Topic: triple case setup

[Steve-44]

I can definitely understand this. I've seen a ton of YT videos of big horsepower and skinny pedal usage, but you guys also have a lot of loose stuff and mud. It's mostly dry here in California and we have very large, high traction rock surfaces that make Crawling possible and in my opinion very exciting  

All quite true.  Which begs the question: How on earth did I end up a hard core crawler living in the south?  Ponderous; very ponderous. 
I tell naysayers all the time that "I graduated from mudding and spinning tires many years ago. I've moved up to a higher class of wheeling now."   
 

BTW, love the '511:1 club' beneath your avatar I've now done the same

Regards,
BigMike

Wait a sec, does that mean you just joined MY club BigMike???   
(I almost had some stickers made up, but I don't think I could use however many the minimum order would be)

Exhibit A from our local Dusy/Ershim trail (more pictures here). It is much steeper than this looks, look at the lean of the trees:

I'd like to get to DE one day; I heard it's a nice combination of easy & hard stuff.  As far as traction goes, ask Marlin about the traction at Katemcy Rocks in TX.  IMO, the so-called "slickrock" at Moab might as well be snow wheeling compared to K2.  K2 is the reason I decided on triples in the first place.  Microscopic in comparison to most stuff out west, and no amazing views, but the things I can crawl there.....   

[87Fontana]

Tripple seems like overkill.  Would be cool though.

[BigMike]

It's true, in my opinion anything over 300:1 has no practical purpose. However I find that the common 1st gear Dual Ultimate ratio of 223:1 is a bit too tall in extreme situations. Even with my 3RZ lugging down below 500 RPM it has stalled many times when I'm trying to and need to go slower, such as riding the brakes on a 25% off-camber incline about to take body damage. Second gear in Triple Ultimate however is 277:1 or 24% lower. This has been the magical gear for me when I cannot otherwise avoid substantial body damage or I can't find traction because I'm Crawling too fast. The speed allows spotters to brace their body or feet against by cab while I slowly Crawl away unscathed.

First gear Triple Ultimate is just for showing off!

Regards,
BigMike

[Steve-44]

First gear Triple Ultimate is just for showing off!

I'll have to politely disagree here Mike.  I've used 1st in "3XL" a few times that I felt it was deservingly needed.  Although the situations have all been ones in which I was climbing "walls" taller than my wheelbase, and maybe that's just not something most people point their rigs at like I do.  In all cases it was very nice to be able to ride so close to the edge of my vertical limits and being able to feel even the slightest change in my balance was crucial.  Only slightly less important than not rolling over backwards was being able to still have control of the steering and traction while 98% of the truck's weight was on the rear axle.

Case and point:
http://youtu.be/fx0fCT9LEt4
(Please pardon the video's name; it's the name of the obstacle and could've been worded better by the owner IMO) 

[Nation]

Triple cases eh....