Crashnburn80's Supercharged Gladiator Mojave Build

Halogens

 

Nope.

^This.

 

Despite having heated headlights, today I set out to cross the passes mid-day in extreme snow where lighting would be a non-issue. Nearing the mountain summit traffic stopped, for a very long time. The highway was abruptly closed due to extreme snow conditions and several accidents. Traffic was being turned around back down the mountain. With Grandmas Christmas visit on the line, we rerouted and set out on a 6 hour detour that would take us across multiple other mountain passes in the snow after dark, again. The heated JW Speaker headlights did their job holding the snow at bay and keeping the headlights clear providing lighting despite the freezing sticking snow conditions. The J2s less uplight than OEM also interestingly created less 'star wars light speed' effect in the snow. Routing off the major interstate after crossing the first pass and going onto the small remote 2 lane mountain highway for the second pass, I clicked on the Max fogs to heat them up for the likely sketchy drive ahead. Except nothing happened. On/off/on/off and nothing. Confused. It took me a moment to realize what was going on. The front end was covered in so much snow pack the fogs were completely buried in deep snow blocking the light output. Fortunately the Max fogs run at 200+ degrees. Max fogs on. Over the period of many minutes I watched my beam pattern become more and more yellow as the Max fogs melted everything obstructing their light output, once again providing outstanding lighting in freezing snowy poor weather conditions. The @Diode Dynamics SS3 selective yellow Max fogs are rapidly becoming my favorite lighting product of all time.

The J2s were underwhelming in terms out output. While the hot spot has higher intensity than the J3s, there was noticeably less light throughout the pattern. My truck is caked with so much dirt and grime from traversing 3 mountain passes over a 9 hour drive in the snow that there is definitely some output loss due grime on the headlights. I'll have to reassess after cleaning them, but I was disappointingly not impressed.

 

Bummer. No LEDs for me then. Not worth the risk here in MN. Although summer and winter sets could be an option….

 

Obligatory pic

 

I'm beginning to think the heated JW J2s limited visibility issue in the snow last week wasn't road grime. Tested today in 25 degrees F while snowing after storing the truck outside for the evening, and giving 15 minutes of run time for warming up before a reading. The heated J2s were unable to clear the snow. I was attempting to make a time lapse video of their snow clearing abilities, except they never cleared the snow. Once again it appears the heaters have failed to operate correctly. Beyond frustrating. Meanwhile the DD SS3 Max ran over twice as hot without a heated lens.

 

Mid-2022 the Rivian R1T will be offered with a removable roof. 935hp, 0-60 in 3.0 sec, 400 mile range, quad motor, and now +removable top option. 14.9" ground clearance, no diffs, more clearance than my Gladiator even when running a 2" lift and 37s, at 14.6". The Gladiators days may be numbered.

 

And zero emissions.

 

Scaling will be a challenge. It wasn’t easy for Tesla. Without scale the price tag and parts availability will push it out of range for many. Also far less likely to be a mod friendly platform.

I could see buying one though. Just not wheeling a $100k vehicle. I think it will push the market in the right direction.

I have the most hope for the alpha Wolf making an affordable and compact EV pickup truck for the masses. I’m almost tempted to reserve one.

 

Definitely not mod-friendly, yet. I personally would still wheel it, mid-upper $80k range. Not that far off what I have into the Jeep, which I wheel. Except the Rivian is way more impressive for the price point.

One of the beneficial graces on Rivian is that Amazon owns a significant share of the company. With financial backing like that, it won't fail. I've seen multiple Rivians in my office parking lot. Other startups with no major financial backing could fold as so many have, despite what they promised.

Here is one from last week

 

Where did you see that?

 

https://youtu.be/Yeth5v_5dPM

 

Except of course for the major environmental damage required to produce these vehicles in particular

 

Wow good catch

 

Hehe. Gonna be a wash however you look at the production impacts. All of the materials come from the earth one way or another.

 

Catastrophic head gasket failure.

 

In the Gladiator?!?

 

Yeah. Truck is down hard, blew steam like a steam locomotive and the ground is covered in oil.