RJ,

No one is arguing against you. We understand parasitic drag. The fewer moving parts, the better. Same reason why front-wheel-drives typically have lower drivetrain losses than rear-drives.

Due to the radical difference in gearing between high and low and the fact that we are talking about only one extra gear-reduction, a person will not be able to "tell" how much power is going to the wheels and what the exact losses are. It is in the range of just a few percent. The driving characteristics are changed so much in low-range that, especially in sand, it makes the truck feel extremely sluggish. This goes back to the post from above:

quote:
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Originally posted by BlueXBlue:
you get a lot more horsepower in 4-hi.
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My truck feels like a dog in low range, but maybe that is because when I floor it in 1st running my Calmini gears I can barely reach 1 mph...