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broncobase1

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There is a lot of misinformation on here regarding these two gear ratios, so I wanted to put it bed once and for all:

Overview:
The 4.7 ratio comes standard with the sasquatch package, and cannot be added independently without the entire sasquatch package.

THE DELIMMA:
I'll start with saying that my badlands doesn't have the sasquatch package. This should mean that my bronco will have a lower crawl ratio than a sas, since it has higher gearing. It should get better gas mileage, even run lower RPM's on the highway. It should even be slower on take off, right! Wrong!

The Explanation:
When we change the tire size of our vehicle, we also change the mechanical advantage. Think of a winch: the more line on the drum, the weaker the pulling power of the motor. In other words, the larger the circumference of the drum, the more strain on the winch motor. In a nutshell, added layers of cable=less mechanical advantage.

This same logic applies to the Bronco. A 4.7 ratio with 33 inch tires would indeed have better mechanical advantage than a 4.46 ratio! However, adding 2 inch taller tires (sasquatch) will decrease the mechanical advantage, therefore nearly equalizing the crawl ratio to a 4.46! My guess is, Ford realized this while developing the bronco; hence the 4.7 ratio option...

To Summarize:
A 4.46 ratio with 33 inch tires will have an equivalent mechanical advantage to the 35 inch with the 4.7 ratio on the sasquatch. That being said, if you are planning to change for bigger tires, you will lose SOME of your mechanical advantage. Therefore, if your plan is to put larger than 33 inch tires on your bronco (I didn't want bigger), then you definitely need to go with the sasquatch package to maintain as much torque as possible with the added rotational forces.

Cheers!

**As pointed out by some replies, you CAN get a manual badlands with the 4.7 ratio, but you do lose trail-turn assist.. which is why I didn't. I was strictly speaking of the automatic, I should have clarified.. although that is not at all the point of my post**
Great post! Its amazing how people love to find fault like pointing out a technicality that has nothing to do with the message being conveyed. Obviously there is a lot of misunderstanding of gear ratios and your posting is right on. I've heard people call higher ratios (lower gearing) as "better". For example "I'm getting Sasquatch to get the better gear ratio". Its not about being better, but what makes sense for your purpose. Huge tires and low gearing makes sense for a hard core rock crawler, but not for a daily driver. I have just a Base with base tires and it fits my needs perfectly as a daily driver that will get me to the ski area or trailhead.
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Jimmyleetennessee

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MT doesn't have that. OSS is for auto trans to calculate slippage. VSS is still a signal from ABS. Seriously try disconnecting your ABS and drive it
Of course it's not going to work, it's an integral part of the system. It will set off all kinds of faults...

Your manual transmission still has an output shaft, and does have the part I referenced.... Check it by VIN if you don't believe me.
Slippage is measured by the ABS sensors, speed is primarily determined by the VSS on ALL bronco vehicles, period. That's all I'm going to say about it, as this rambling is getting far too long and I have provided more than enough proof here lol
 
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Jimmyleetennessee

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Great post! Its amazing how people love to find fault like pointing out a technicality that has nothing to do with the message being conveyed. Obviously there is a lot of misunderstanding of gear ratios and your posting is right on. I've heard people call higher ratios (lower gearing) as "better". For example "I'm getting Sasquatch to get the better gear ratio". Its not about being better, but what makes sense for your purpose. Huge tires and low gearing makes sense for a hard core rock crawler, but not for a daily driver. I have just a Base with base tires and it fits my needs perfectly as a daily driver that will get me to the ski area or trailhead.
Thanks for the compliment, and you are absolutely right! People always tend to get caught up in small details, and find something to argue over.😂

This post had one purpose, and I'm glad you and many others understand it.
 

broncobase1

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You said it all... thank you for the comment.
Thanks! Unfortunately this site in particular seems to have more than its fair share of guys looking to insult and find fault. I know this is the Internet and to be expected, but the Maverick and Lightening sites aren't as bad as this one. Maybe its stereotypical that Bronco owners are assholes? I hope not.
 

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Changing tire size doesn't effect the rate at which sensors are spinning with regard to the ABS system. It's two completely different examples. Your speed sensor and ABS system must keep the same linear relation in order to function properly. Changing your tires makes the diff spin slower to maintain the same speed, it doesn't change the linear relation.
The ABS senses the speed the hub is rotating, it will be slower for larger tires.
 

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During development, 4.46’s were originally the highest gear ratio planned to be available. 4.7 was going to be a catalog item but it was later determined that 4.7 would be a more optimal gear for the multi-role build characteristics.

4.46’s were more than healthy during the early stages (talking T6 skeletons with Ranger top hats). The 4.7 gear ratio actually helped increase the power capacity of the 10R60. Paper specification is now 550 foot pounds in U725
I love hearing the real answer! I assumed it was at least partially for drivetrain longevity, so the transmission rating makes sense. Now can you confirm the 190 axles isn't equipped with larger than 265/70/17 for the same considerations? I went with a Badlands, at least partially, to get the more stout 210 Axle. Having the equivalent axle on my Jeep, with 33's, convinced me it was not a good long term option to just lift and add larger tires (regardless of gearing considerations).
 

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Thanks! Unfortunately this site in particular seems to have more than its fair share of guys looking to insult and find fault. I know this is the Internet and to be expected, but the Maverick and Lightening sites aren't as bad as this one. Maybe its stereotypical that Bronco owners are assholes? I hope not.
I think you came into the thread late. The OP has since edited out the parts where he was spewing the word "Facts" , and then information that was not completely factual. I myself was not nitpicking, I just knew this was going to be another "here we go again" thread. It led to all this confusion and the mess this thread is in. I STILL don't know who to believe now, with all this VSS, WSS, ABS nonsense. If this was all about tire diameter and gear ratios, who DIDN'T already understand this? It's why the Base with tiny tires doesn't come with 4.7 for instance. I think when people say "better" gearing, they intend on larger tires and that's a safe assumption.
 

