Crashnburn80's Supercharged Gladiator Mojave Build

does not have Method Bead Grip Technology

 

The horrible part for me as a reader is I now spend way too much time looking at wheels and finding something I don’t like about each one.

 

@daveeasa I feel the pain. Trying to get lightweight wheel in +25mm for my fenderless SR is challenging

 

True, but has advantage with 8” width applying more pressure to the bead than a wider wheel. And no wheels I ever aired down with in the past had enhanced bead grip tech, so not a deal breaker.

OEM is usually very hard to beat, with trucks is more about needing different offsets/widths for larger tires while still trying to maintain reasonable weight. For cars the challenge is even greater for aftermarket wheels, as the dimensions shouldn't really change much, and if you have a high quality performance brand like BBS making the OEM wheels, good luck to the aftermarket.

 

Finally swapping the headlight 9”->7” buckets with ones that are 2 axis adjustable. Definitely don’t look as good as the Morimoto knock offs of JW Speaker, but will be nice to finally get these aimed correctly which the Morimoto units were not capable of with only a single axis adjustment.


Morimoto/JW Speaker


Quadratec. Has some gaps around the light.

 

Removed the fender today to install XKGlow Vent lights. The lights function as an amber running light, amber turn indicator and an RGB programmable function light.


My thought was to use the RGB in white as a courtesy light and tie it into the bed light circuit. Unlock the truck or open the doors and they come on, in addition to the KC Cyclones under the truck I have planned.



Default RGB color was blue


After tapping the lights into the OEM harness we couldn’t get it to work. Checked the light function on a power supply and it worked fine. Removed the wire taps, stripped the wires and tried again, nothing. Instructions showed wire colors that didn’t exist, but used a multimeter to verify the function based on harness wire location in the plug and determined the correct wires. Found YouTube install videos confirming my multimeter test results. Using a multimeter I verified +12v off the taps when expected (running light and signal). Reconnected the OEM DRL and signal to confirm test, OEM units worked, vent light did not. Retested the vent light using the power supply and functions as expected off the power supply. Tested with truck running and off, no difference. Checked for updated instructions and found new ones revised for OEM LED trucks for the running light function which used a different wire, tried that with no success. Tried every possible thing we could think of and nothing. +12v from the power supply seems to work, +12v from the Jeep does not. Nowhere does it list anything about a PWM kit needed for this setup, even though the halogen headlights use PWM. For lack of other ideas tried hooking up a KC cyclone to function off the wire taps, nothing. Lots of time spent troubleshooting with no success.

Overall was not impressed with the RGB either. I couldn’t get it to produce a clean 4000k-5000k white, and in the reflection off the body it was easy to see the separate R, G and B emitters like an old TV when sitting too close. There is a dedicated amber kit that does away with the RGB function, that may be a better route if I can get this product to work and would do away with the RGB controller complexity.

Interestingly, the vent is an actual vent. I thought it was entirely cosmetic.


Put it back to stock for the time being, left the liner out and the wires tapped for easy test access.

Day wasn’t a total loss though, put the hardtop back on for the fall. Thanks @Kidwidataco for the hand today and not having to bag my head on the wall solo.

 

If you ground to chassis instead of the taps, same story?

 

Yep. Tried grounding to the power supply as well, no difference.

 

Being immensely hungover made it even more fun!

 

Do you have a Tazer? They have a setting for adding LEDs.

BTW, my gasser was making too much valve train noise. I traded it in for a JTDR. Almost exactly same build spec but w/ a few more add one than the previous. Plus, well, diesel…

 

Vision got back to me, official wheel weight is 23.5 and they confirmed it should work with a 78.1 to 71.5mm hubcentric adapter. Looks like these are it. Visions site doesn’t list them as compatible with the Gladiator, Discount does but says they are not hubcentric ring compatible. Visions rep implies it should work with both. I’ll order one and test fit before going all in.

After yesterday’s project the truck is now complaining about a signal out on the left front. No wires were severed, everything is plugged in and working with the OEM LED signals. FML.

I do have a Tazor, but that won’t help with adding the side markers, the truck already has OEM LED.

Congrats on the new ride. If that is what you really wanted it is hard to justify building on a platform you don’t.

 

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for a bit and letting everything reset?

