WILDTACO's 23' Sarge Green Rubicon Diesel Build Journal

[wildtaco]

Ordered my 23' Sarge Green Gladiator EcoDiesel early Dec 2022. Ticked almost every box except for bluetooth speaker, safety groups, and extra decals. I proceeded to obsessively check the tracker and posting any updates in the 2023 Jeep Gladiator Order…What step are you in? thread.

1/24/2023 I received pictures of the truck at the dealership:

Booked a one way flight for the wife and I and flew off to DC. Incredibly smooth pickup process at Koons Jeep in VA. Best car buying experience I've had so far.

Spent the rest of the day exploring DC and headed home for the night.

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[wildtaco]

The day after driving it home, I swapped to the new wheel/tire setup, installed a vector offroad e-dock, and calibrated the tire size using a Tazer Mini. I also removed the steel bumper end caps.

Wheels: Dirty Life Mesa 9306 in Dark Bronze (17x9 -12mm offset)

Tires: Nitto Ridge Grappler LT315/70R17

 

[wildtaco]

Tints and windshield protection film installed.

 

[wildtaco]

Mopar brake controller installed.

 

[wildtaco]

Installed XR fender flares on front. Rears were delayed in shipment. Pretty simple, used existing holes.

 

[wildtaco]

Bumper removed for tow hook powder coating and winch install.

Everything back together. Tow hook powder coat came out pretty close to the wheels. Very happy. Rear hooks were also powder coated.

 

[wildtaco]

Front XR flares installed on the rear, Rigid Industries Floods mounted and wired to factory AUX switches. Factor 55 Prolink installed. Decals/badges switched out to 392 bronze.

Decided to go for a quick test of the 35s at my favorite spot. So far no rubbing issues.

 

[wildtaco]

RokBlokz quick release mud flaps in XL Long installed.

 

[wildtaco]

Winch guard installed. I also have a Maximus-3 JL XLP Hoop but I would have to modify it to fit with my flag mount. Not sure if it's worth the hassle. I think I like how this looks.
Update: Maximus makes a bracket for the flag mount that works with the hoop. Just placed an order.

This brings us up to date with all mods so far. Have a couple small skid plates on the way so I will post another update once those are installed.

 

[staying_tuned]

RokBlokz quick release mud flaps in XL Long installed.

Fantastic build, love the attention to detail on the color coordination, it has come together so elegantly. I too am running the quick-release flaps, love them and wanted to look into the XR flairs but assumed they wouldn't work with the flaps. Any issues at all or do they play nicely together?

 

[wildtaco]

Fantastic build, love the attention to detail on the color coordination, it has come together so elegantly. I too am running the quick-release flaps, love them and wanted to look into the XR flairs but assumed they wouldn't work with the flaps. Any issues at all or do they play nicely together?

Thank you. Zero issues with the flaps and flares. They work very well together.
Important note on the flares: I installed the XR fronts on both front and rear fenders. Installing the XR rears on the rear shouldn't be a problem but based on my research, the XR fronts work better on the Gladiator rears.

 

[TheOpa]

Nice build! I like the bronze/green combo!

 

[wildtaco]

Nice build! I like the bronze/green combo!

Thank you! The red/green Christmas theme wasn't cutting it. lol

 

[AustinL911]

Looks great. Same thing I'm going for with my setup. Regarding the flares: did you have to drill anything to fit the fronts onto the rear? Looking online, the instructions mention possibly having to drill additional holes when mounting the rears onto the rear (if that makes sense...). If the fronts don't require any modification, then I might just order two sets of them.

 

[wildtaco]

Looks great. Same thing I'm going for with my setup. Regarding the flares: did you have to drill anything to fit the fronts onto the rear? Looking online, the instructions mention possibly having to drill additional holes when mounting the rears onto the rear (if that makes sense...). If the fronts don't require any modification, then I might just order two sets of them.

I think either way you go (fronts or rears on the rear) you will have to drill holes. They're made for the Wrangler fenders and the Gladiator rears are different. When mounting the fronts on the rear, I had to drill every hole. I wanted the bottom of the flare to match the end of the fender. If I was to ever remove them, I can just plug the drilled holes with rivets.

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