Overdrive VS. Drive

The original poster is a complete bubble head!!! He doesn't seem to have the gray matter to grasp the concept of O/D... LOL. It has been explained to him clearly and he still can't get it... so just leave him alone. Save your advice for someone who will understand it.

I thought overdrive wasnt an actual gear in the trans but like 1/2 a gear involving like a band or something but isnt a real gear but just kinda emulates one to save fuel. Also in overdrive the throttle isnt as quick to respond at least this is how my expirence with it has been. Up until about 40 mph drive and overdrive are at the same rpm however when you get to 55-60 overdrive runs at about 500-600 rpms less...

A transmission takes the engines RPMs and either gears it up or down using different sized gears. I assume you know how a gear rotating in sync with another gear works.

With an AOD if you put the car in drive or D you will have the use of 1st gear, 2nd gear, and 3rd gear. Putting the car in overdrive or OD you will have the use of 1st 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear.

The AOD ratios are:

1st = 2.40 : 1
2nd = 1.47 : 1
3rd = 1.00 : 1
4th = 0.67 : 1

Looking at these ratios you can see that all the gears before 3rd are higher numerically than 1. What that means is for every 2.40 revolutions of the motor, the transmission (through the use of gearing) spins the DS one revolution. When you get into 3rd gear or 1 to 1 it does just that, one revolution to one revolution. In overdrive the ratio is lower than 1 to 1, which is considered to be an OVERdrive.

What you seem to be asking is about what the tranny does whether your in D or OD. It does the EXACT same thing. The only difference is in D it will not shift into the 0.67 overdrive gear. Nothing more nothing less.

Sorry for the simple explanation but that might clear some of it up.

1.8kmint said:

I thought overdrive wasnt an actual gear in the trans but like 1/2 a gear involving like a band or something but isnt a real gear but just kinda emulates one to save fuel.

Click to expand...

OH, so that's why my 4th gear is just gone...interesting.

cervinistang you should check out this book. It's a good way to get familiar with the general specs, and some history, on the 5.0.

http://www.amazon.com/Official-Ford...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196746986&sr=8-1

There are other, more technical books out there but this one is a good start imo.