Enough Low Rpm Pulling Power 3:73 Gears..????

I have been working on this problem for a few months now...... I have excellent, smooth, powerful acceleration in 1st gear...... plenty of pep... then I shift into 2nd gear at around 10-15 MPH.... Going up a slight hill......... it bogs down.... And if I give it more gas it does not accelerate... just bogs down. If it is level... it will accelerate in 2nd gear...... What it feels like to me...... is that My gearing is TOO High.... to enter 2nd gear, with low RPM, on an incline....... It just has NOT enough pulling power (low end torque)....... I have plenty of strong, pulling power & acceleration in first..... engine accelerates smooth and strong in 1st.... so it is NOT the engine timing, or fuel flow or ignition/electrical..... Because I have a new rebuilt Prestolite Distributor, New points, condenser, cap, plugs, plug wires, new coil and coil wire... New fuel pump, fuel filters & fuel lines......rebuilt 2g carb..... the accelerator pump works fine... two strong streams of gas, when throttle is accelerated..... The Timing is in the correct phase for the odd fire engine.... It runs and drives, just perfectly, the way I want it to, in 1st gear ONLY.... WHY won't it accelerate at low RPM in 2nd....???? Could it just BE the 3:73 GEARING...????

225 V6 Dauntless, T14A tranny, D18 transfer, 3:73 front & rear gears......... Not much pulling power at low RPM.....????
IS THIS COMMON FOR A DAUNTLESS WITH 3 SPEED & 3:73 GEARS .......??????

 

Are your brakes dragging?

 

No.. Brakes are not dragging.. it rolls freely in neutral....... on a slight incline... NEW Brake shoes, cylinders, brake lines and master cylinder... all adjusted so the wheels spin freely.....

 

Tires are Not Big..... 235/15" 29 " tall

 

Have you tried to up the engine rpm before shifting into a higher gear on an incline? Sounds like the engine would be lugging if you were going slow and then tried to shift into a higher gear.

 

Something’s wrong, because that should rip in second gear.

Intake/exhaust restriction?

10-15mph sounds pretty slow for second gear with t-14 and 3.73s. It might just be well outside of its torque curve at that rpm.

 

Mine with 3.73 gears will lug its way up a hill in 2nd gear pretty easily, I run 31x10.5.
T14 has a 3.1 1st gear.

Sounds more like float level in carb or such.

 

You should be able to accelerate smoothly in every gear, assuming you aren’t short shifting. The t14 has a decent jump from 1st to 2nd gear, so make sure you’re not shifting too early.

Does this problem also happen shifting from 2nd to 3rd?

 

Plugging your info into an rpm calculator, that’s 700 rpm at 10mph, and 1045 rpm at 15mph in second gear. A dauntless is torquey, but that’s pushing it to expect it to pull up from 700 rpm.

 

Scroll down to the graph:

https://www.automobile-catalog.com/curve/1966/1303340/kaiser_jeepster_dauntless_v6.html

 

If you want low rpm acceleration in 2nd gear try low range.

 

Make sure the timing is advancing. My 66 rips in 2nd gear with 3.73's.

 

Sounds like a bad condenser to me. Shorting itself out st higher rpms.

 

That happened to me a while back, the linkage somehow fell off the carburetor and I installed it back how I thought it was and the pedal was to the floor before the butter fly’s were all the way open. I never found this out until I tried to climb a big hill. Later on I did find a had a bad vacuum advance unit also.

 

After you look at all these ideas do rule out a flat lobe on the cam. You can pull the valve covers and watch the valve train move, it will be very noticeable(one or more not moving as much as the others)if you do. This happened to me, now I run a oil high in zinc as many oils today don't have enough for the older motors.

 

Do you know the history of the engine?
A high performance cam would make it feel like a dog below 1200.
Or how about it’s maintenance records? Any chance it was assembled at some point with the cam sprocket off one tooth? Or skipped a tooth due to extreme wear?

 

Way back in the day, I had a similar problem. I thought the jeep ran great, started wonderfully. Turns out I had 2 spark plugs crossed.

Holy cow it ran soooo much better once I officially fixed it. I would suggest you go through the systems again, especially the ignition. As others have said, chinese condensers are commonly bad, even brand new. I have had really good luck with pertronix ignition in the past.

I think that even in high range, the jeep with a v6 should have plenty of power going up hills in second gear. Something isn't right. Be systematic, and double check all of your settings. Good luck!

 

OK , thank you for all these ideas... So the way I tested this today, was.... I start out in 1st, accelerate rapidly, winding it up to about 3,000 RPM, and then rapidly shift into 2nd.... and try to give it gas to pull a small hill in 2nd........ it just will not accelerate because the RPMs drop as I shift into second down to about 1,000 RPM.... and it will not pick up speed or RPM from 1,000 RPM.
Sure, I can put the transfer case into low range and drive it just fine in second up the hill.......... but I am wondering if something is wrong, when I can not accelerate from 1,000 RPM in 2nd gear pulling a slight grade.... or is this just the nature of a 3 speed with 3:73 gears........?? My toyota V6 4x4 truck with a 5 speed..... will accelerate just fine from 1,000 RPM in 2nd..... on the same hill......
Perhaps I will just need to climb the hills in 1st gear or low range 2nd.... and drive it differently than the toyota 4x4.......... about the post above this one, from RATTYFLATTY..... If I have a Flat lobe on the cam... wouldn't It have the same NO Power symptom. in 1st gear...?? and how could using high zinc oil un-flatten a cam lobe...??
About the condenser.... this is the third, New condenser that has been installed... same symptom with all if them.... and if my accelerator rod was not opening my butterfly properly... wouldn't that show up while accelerating in 1st gear as well...??? My vacuum advance does appear to be working when I rev it with a timing light on the marks... it advances out of sight from the marks......
I may be shifting 'to early'...... perhaps I need to rev it up higher, at a greater speed in 1st..... before I shift into second......... I was trying to drive it like I do my Toyota 4x4 pickup.........
I will take it out on to paved, smooth roads in town and try going faster and higher RPM, before I shift into 2nd..... I just can't try that on these rough dirt roads where I live, and have been testing this.........
No, I do not know the history if the engine....... bought it from somebody as a rolling chassis (no body).... it had not been run in over 10 years... and he bought it from somebody... both Previous owner had never driven it........the engine sounds tight and strong... nice rumble... running smooth... starts cold with coke out right away..... no smoke. I will double check the order if the wires.... thanks everyone... I appreciate your help.... and will keep checking everything until I find it... and fix it....

 

Well i’m Still thinking it could be a Prestolite distributor issue.
Perhaps the condenser wire is semi-grounding out somewhere; like where it enters the housing.