Terminology: Tall/ short gears vs. Low/ high gearing

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What is the correct way reference this? Is it personal preference?

I have a racing video game that allows you to change the "short/ tall" gearing among other things. I personally find it annoying.. the gears aren't short. I prefer the terms high and low.

What's the BITOG consensus?
 
A high ratio is a low gear. 4.56:1 higher rpms towing

A low ratio is a high gear. 2.76:1 lower rpms fuel economy.
 
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This is how I have always heard it

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High gears as in high speed or AKA tall gear.

Low gears as in slow speed or AKA short gear. Let say If you drive your 67 Camaro with a 4 speed on the street with 5:13 butt gears, you will be doing a lot of shifting mumbling that 1st gear was sure a short gear.
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Sorry guys. Should've been more clear.

I'm well aware of the differences. Just curious about how it should be specified.
 
Depends on who you're hanging with. The circle track guys both dirt and pavement BITD talked about how deep a gear they were running. The offroad and crawler guys I've been around talk about low gears. Truck guys who tow complain about how tall the gearing is and wish for rear end gears in the 4s.
 
Differential ratios are confusing. It helps if you remember that high vs low gears is because the speed reference is the output shaft speed (axle shaft) versus the input shaft speed (pinion/drive shaft).

Thus a high (speed) gear is a 2.76 where a low gear would be a 4.56. High versus low for gear radios is the inverse of the numerical difference between 2 gear ratios because it's all about the output speed.
 
Those are just arbitrary conventional subjective terms, that could just as easily be defined the opposite ways. Not a problem, as long as speaker and listener both understand the conventions. Distance traveled per engine revolution would be less ambiguous.

Final-drive ratio doesn't mean much nowadays without knowing the transmission ratio (and any other applicable ratios) that's in series with it. It used to make sense when the top transmission "gear" was generally 1:1.
 
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Originally Posted by Hirev
High gears as in high speed or AKA tall gear.

Low gears as in slow speed or AKA short gear. Let say If you drive your 67 Camaro with a 4 speed on the street with 5:13 butt gears, you will be doing a lot of shifting mumbling that 1st gear was sure a short gear.
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5:13 gears on street...... 1st gear? "We don't need no stinkin' 1st gear" 2nd>>>3rd>>>4th.
crazy2.gif
 
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Originally Posted by oldhp
Originally Posted by Hirev
High gears as in high speed or AKA tall gear.

Low gears as in slow speed or AKA short gear. Let say If you drive your 67 Camaro with a 4 speed on the street with 5:13 butt gears, you will be doing a lot of shifting mumbling that 1st gear was sure a short gear.
19.gif



5:13 gears on street...... 1st gear? "We don't need no stinkin' 1st gear" 2nd>>>3rd>>>4th.
crazy2.gif



According to the gear ratio calculator I found and 20 minutes of research on ‘67 Camaro's, assuming 245 70r15 tires, Muncie M21 trans ratios, a 5500rpm redline, and a 5.13 axle, your top speed would be 85mph and first gear tops out at 39mph
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True … but for many years I've just talked in ratio numbers as you would when shopping an LT or SUV.

Of course 6 speed to 10 speed transmissions and CAFE have tweaked the rear end offerings a bit too.
 
Because the lingo is not useful to start with and a source of confusion.
Talk actual ratio was the message regardless of you seeing that or not.
 
I prefer tall to mean low number, and deep to mean high number. Cause that makes more sense than just stating the number... It's just personal preference. Real easy to not be clear.

When I hear high gear and low gear, I think the topmost and lowest gear in the transmission.

New term to me recently was "bulldog gear" or "bulldog transmission". Referring to the granny gear on old SM-465's (or SM-420's?) and the like. I guess granny got offended at being called low and slow, but the dog doesn't care.
 
I say low and high because that's what I grew up hearing. It also makes sense relative to high and low gears in transmissions and transfer cases.

I knew an old drag racer who would say tall gears fairly often, but not short or deep.

As a young hot rodder, I don't know how much time I spent under junked cars looking for a rearend where both both tires turned the same direction and one rotation of the axle made the driveshaft turn more than three times. That was like searching for the holy grail.
 
I grew up with "short" and "tall" gears, pretty easy to understand this language IMO. Short gears give slower end speeds, with more torque multiplication (good for towing and sometimes acceleration). Tall gears are faster with lower RPMs (good for cruising, normal driving, higher top speed usually).
 
Here in Spain we say Short / Long.

My 1988 Escort XR3i has a 4.29 FDR, Short
My 1975 Capri 3000 V6 has a 3.09 FDR, Long

( FDR = Final Drive Ratio, Not Franklin Delano Roosevelt )
 
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