NightHawk Owners! Only 2000 of us. Join this elite thread ;)

[Dp7]

You mentioned that you ordered the "trailer tow" package, I am curious, other than a trailer hitch, what does that package consist of? When I bought my Nighthawk off the lot, in my "negotiations" on the gladiator, after we had set on the price, I told them I had to have a class 4 trailer hitch to tow my boat with, so they installed a nice one, to get me to buy it. The only three things I have found different between the Nighthawk and a gladiator with the "Max Tow" package, is the Max Tow package comes with the 4.1 gear ratio on the heavyduty wide axels, vs 3.73 gear ratio on non max tow gladiators (Nighthawk has the heavyduty wide axels, but comes with the 3.73 gear ratio, max tow gladiators have a larger alternator, to power the larger radiator/transmission cooler.

O,,,, Very nice Nighthawk by the way!!

Mine came with the standard tow package. In addition to the receiver, it came with aux switches and the same alternator/cooling as the max tow package. I think just the gears and springs are the only thing that separates a nighthawk with the standard tow package from a max tow package on a sport.

Edit: From the "optional equipment" section of my build sheet:
TRAILER TOW AND AUX SWITCH GROUP
240 AMP ALTERNATOR
AUX SWITCHES
HEAVY DUTY ENGINE COOLING
CLASS IV RECEIVER HITCH
TRAILER HITCH ZOOM

I think you can enable the hitch zoom with Jscan/Tazer if you don't have it already.

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[TexasProud]

Mine came with the standard tow package. In addition to the receiver, it came with aux switches and the same alternator/cooling as the max tow package. I think just the gears and springs are the only thing that separates a nighthawk with the standard tow package from a max tow package on a sport.

Edit: From the "optional equipment" section of my build sheet:
TRAILER TOW AND AUX SWITCH GROUP
240 AMP ALTERNATOR
AUX SWITCHES
HEAVY DUTY ENGINE COOLING
CLASS IV RECEIVER HITCH
TRAILER HITCH ZOOM

I think you can enable the hitch zoom with Jscan/Tazer if you don't have it already.

I did not get the trailer tow and aux switch group, it was not on my Nighthawk, but I have been considering getting the Jscan app, and If I can enable the hitch zoom with it, it might make it worth it. The most I intend to tow is my bay boat, I am guessing it weighs 2500 to 3000 lbs. I hope I do not need the heavy duty engine cooling, If I find I do, I guess I will have to add the 240 amp alternator and higher output fan. When I decide to put some lights and power to the bed I will be adding some Aux Switches, I have been researching them. Thanks for the info!!

 

[Dp7]

I did not get the trailer tow and aux switch group, it was not on my Nighthawk, but I have been considering getting the Jscan app, and If I can enable the hitch zoom with it, it might make it worth it. The most I intend to tow is my bay boat, I am guessing it weighs 2500 to 3000 lbs. I hope I do not need the heavy duty engine cooling, If I find I do, I guess I will have to add the 240 amp alternator and higher output fan. When I decide to put some lights and power to the bed I will be adding some Aux Switches, I have been researching them. Thanks for the info!!

Even without the tow package, you're still rated at 4500lbs, so nothing to worry about there.

 

[Minty JL]

So the Nighthawk is a color matched sticker package????

 

[TexasProud]

Even without the tow package, you're still rated at 4500lbs, so nothing to worry about there.

Nighthawks are rated at 6000 lbs, even without the tow package
From https://www.jeep.com/gladiator/specs.nighthawk.html

Weights
SpecificationDimension
Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) (lbs.)
5,800
Payload (lbs.)
1,100
Towing capacity (lbs.)
6,000( Disclosure1)
Gross combined weight rating (GCWR) (lbs.)
11,150

 

[Dp7]

So the Nighthawk is a color matched sticker package????

It's maybe a bit more than that. It does add wide axles, LSD and 20" wheels with matching tuned suspension, which probably constitutes more than a sticker... also, it has no stickers.

Outside of that stuff, it's kind of... almost a Sport S with the exterior accents of a WIllys and a forced automatic transmission and hard top.

 

[Dp7]

Nighthawks are rated at 6000 lbs, even without the tow package

This was the info I was going off of.. image from a user manual floating around the Interwebs. Might be outdated though, I don't know the model year this came from, but I don't know what, if anything, would have changed.

 

[Dp7]

Nighthawks are rated at 6000 lbs, even without the tow package
From https://www.jeep.com/gladiator/specs.nighthawk.html
...
Towing capacity (lbs.)
6,000( Disclosure1)

The disclosure on the 6000lbs is "when properly equipped", so, that probably means equipped with the tow package. Gotta love how vague they make things, right? Put the best possible numbers up with a bunch of asterisks... pretty slimy IMO.

