert that to inch pounds for this so we're going to do multiply that by 12 you're going to have 1200 inch pounds and we want to find out what this force is right here so the force times the radius of this shaft will give you the torque we know the torque is 12200 inch pounds we know the radius is one so that force is going to be equal to 1,200 lb all right so now that we know that force is 12200 lb we've got 1200 lb of force coming down on this gear so 1,200 times the 2 in radius is going to be 2400 INB if you divide this 2400 in pound by 12 you're going to get 200 ft-lb that's just converting it back so that 200 footb is the same we calculated earlier uh for the output of the differential with that so that's where this equation right here comes from\n"