Crawler gear in Bronco explained by Engineering Explained

[kairo]

Pretty easy to do, just find neutral safety switch, unplug, install a jumper wire so the ECM thinks the clutch is in all the time. Did this mod in my TJ. Good for starting in gear when off road and you don't want to drift back.

This comment reminded me of another reason I generally prefer the automatic. I've been on some ugly off camber trails before, and if it's wet or snowy, sometimes your ass end likes to try and slide you down a cliff. When you feel the slide and get yourself stopped, it's generally inadvisable to have any sort of rearward motion.

So in a manual, after you pick your butthole out of the seat fabric, you've now gotta get that vehicle going again with no rearward movement. With a steep enough crawl gear, and provided your front end isn't against a rock or a log, you can left foot clutch, right foot brake, and slowly nose yourself forward. If you don't have a low enough crawl, you're doing some foot gymnastics running the brake and the skinny with the right foot and the clutch with the left. Coupled with the fact that below you is a very long, painful drop if you screw up. That can add up to some serious mental pressure.

Thinking about the last time I flopped my TJ on 35s into a ditch (it happened a few times), I think the 95:1 would have been enough to get me going. As it was with my 4.56 gears and stock T/C, I just didn't have the oomph, and ended up laying sideways after a couple foot drop.

#1. Always wheel with a buddy vehicle.
#2. If you go alone, a winch is not a bad idea

ye 'olde TJ

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[everetto]

Excellent video!

 

[Toyhoarder]

if you still need help, speed is how fast you hit the wall. torque is how far you move it under pressure

That’s pretty funny, although I’m sure most of our members took that at face value, and not as a reference to one of EE’s videos.

 

[Fordboi]

That’s pretty funny, although I’m sure most of our members took that at face value, and not as a reference to one of EE’s videos.

weelllll... lol it was the only way i could think of to explain it. who is EE?

 

[BuckeyeinNV]

FYI, if you plug the same numbers in with a Squatch and 2.7, you get ~27,000 lb-ft wheel torque, 19,000lbf wheel force, and 1.5 mph per 1,000 rpm.

So yes, a little worse, but still putting so much force to the ground it doesn't matter and going plenty slow for rock crawling.

 

[Toyhoarder]

weelllll... lol it was the only way i could think of to explain it. who is EE?

You have to be messing with me.

That’s a horrible analogy and Engineering Explained (same channel) has a video talking about it.

 

[thehermdawg10]

Crawler gear sounds ideal for drive thrus and traffic. Which is going to be 90% of its life in SoCal

 

[kodiakisland]

I remember seeing somewhere that Ford said you would not even need to disengage the clutch to start the truck while in crawler gear. Just crank over and you're off, pretty awesome!

That is not unique. Every manual car or truck I've owned was capable of doing that on a flat surface, hence the reason manufacturers started putting a switch on the clutch to make sure it is depressed before starting.

 

[kodiakisland]

Pretty easy to do, just find neutral safety switch, unplug, install a jumper wire so the ECM thinks the clutch is in all the time. Did this mod in my TJ. Good for starting in gear when off road and you don't want to drift back.

My Tacoma came factory with a clutch start cancel switch. Maybe the Bronco will too.

 

[kairo]

FYI, if you plug the same numbers in with a Squatch and 2.7, you get ~27,000 lb-ft wheel torque, 19,000lbf wheel force, and 1.5 mph per 1,000 rpm.

So yes, a little worse, but still putting so much force to the ground it doesn't matter and going plenty slow for rock crawling.

But you have a torque converter, which helps a ton, and no clutch to fuss with. I had assumed the automatic would only be marginally faster than the stick. Thanks for putting the numbers to it.

All things considered, both the stick and the auto are slow as F in low range for factory vehicles.

Put your truck in first gear, get out, have a picnic, and then stroll back to it kind of slow.

 

[bobbleheadguru]

The crawler gear looks perfect to teach my wife and daughter how to drive a stick!

I had not driven a stick in 20+ years before I got my 2016 Mustang. It seemed like half the dealership was watching me when I took a test drive with the car, perhaps hoping to get a laugh. The sales guy even knocked on my window after a couple of minutes as I was looking through all of the controls before I started driving ("Are you sure that you can drive a manual transmission?"). Quite stressful!

Then after I got the car, I stalled out several times for the first few weeks, usually at lights. If I had this gear, I could have probably avoided that.

 

[Toccoa]

Wow! Now, I want the 7-speed even more.

 

[kairo]

The crawler gear looks perfect to teach my wife and daughter how to drive a stick!

I had not driven a stick in 20+ years before I got my 2016 Mustang. It seemed like half the dealership was watching me when I took a test drive with the car, perhaps hoping to get a laugh. The sales guy even knocked on my window after a couple of minutes as I was looking through all of the controls before I started driving ("Are you sure that you can drive a manual transmission?"). Quite stressful!

Then after I got the car, I stalled out several times for the first few weeks, usually at lights. If I had this gear, I could have probably avoided that.

Don't feel too bad. My folks made me take my drivers test with our stick shift vehicle when we had a perfectly good automatic at home too lol.

I've taught a lot of people to drive manuals in my old jeeps. Put 'er in low range and its hard to really screw anything up. Except one girl who couldn't discern a difference between first and third.

LEFT, THEN UP.

 

[bobbleheadguru]

Don't feel too bad. My folks made me take my drivers test with our stick shift vehicle when we had a perfectly good automatic at home too lol.

I've taught a lot of people to drive manuals in my old jeeps. Put 'er in low range and its hard to really screw anything up. Except one girl who couldn't discern a difference between first and third.

LEFT, THEN UP.

Jumping right into a 300HP+ Mustang and taking it on a test drive after not driving a stick for 20+ years (I had a manual transmission Saturn in the 90s) was not the easiest thing in the world. I would imagine an old Jeep would be much easier.

 

[kairo]

Jumping right into a 300HP+ Mustang and taking it on a test drive after not driving a stick for 20+ years (I had a manual transmission Saturn in the 90s) was not the easiest thing in the world. I would imagine an old Jeep would be much easier.

I don't think I've ever driven a stick anything with more than 200hp lol. I would LOVE to get a chance to try it in a mustang or a hellcat challenger or a vette.

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