Jeep Gladiator

I just spotted two in their usual environs (in captivity; on display). I cautiously approached the less-dominant black one. It can be freed for just a little more than $62K.
#savethegladigators
#extinctionisforever

 

Jeep = FIAT...
Dealer add-on is a bowl of spaghetti.

 

Nope, sport and Sahara come with 30/44 and the rubicon is 44 front and rear. 60's would be awesome

 

Markup has been insane in my area. Some dealers are getting nearly 15k over sticker. Why you would do that is beyond me.

Reliability wise, ive beat my JK up pretty well and aside from the ball joints, ive had nary an issue. 118k and still running like new

 

Riddle a non-jeep guy this......what’s the difference and what’s all the hype?

 

Between the models? Or between the gladiator and the wrangler?

Sport=no frills, no locker, shitty gearing
Sahara=slightly better gearing and pretty interior
Rubicon=elockers, auto disconnect sway bar, fancy interior, slightly taller springs and tires

 

Oh I meant between the Dana 30/44/60s and even just Dana axles themselves

 

I wish Chrysler would build a version of their concept Jeep !!!!

https://youtu.be/IHs_j-l-Aoc

 

Basically they just get beefier as you move up the line. Bigger axle tubes, bigger axle shafts, beefier gear ring, etc.

I’m certainly no expert on the subtle differences and won’t pretend to be.

 

I own a 2012 JKU... The engine / transmission in these is not bad at all from a reliability standpoint. They use the same engine in their 2012+ MY mini vans, grand cherokees, trucks and wranglers. It's even better now with the 8 speed transmission compared to the 5 speed mine has.

Honestly, if I had to have only one vehicle, it would be a gladiator... or a power wagon

 

I’m at 113k miles with nary a problem with the drivetrain. I’ve got the 3.6 with 6 speed manual. The only thing I should prolly replace in the next 50k is the clutch

 

It’s a crap shoot. You may get a good one, then again you may get time bomb. My brother’s Jeep experience has left me very wary. Just Look at my avatar...

 

I always advocated an "HD" wrangler / Gladiator with D60s, a 6-lug bolt pattern, and a 5.7L hemi would be an amazing factory option. As it is though, the 3.6L isn't a bad motor, and made my 2nd gen 4.0L taco feel slow. I've pulled back to back loads with a 3.6L pentastar and 8-speed trans (Grand Cherokee) and my 4.0L 2nd gen w/ 5 speed auto and it's no comparison when carrying a 5,000lb trailer. The pentastar handles it WAY better. Specifically, it found and kept the right gear on large hills. It avoided excessive up-shits to 2nd when leaving a corner / stop. I was always having to fully manually shift my taco to avoid it going to 2nd before it should.

Maybe the 3rd gen taco is better? But from what I've heard the transmission tune and engine haven't done much to alleviate my complaints.

 

I'd say the same thing.... IF you were talking about "jeeps" in general, but not this 3.6L. We had (2) 3.8L JKUs in the family. One grenaded at 118k miles and put 3 holes in the block. The other that was still running at 118k, well we decided to sell it because it was just terrible. 4 speed auto with poor gear choices, burned a ton of oil, misfire codes often, and it's down 80hp compared to the 3.6L which replaced it.

The "legendary" AMC 4.0L I-6 certainly had better reliability, depending on the year.... Some years had cylinder heads prone to cracking, some had engine fires due to oil leaks from the valve covers, others had faulty crank-position sensors... I've honestly never once been impressed with the 4.0L that I've owned, and I've had 3.

This 3.6L has had an awesome track record so far. Oh, also on top of the mini vans, trucks, grand cherokees and wranglers I mentioned. It's the base engine for the Charger, Challenger, 300 and Durango. They have so much riding on this engine that they can't afford to let a problem-prone design exist. At this point it's had so many more vehicles on the road across the FCA lineup than Toyota has had with Tacomas, which says a lot about the confidence in that engine design and gives me a lot of reassurance knowing that problems aren't widespread (mostly limited to 2012 MY, cylinder head related flaw).

 

Not to be disagreeable but his minivan experience with that engine was -to be as accurately descriptive as I can - in a word, nightmarish. . .

Edited to add, he used to be a big Jeep/Chrysler fan - but he got over it...

 

With my 3.6, 6speed, and 4.88 gears.. she’ll pull just about anything I need it to pull (obviously not pulling anything of an unsafe weight)

 

This is going to really upset the strict GVWR purists... but I've pulled that same boat with my 3.6L JKU, 5-speed auto w/ 5.38 gears and 40" tires on Dana 60s... From a drivetrain standpoint I can't say it was great with that load, but mostly because my Jeep already clocks in at 6,000 lbs without a trailer from the armor and axles. It also doesn't have the suspension to handle 400+ lbs of tongue weight very well. These were rated at 3,500 lbs at the factory for towing, but of course I have that same load, a 5,000 lb boat attached.

Compared to the taco, the power was comparable, and the transmission tuning was definitely better.

From a safety standpoint... Just don't do it. I was 1,500 lbs over the rated limit, with no trailer brakes (had to disable them because it's got a 4-pin, not a 7-pin adapter). I can say for sure though that this engine would have been better than the 4.0L I was used to in the taco if it had the correct vehicle towing the weight, suspension to handle towing and wiring harness to leverage trailer brakes... all of which the Gladiator addresses, along with an updated 8-speed auto

 

That's interesting. I used to be an FCA hater... Ex girlfriend has a 3.6L in a Grand Cherokee, mother has a 2015 Grand Cherokee with the 3.6L, my dad has a 2015 Wrangler with the 3.6L, I have a 2012 JKU, current girlfriend has a 2012 3.6L in a mini van... Not the widest sample set, but I can say it's been good (so far).

I've even converted to owning a Ram 2500 w/ the Cummins.... So here's to hoping FCA really is as reliable as I'm used to with Toyota

 

Oh I agree which is why I said in my post I’m not pulling anything way overweight. Biggest thing I’ve pulled is our 21.5’ Carolina Skiff and it snatched that thing around like it wasn’t even back there. Definitely wouldn’t go any heavier than that and especially wouldn’t pull it on the highway. It doesn’t take much to have that end poorly