Reverse Up Incline

[Great Offender]

So I have little to no experience with the auto transmissions in these vehicles but when I am in reverse on an incline I feel like it just sits there waiting for me to dump the clutch. Lightly applying throttle makes it lurch. I guess I am still a bit unaccustomed to the A/Tl but ...

Does anyone else have the same issue on inclines in reverse. I haven't had a Jeep in years and the last one was a M/T with a clutch. Nothing to compare it to.

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[bleda2002]

I had this issue until I regeared to 5.13s, now it can actually do things in reverse with some grace as it has enough torque even in R.

Some of it is also that the gas pedal has a bit of a dead-ish spot at the top since its not actually linear. A pedal commander type thing to take out the initial dead spot helps as well.

 

[Skull]

Hill descent control will hold it on a hill until you hit the gas…

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

I believe it's the the hill "hold" control letting off/turning on that you're feeling. Just be more pronounced with the gas pedal and you'll eventually get the feel for it.

Much like how every clutch pedal drives differently, different automatic cars drive differently. Especially niche ones like this.

I don't think you need to regear or install a silly item like a pedal commander, just feel the truck out and get familiar with it.

 

[TheRealStreetcommander]

Reverse is a bit tall and unless I give it
more gas, I feel like I’m resting it on the converter when backing up steep inclines.

Keep in mind that the ZF8 is indisputably the greatest transmission made by a human in the last 20 years.

On occasion when I’ve towed very heavy, I have had no choice but to put it in 4lo when backing up inclines. Under no circumstances should you ever require 4lo if you are mostly unladen.

I’m stock tires size. Clown-rounds change everything.

 

[GOCAMPN]

If I back into my inclined driveway from the road it goes right up. But if I am stopped in my driveway and flip it into reverse I'll actually roll forward without brakes/gas. ?

2020 Sport w/Max Tow, 4.10s and 37"S

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Like said -reverse is a high ratio. It takes more "gas" to make it move over or up something in reverse because it's like taking off in 2nd or 3rd gear.
Not sure what stall these converters are. If they are a high enough stall, that's another reason for needing more gas to get going.
But it's mostly the high gearing for reverse.

My car with a manual is so bad, I drive it down our driveway and turn around instead of backing in so I don't have to back out of the driveway - you can't.
I could probably easily go 60 mph in reverse with it and not even break a sweat with the engine.

 

[bd100]

Like said -reverse is a high ratio. It takes more "gas" to make it move over or up something in reverse because it's like taking off in 2nd or 3rd gear.
Not sure what stall these converters are. If they are a high enough stall, that's another reason for needing more gas to get going.
But it's mostly the high gearing for reverse.

My car with a manual is so bad, I drive it down our driveway and turn around instead of backing in so I don't have to back out of the driveway - you can't.
I could probably easily go 60 mph in reverse with it and not even break a sweat with the engine.

So why do they make them that way? Packaging issues in the design of the transmission, don't want to overload the differential gears in reverse, or what?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So why do they make them that way? Packaging issues in the design of the transmission, don't want to overload the differential gears in reverse, or what?

Good question. But it's one reason I only buy automatics for towing and backing things.
The T5 in my car is geared so high in reverse that backing up my driveway is difficult - can't get up the hill without giving it some gas, and doing that shoots you up fast or you are slipping the clutch to control speed while getting up the incline.
I've noticed that backing my truck up to the back overhead door on my garage is difficult with my JT - I can drive up to it, but backing up to it to unload things into the back of the garage is a pain.
I don't know why transmissions have such high gears in reverse. I don't remember my first cars being that way (up through 1970). Seems like it all changed sometime in the late 70s or early 80s.

I seem to recall reverse being something like 3.20:1 ratio - and no one agrees on the reason, the web is full of guesses, people tossing it at the wall to see what sticks. "It's to make it easier to move in reverse" was a laughable response, or "make it less likely to lurch when going in reverse" and that, too, is a joke. Taking off forward or backward is harder in a higher gear, not easier. Another was "it's mostly used to back out of parking spots so a higher ratio is better" Wow - so you need to ZIP back out of that spot quickly and ram into the car passing behind you at a higher speed? parallel parking is a pain in the butt and they think that a higher reverse is better for parking?
So that's the sort of total guesses out there on the web. Thank goodness those weren't engineers responding.

 

[Mad Dog]

The high reverse gear is dangerous. My 5spd 03 rubicon has a good transmission. The 6spd in the JT sucks even with a new aftermarket clutch, better than stock but not as good as good as the TJ. I guess a hemi is somewhere in the future or a battery pack.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I had this issue until I regeared to 5.13s, now it can actually do things in reverse with some grace as it has enough torque even in R.

Some of it is also that the gas pedal has a bit of a dead-ish spot at the top since its not actually linear. A pedal commander type thing to take out the initial dead spot helps as well.

I couldn’t agree more. With 5.13’s, I will sometimes choose to take an uphill line backwards to avoid 17 Y-turns. In low, it crawls up like it’s in forward.

 

[KevinM60]

In response to the reverser gear ratio:
My thought without looking into it is that with only one gear it has to be geared high enough to go faster than 1st would go in reverse. However they have it geared gives the ability to cover a larger speed range.

 

[TheRealStreetcommander]

How could you drive 70mph in reverse down the interstate when you miss your exit, if it wasn't geared so high? Guys, the tall reverse is a value-added feature.

 

[Ryan...]

The insanely bad reverse gearing is my only true gripe with my truck. With the manual transmission it's really, really annoying.

I've snubbed this thing out 2x in reverse since I owned it, haven't done that in about 17 years since my first manual vehicle.

 

[bd100]

Maybe it's so people can try Fast and Furious stunts.

Didn't realize that clip of driving backwards after a moving truck was actually possible with a stock vehicle!

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