So I am a fairly new driver and have been thinking about this question for a while: What are the numbered gears below Drive on the auto trans? they are 3 and 1 2

 

The gears in to your tranny. You can shift into what ever one you want to run. Drive automaticly shifts gears for you. They are good for engine braking on trails.

 

Yea I understand all that, I want to know the purpose for gears # and 1 2

Thanks

 

When you place the shifter in one of those other gear settings that is as high as the auto tranny will go to...

If you place it into 3... the tranny will shift 1,2,3 but not into overdrive.

 

I don't think we follow your question. he just explained what they do...it's manual control for gears 1-2, and 3 before the auto-shift in Overdrive

 

ok good information, I guess i'm just not asking the right question. When are those gears necessary?

 

are u askin when they are neccesary to use off-road? or in general use?

 

off-road for the 1-2 position

3rd is generally for towing when you don't want it to shift into overdrive and kill your rpm's (situations such as going up a hill with a loaded trailer, etc.)

 

if you are offroad and goin down a steep hill put it in 12 because the tranny wont go higher it helps the engine stay at a slow speed. if you are racing you can get you r rpms higher fast and get to speed faster.

 

The higher number the on the shifter, basically the faster you can go. The gears in your transmition are sized diffrently for different speeds and rpm. D is a complilation, using all your gears to accelarate, shifting up from 1 to your top gear. In #1 your gear is smaller hence lower speed, this is good when you want to crawl over rocks and such, the guys before me explained it pretty well just though id throw this in there.

 

Being able to keep the transmission from upshifting is convenient basically any time you don't want the engine to upshift.

Examples:
-Engine braking coming out of the mountains
-Hauling a large load up a hill
-4-wheeling, especially crawling. This allows you to give the engine more gas without it upshifting on you.
-Keeping your speed up in high-altitude environments, particularly highways. When you shift into Overdrive, this can cost you a lot of speed, particularly when the shift puts the engine's rpm's below optimum torque.


5-speeds ftw.