i cant quite get my head around working this out so...... what diff ratio would be beta for acceleraion 3.77:1 or 3.32:1
cheers

 

3.77:1 will give slightly better acceleration.....

 

cheers

 

think about it. what does a diff do, except divide the drive between 2 wheels?

the engine is doing a certain speed, for example 3000 rpm. it's then going through the gearbox, that depending on ratio changes the speed at the output. for example, on most gearboxes 4th is a 1:1 ratio so doesn't change the output speed. lower gears reduce the speed at the output (but increase the torque) and higher gears increase the speed (but reduce the torque).

the drive from the gearbox output then goes into the differential, where it is slowed down again. in your example, and taking my example of 3000 rpm in 4th gear again, with a diff ratio of 3.77:1, the output from the diff will be 796 rpm and 3.32:1 would be 903 rpm.

you can see that the higher the number in the front part of the ratio, the lower the output speed. that is in effect, like changing from 4th gear down to 3rd, which you know gives you more acceleration.

hth.

 

That's cleared that up then!!! nice explanation

 

thanx for the explanation