When To Shift?

[19bonestock88]

Am i the only one who routinely shifts their truck below 2000 RPM? Normally 1600 or so when I am just cruising... I can generally pull 20-22 mpg...

 

[Karbuster]

Am i the only one who routinely shifts their truck below 2000 RPM? Normally 1600 or so when I am just cruising... I can generally pull 20-22 mpg...

I usually shift my 03 4.0l at 2k-2.5k and cruise around town at 1.7k

posted from Nexus 5

 

[Enitial_C]

I shift at 3200 to 3600. Pull feels right and shift seems to jump out of gear and jump into the next. After 5100 it seemes to lag. I changed the tranny and diff oil to redline. I never thought that the shifting with the mercon V and 80 90 gear oil was bad, just a little on the boxy side. I switched to redline i can awnestly say that every gear is smoother.

 

[Josh P]

My van has a 4.0 with headers, borla s type muffler without a resonator, T5 transmission and 4.10 rear end. I run 245 45 R17 size tires. I shift at the rev limiter cause you can hear me coming a mile away.

 

[HER2702]

Not necessarily trying for fuel economy mind you, but I shift my 94 at 2000 to 2500 and I'm getting 19-20 mpg and hanging with traffic just fine.

 

[HER2702]

Not necessarily trying for fuel economy mind you, but I shift my 94 at 2000 to 2500 and I'm getting 19-20 mpg and hanging with traffic just fine.

Oh, and I'm running 235/75-15 Goodyear Wranglers at about 26 1/2 inches tall.

 

[chewy012]

3000 - 3500 for me, 22 mpg highway. Plenty of shit and git

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[thcscubajohn]

I've got a 94 4L and by feel power seems to drop off just above 4500 I had the exhaust straight piped no cat for a while and it pulled all the way through to 5k I drive the f*** out of mine the diff tag says 3.27 but due to various calculations I believe it has 3.73s when I'm driving calmly I shift 1500-2200 when I ran E85 I was pulling up hills in OD at 1600 rpm so I say shift by feel because different environmental circumstances will change your output not to mention whether or not your on top of your maitainace intervals and fuel type

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[engine]

I’ve been a straight shifter all my life until I stumbled on this nice 2002 Ranger 4.0 SOHC 4WD with auto. It is straight stock with 30.5 inch tires and 4.10 gearing. It is a sweet running machine. What I am impressed with is how the computer controlled 5R55E transmission selects its shift points. At any rate of acceleration, it does not hunt and seems to keep the engine right in its power (torque) band which for this engine is very flat at intermediate RPMs. What I am getting at is that it never reaches the high RPM’s that the REV happy contributors here talk about.

Noise is not performance, and I see no justification for all the high RPMs that some of the folks here seem to enjoy. Torque is what makes the vehicle accelerate, especially when pulling or going uphill, not RPMs. I have not used my truck for drag racing, but even then, I think I would shift sooner than some of what I see here.

 

[adsm08]

I’ve been a straight shifter all my life until I stumbled on this nice 2002 Ranger 4.0 SOHC 4WD with auto. It is straight stock with 30.5 inch tires and 4.10 gearing. It is a sweet running machine. What I am impressed with is how the computer controlled 5R55E transmission selects its shift points. At any rate of acceleration, it does not hunt and seems to keep the engine right in its power (torque) band which for this engine is very flat at intermediate RPMs. What I am getting at is that it never reaches the high RPM’s that the REV happy contributors here talk about.

Noise is not performance, and I see no justification for all the high RPMs that some of the folks here seem to enjoy. Torque is what makes the vehicle accelerate, especially when pulling or going uphill, not RPMs. I have not used my truck for drag racing, but even then, I think I would shift sooner than some of what I see here.

For normal driving and cruising around you want to shift near the top of the power band so that when it catches again after the shift you are still in it.

When towing, particularly up a hill, you want to wind it out and get it above the power band so that it catches near the peak. It is best if you can get it in the gear you need and drag it out above the peak of the power band so that as you slow down going up the hill you run into the power band again.

 

[engine]

Good. When the power band (torque) is as flat as it is for this engine, there is a lot of room to choose shift points. This is not a peaky engine. You have a good point about towing uphill. The thing that I was mainly noticing was the people who ran the engine up during normal driving to what I thought were many more RPMs that necessary.

 

[fastpakr]

The torque produced at the output of the transmission will be higher at those RPMs though. Horsepower, in effect, is your ability to combine torque and engine speed to accomplish the most total work in a given instant.

 

[engine]

That's assuming you have the twist to move the load. If you don't, you can't get the RPMs up. So torque wins.

 

[fastpakr]

You miss the point entirely. The horsepower curve tells you that. The maximum among of torque you can generate at the output of the transmission will always be at the highest point on that curve that you can put yourself at through gear selection. I'm not saying choose an engine with higher peak horsepower as a towing engine. But the same engine will always move a load better at the horsepower peak than it will at the torque peak because of gearing.

 

[engine]

I concede. Gearing did it. We drop down a gear to get the RPM up.