Automatic Transmission Crawl Ratios

[kjmcdaniel]

I've been reading some stuff about how to figure your crawl ratio on several different sites.  A couple of them talk about crawl ratios with an auto tranny.  They say that because of the torque converter you need to double your ratio when pulling (ie. up hill) and halve it when coasting (ie. down hill).

Does anyone understand why this would be?  I admit that I am not an expert on torque converters, but for the life of me I can't understan what they are talking about. 

[84runner]

I dont' really understand what your trying to ask

[kjmcdaniel]

Unfortunately, I don't understand either.

I guess what they were saying is that because of the slippage in the torque converter, the tranny is not spinning as fast as the engine, therefore multiplying the gear ratio.  But I still don't understand why it would be X2 or X.5.

[WHITE_TRASH]

When the torque converter is not locked up as in when you are just taking off it acts like a slipping clutch.  Therefore it miltiplies your crawl ratio.

[84runner]

DUH