well, while all this is very good conversation (and i dont mean to derail it at all by all means continue) the points many of you are bringing up are really more about technique rather than vehicle specifications. The formulas were intended to create a basis upon which to compair vehicles, and judge their abilities. How those abilities are applied to the trail really is more of a variable that would differ from person to person.
Yep, and there are big differences between autos and manuals, how people drive, and the terrain they drive on.
I ran the stock 465/205 in my truck for the last decade with 3.73 w/31's and 33's, and 4.56's with 37's and 42's.
The only time I ever felt it was undergeared was with 465/205 4.56 w/42's. All I ever do is rocks, I even ran Pritchett on 1/2 tons and 33's.
In it's current state I get into a lot more technical spots that you simply have to crawl very slow.
For comparison, of the three I thought were geared deep enough (using 600 RPM as my basis, that's where I set the idle):
SM465/205/3.73/31's: 1.15 mph
SM465/205/3.73/33's: 1.23 mph
SM465/205/4.56/37s': 1.13 mph
Again, I felt this one wasn't deep enough:
SM465/205/4.56/42's: 1.28 mph
I have since switched to SM465/241/205/4.56/42's which is .47 mph, I think that will be low enough
IMO, however, sticking around 1 mph in low range first would be a decent target.