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There is a lot of misinformation on here regarding these two gear ratios, so I wanted to put it bed once and for all:

Overview:
The 4.7 ratio comes standard with the sasquatch package, and cannot be added independently without the entire sasquatch package.

THE DELIMMA:
I'll start with saying that my badlands doesn't have the sasquatch package. This should mean that my bronco will have a lower crawl ratio than a sas, since it has higher gearing. It should get better gas mileage, even run lower RPM's on the highway. It should even be slower on take off, right! Wrong!

The Explanation:
When we change the tire size of our vehicle, we also change the mechanical advantage. Think of a winch: the more line on the drum, the weaker the pulling power of the motor. In other words, the larger the circumference of the drum, the more strain on the winch motor. In a nutshell, added layers of cable=less mechanical advantage.

This same logic applies to the Bronco. A 4.7 ratio with 33 inch tires would indeed have better mechanical advantage than a 4.46 ratio! However, adding 2 inch taller tires (sasquatch) will decrease the mechanical advantage, therefore nearly equalizing the crawl ratio to a 4.46! My guess is, Ford realized this while developing the bronco; hence the 4.7 ratio option...

To Summarize:
A 4.46 ratio with 33 inch tires will have an equivalent mechanical advantage to the 35 inch with the 4.7 ratio on the sasquatch. That being said, if you are planning to change for bigger tires, you will lose SOME of your mechanical advantage. Therefore, if your plan is to put larger than 33 inch tires on your bronco (I didn't want bigger), then you definitely need to go with the sasquatch package to maintain as much torque as possible with the added rotational forces.

Cheers!

**As pointed out by some replies, you CAN get a manual badlands with the 4.7 ratio, but you do lose trail-turn assist.. which is why I didn't. I was strictly speaking of the automatic, I should have clarified.. although that is not at all the point of my post**
Great post. I did the 4.46 base badlands and added 35s after and have never looked back or had regrets. In fact, when Jeep released the xtreme recon package with 35s, it only has a 4.56 ratio.
 

Bronco B

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It's only a 5% difference in gearing, I could run 35's on my Outer Banks and probably not feel enough of a difference off-road to care (and that's with the 4.27 gears), and the difference on road wouldn't be a big deal as the 2.7 has more than enough low end grunt. I currently run 33.5" tires (actual - not 34.5" sasquatch package tires that pretend to be 35's).

You don't "need" the Sasquatch package or 4.70 gears for 35's.
Seems not too long ago, a friend of mine had an older Jeep (much less mechanical advantage than new tech), that he was all giddy about having upgraded to 4:10 to support 35" tires.
 

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Of course it's not going to work, it's an integral part of the system. It will set off all kinds of faults...

Your manual transmission still has an output shaft, and does have the part I referenced.... Check it by VIN if you don't believe me.
Slippage is measured by the ABS sensors, speed is primarily determined by the VSS on ALL bronco vehicles, period. That's all I'm going to say about it, as this rambling is getting far too long and I have provided more than enough proof here lol
I tested all this in another thread. There is no OSS nor TSS on MT. There is no speed sensor of any kind on the xfer case either, nor a hole to install one (4A case...not sure about PT case). All VSS info on MT equipped Broncos comes from ABS. I wish it was not this way, it sucks, but that is how it is. Not trying to start any arguments, just trying to help. The info above is not factual. Can't say for AT...it may be possible for it to fail back to OSS for trans shifting during failure mode. Would be easy to test by unplugging your ABS speed sensors and see if speedo works, and if trans shifts normally, or goes into a limp mode.
 
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Jimmyleetennessee

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I tested all this in another thread. There is no OSS nor TSS on MT. There is no speed sensor of any kind on the xfer case either, nor a hole to install one (4A case...not sure about PT case). All VSS info on MT equipped Broncos comes from ABS. I wish it was not this way, it sucks, but that is how it is. Not trying to start any arguments, just trying to help. The info above is not factual. Can't say for AT...it may be possible for it to fail back to OSS for trans shifting during failure mode. Would be easy to test by unplugging your ABS speed sensors and see if speedo works, and if trans shifts normally, or goes into a limp mode.
You can test all you want by "unplugging the abs sensors." Without them, the computer won't have any ABS input, therefore it assumes the vehicle is not moving regardless of what the VSS is reading so it may not report a speed.

However, they are both integrated and therefore cannot work independently of each other without faults. I assure you, you DO have a speed sensor on a manual trans...I will post pics first chance I get.
 

Rkgzx9leftcoast

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With the 10 sped trans the slight difference in the 2 ratios would be almost undetectable to most with the same size tires. In the old days with 3 speed autos, or 4 speed manual trans, every little bit of gearing helped.

What most people feel with changing to larger tires these days is the added rotational mass, not the diameter as much. Unless you went from say 33s to 40s
 

zyglyrox

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Thanks! Unfortunately this site in particular seems to have more than its fair share of guys looking to insult and find fault. I know this is the Internet and to be expected, but the Maverick and Lightening sites aren't as bad as this one. Maybe its stereotypical that Bronco owners are assholes? I hope not.
Definitely an older age group with the Bronco line and they’re not able to take a joke or unable to get sarcasm on the internet.
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