23 Mojave manual to 23 Willys diesel swap. Level of crazy: 1-10?

[ChecksOut]

You've already done an expensive mod by regearing. Depending the ratio you chose, you may need to regear the other way with the diesel.

I have a 2023 6mt Mojave. With 5.38s and the B&M short shifter it's really fun, despite the weird clutch. Just ordered a PCM today which will be sent to Livernois for an E85 tune.

An aftemarket clutch, tune, and short shift kit would come in around $3k. I would give this a shot before you end up $110k deep.

Did they finally crack the 21+ PCMs? I haven't seen anything concrete on the topic?

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[Medical_Bartender]

I’m a manual guy. 4/4 of my vehicles are manual. The Gladiator is by far my least favorite stick out of all of them. That said, my wife has an automatic gladiator and that’s even less enjoyable to drive (for me) than my 6 speed.

Personally it’s a bad idea financially and logistically to go from a 6 speed gasser that you know and love (except for the transmission) to a diesel.

-losing your ass with a shit ton of $$$ into a single vehicle

-diesel has known reliability problems with the injection pump, not to mention DEF, and all of the other diesel emissions crap. Yes it’s under warranty, but if it’s at the dealer for a week(s) and they don’t give you a loaner then what’s the point.

-all of the time, $$$, effort to add mods back to the new truck would be a pain

If money and time are no object then by all means go for it. If the $$ is a concern (sounds like it is) then I’d say no. People take on way too much debt these days for dumb reasons.

I love mine. Even with the janky clutch. Once I learned it’s nuances I don’t have any any issues at all.

I’d say 8/10 ridic-less-ness

 

[Fly-by]

Did they finally crack the 21+ PCMs? I haven't seen anything concrete on the topic?

Not that I am aware of. It seems the 6MT vehicles have the GPEC2A and can be tuned. Mine is a late 2022 build date and clearly has the old PCM.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

no offense to anyone with the 3.6 but I wouldn't own a gladiator with one. It's simply the wrong power plant for a jeep or a truck from my perspective. granted it was tuned but I've been in a diesel on 43s that chirped the tires going into second and plenty of power for doing anything a gladiator is really designed to do. does it sound awesome? yeah kinda but its no magna flow v8 but on 40s it basically doubles the fuel mileage which really is a question of range these vehicles aren't economical to own. The torque delivery is every bit of what a 392 delivers in 4 low however.

I looked at it from an out of pocket perspective and decided that I could either A) have nearly indestructible axles and a suspension that embarrasses virtually any other off-road vehicle or B) spend the money for a 392 conversion and be sitting on stock 33s.

no brainer for me but your mileage may vary

 

[916WI]

Life's too short--I had a 2022 High Altitude with the 3.6. That truck was great and had all the options I wanted except adaptive cruise. Fast forward a year and a bright red rubicon diesel with ACC, cold weather and the trail cam shows up at a small dealership 3 hours north of me. Called them up--it was ordered by a friend of the dealership's owner and he couldn't come up with the cash. After hearing this bright red thing sitting there idling/chugging like a school bus, I forgot all about the High Altitude--until the hit I took buying the Rubicon I've only got 2200 miles on it, but I absolutely love the thing--and would do it over in a second........

 

[Idlethunder]

Dear Abby, I've had my 23 Mojave for exactly a year. I've decided I really don't like the manual transmission in this Jeep, especially paired with the 3.6l engine. I've had 5 other stick shift vehicles (including 4WD) over my life and had no issues with them, so figured I'd get used to it. Despite regearing, I continue to fight the jankiness of the MT in this Gladiator, so much so that I had been considered getting a cheap little econo-box commuter vehicle to pair with the Jeep. Only recently did I rationalize what was happening, subconsciously-- I wanted to buy a 2nd car so that I could drive my 1st car less. That's a huge red flag. You should want to drive your Jeep, whenever and wherever.

I also went into the dealership yesterday to see what/if the clutch recall makes sense right now, or if I should wait. I was told I'd be charged for removing/reinstalling whatever mods interfere with the recall, which may get expensive due to my Artec full belly skid. What bothers me is that they didn't have a fix for almost 8 months, so it's not like I refused to get the recall work done before I added mods. I also don't believe the recall will do a thing to the performance of the clutch, and I've heard too many mixed reviews on aftermarket clutches to dump another $3k into that mod.

I love pretty much everything else about the Mojave. Rides great, awesome suspension, comfortable seats, decent styling. I bought a year ago, unfortunately just before the massive discounts. With the $20k+ in mods over the last year, I'm in for about $80k with 1 year now of massive depreciation. It's paid off, thanks to my trade-in and paid the difference in cash, so no loan to worry about.

The same dealership that wants to charge me to do their recall also happens to have a 2023 diesel Willys. I made the mistake of test driving it, and found out just how miserable my Mojave driving experience is compared to that. It was responsive, quick, no shifting, didn't throw any codes yet... It's also heavily discounted but lacks some major features, which explains why it's still sitting on the lot. Still, not many diesels left.

For shits and giggles I had them work up a trade value appraisal of my Mojave. Not really happy with how that turned out, but wasn't surprised. First-year depreciation is worst-case scenario. I'm prepared to take a money hit, but we're too far off right now. But if that Willys sits another month, they may reconsider.

Even if it were even swap (my loaded Mojave for near bare-bones Willy's) I'd have to spend another $25k to get it near what I have now (suspension, lift, tires, armor, etc).

I'm going to get a number of answers here, but on a scale of 1-10, what level of crazy would that be? Is Willy's trim worth dumping that kind of money or should I instead wait for the Gladiator 4XE next year, which appeals to me almost as much as the diesel (but will also cost a fortune).

If I had a paid off Mojave with a lot of mods, I’d opt for the Hemi swap. That is in fact my plan assuming they are still available when mine is paid off in a few years. I see no real need for a 392 but the 5.7 really appeals to me.

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