New Transfer Case Idea

[Edwards]

Was out off roading with my son in my dad's '98 Ram yesterday and dreamed up what I think is a great new transfer case. Let's say you just bought a new 2019 Ram 1500 with the 3.92 rear end. You get higher towing capacity and quicker take off but lose some highway MPG due to the higher engine RPMs. Ram could solve this with a transfer case innovation by adding another gear/position to it.
Rename 2H to 2N (Normal or name it whatever) and you would use 2N for towing or hot rodding around town. You'd then switch to the newly added 2H for highway driving (non-towing) that would give you and effective 3.21 (or lower if the drivetrain could handle it) rear end thus giving you great highway mileage. You would then have a truck that truly could do it all.
I think this would be awesome but let me know if this already exists. I'm great at dreaming up new ideas after someone else.

 

[Flot]

Here's a 3 speed case:

https://www.highangledriveline.com/stak_3speed.html

I hear where you are coming from. However, I think you'd get into real concerns with durability and complexity. What you are describing is really the job of the transmission. It would be easier to take the 8 speed transmission and offer 2 different programs - which would skip or include gears depending on what you wanted.

I am actually somewhat surprised that we still have choice in axle ratios as customers. As transmissions get more speeds I assume this will eventually go away. In the truck world the biggest target is probably folks putting larger tires on.

 

[ExcursionDiesel]

A Gear vendors overdrive unit for 2HI operation only would give you better economy. Unfortunately they don't make a unit for the ZF 8 speed at this time.