 

Interesting thought, I have not. That isn’t as easy as it sounds with the factory dual battery setup. Completely disconnecting the primary battery the vehicle still remains powered. The passenger fender liner needs to be removed to access the second battery, which is a poor design with the single use plastic rivnuts that must be replaced to hold the fender liner in place.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the many computers in that truck has held onto some type of electrical fault when you were trying to get those new lights installed and won't let go of it.

 

A single Bronze Vision Flow 17x8 +30 351 ordered with 78.1->71.5 hubcentric adapters for test fitment. Should be in early next week.

 

Might as well order 4 more before they are discontinued and sold out everywhere

 

I found the shortest of short busses.

Looks familiar.



How goes it Dr. Crash?

 

There are shorter ones.

 

Yes! slightly heavier than the 23.5lbs advertised, but lighter than the 24.4lbs stock. Net weight loss 0.4lbs. These will reduce offset from 37.12mm -> 30mm and increase width from 7.5” -> 8.0”.



These wheels have the wrong hub size of 78.1mm when the JT uses 71.5mm hubs. The aluminum 78.1->71.5 hubcentric adapters snap in like they were designed for this specific wheel. (They are the inner lip on the wheel hub opening)




I was unfamiliar with SAE J2530. It is a series of industry standardized tests on the durability of a wheel, including cornering and radial fatigue as well as impact strength. Looks like these pass for a 37” tire (fortunately). More interesting info here:
https://www.sema.org/news-media/press-release/j2530-and-industry

Now I just need to test the wheels clear the JTs massive brakes and the hubcentric adapters fit the hubs correctly. If so these are a go and fingers crossed they don’t rub. AEV says a 17x8.5 +25 won’t rub with a 37x12.5r17 tire. I have 5mm less BS, but the wheel being .5” narrower will also pull the tire bead in 6.35mm on the inside, maybe slightly reducing the width.

It is hard to judge the color in stock photos, but I really like how these look. I was too busy testing all the things I forgot to take a photo of the wheel itself.

 

Test fit the Vision Flow 351s, and confirmed they fit!



Might seem strange to test fit on the rear vs the front, but the Gladiator actually has larger brakes in the rear. I measured clearance to the OEM wheel with a feeler gauge.

The rear wheel clearance between the caliper and the wheel.


The Spec Sheet shows 330mm x 28mm with 2 piston calipers in the front and 345mm x 22mm 1 piston caliper for the rear. It is worth noting the JT has the largest brakes in the mid-size class and they are larger than those found on the JL Wranglers. Feeler gauge shows about 6.3mm clearance from the rear caliper to the OEM wheel.


The Vision Flow wheels significantly improve brake room, the feeler maxed out at 11mm and it easily fit with room to spare.


But what was exceptionally interesting is the brakes themselves.

This is a little hard to see in the photo, but standard vented brakes use a solid continuous brake veins all the way down through the rotor. It is inexpensive and effective. Jeep has utilized staggered discontinuous veins in the most advanced brake rotor design I have seen utilized by an OEM in the rear of a truck, while also having larger rear discs than StopTechs biggest BBK for a 17" wheel. Toyota's quality is bar none, but you don't see them pushing advanced engineering designs in this way.



You can see the shadows of the offset discontinuous veins in the intake vents. Very impressive for an OEM to put this level of design and engineering into a trucks rear braking system, where Toyota still continues to use drum brakes.


I previously contacted StopTech about their Sport rotors for the Gladiator looking for a stock size rotor upgrade. While StopTechs Sport rotor design was superior to the stock Tacoma rotors, I don't think that will be true with the JT. I haven't checked the front rotors but I'd suspect it also use a similar staggered vein design. I don't foresee StopTech producing an equivalent staggered vein rotor, being they don't have that type of product in their portfolio and it is more complicated to manufacture. So looks like going forward I'll plan to keep the superior OEM rotors and just swap out the pads for StopTech Sport pads.

I really like the look of how these are coming together. If it isn't obvious by now I settle for nothing less than perfection. The larger void area on these wheels should also provide better airflow to the brakes compared to the OEM units. Now I just need to order 4 more and some black lugs so the chrome ones don't clash with the bronze. I also received notice that the new Raptor tires are inbound, so things are going to start coming together really quick.