 

[TexasProud]

The disclosure on the 6000lbs is "when properly equipped", so, that probably means equipped with the tow package. Gotta love how vague they make things, right? Put the best possible numbers up with a bunch of asterisks... pretty slimy IMO.

Actually, Every model Gladiator for 2024 has that "When properly equipped" notation on the towing. The Nighthawk is the ONLY model listed in a base configuration without a "tow" package of some sort that has higher than a 4,500 pound limit, the Nighthawk has 6,000, most have a 4,000 pound limit. The Sport, Sport S, and Willis are rated at 4,000, the Mojave and Rubicon(Including the "X" versions) are rated at 4,500, leaving only the Nighthawk as a base package with no add on's, no tow package rated at 6,000 pounds.

The 2025 Model Gladiators, the Sport, Nighthawk, Sport S, Willys, and Big Bear show to be rated for towing at 6,000 pounds, with all the Mojave and Rubicon versions now rated at 7,000 pounds.

 

[shannonC]

Change of subject, but hope nobody is bothered. Decided to do some graphics for the Nighthawk.

 

[RHINO79]

That looks great

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Change of subject, but hope nobody is bothered. Decided to do some graphics for the Nighthawk.

I don’t even like decals, but these look great!

 

[booster84]

One thing has been on my mind. These are limited production but they kept them in the line up for 2025?

 

[TexasProud]

One thing has been on my mind. These are limited production but they kept them in the line up for 2025?

Yea, I questioned the same thing when I was researching the towing of the gladiators, and I had gone to the trouble of creating a "Limited Edition" Decal for my Nighthawk

 

[Redfour5]

Mine came with the standard tow package. In addition to the receiver, it came with aux switches and the same alternator/cooling as the max tow package. I think just the gears and springs are the only thing that separates a nighthawk with the standard tow package from a max tow package on a sport.

Edit: From the "optional equipment" section of my build sheet:
TRAILER TOW AND AUX SWITCH GROUP
240 AMP ALTERNATOR
AUX SWITCHES
HEAVY DUTY ENGINE COOLING
CLASS IV RECEIVER HITCH
TRAILER HITCH ZOOM

I think you can enable the hitch zoom with Jscan/Tazer if you don't have it already.

Why'd you choose a NightHawk? What do you like the most/least? What do you wish it had? What do you wish it didn't have? Other Questions? Comments? Go Wild! I'll start!

I went with the NightHawk because it has all of the stuff that were must-haves for my wife (hard top, automatic, power locks/windows) and they were selling for cheaper than the Sport S around here. Also, my wife really liked the wheels (I think they look like they came off a Grand Cherokee). The wide axles and LSD were a nice bonus. Ours has the standard tow package, so this is like almost-a-max-tow-package.

I'm disappointed that there was no branding/badge/decal/anything to indicate the special edition! I'm normally a big de-badge type, but a little hawk emblem somewhere would be cool. I like the included rock rails, but I might be trading them out for the plastic side steps to appease the lady. The 275 Grabber A/T's are juuust aggressive-looking enough that we don't feel immediately compelled to swap them out. They drive nice on the road, and I'm sure they'll do fine for the gravel/dirt roads we hit regularly. Not looking forward to paying the 20" wheel tax when it comes time to get tires though.

My wife misses the automatic headlights from our JL Willys (it probably comes with most every other trim package except this one... again, sun-themed package and no light sensor for headlights??). I'm going to have to add proximity entry to the driver's door, like I had to on my JL - It's an affront to humanity to have power locks and pushbutton start without proximity entry... our POS 2016 Fiat 500x has proximity entry and you can't include it in a $46K truck in 2024? Come on Jeep.

What is this "Sport Suspension" that the NightHawk comes with? Is it the same as another model (or maybe a previously available model)?

Overall, we're very happy with it. It's annoying for my wife to manually turn headlights on and off, and to dig around in her purse to unlock the doors, but I'm not too bothered by it coming from a base JL Sport with manual everything.

There may be 2000 of you, but I've got a 2023 Freedom Edition Granite Crystal that is everything but the name including the wheels AND a black Trail badge. It is totally blacked out. It had a 60,800 MSRP and I got it last December at 30% off MSRP.

I actually wanted the Red version identical but they sold it out from under me. It is pretty well loaded and totally blacked out... https://www.ramtrucks.com/hostd/windowsticker/getWindowStickerPdf.do?vin=1C6HJTAG1PL519491

I didn't want it at first because my wife has a Cherokee that is the same blacked out Granite Crystal and I wanted something different. Then once I had it in the driveway, I'm going, wow, this is nice just like a night edition Ram. And I noticed zero nada anything bright and shiny including the spray in bedliner. The ONLY thing that doesn't "fit" is the Oscar Mike badge on the back in olive drab but its small and I can remove it...

The only other functional changes is I have the 17 inch wheels in gloss black vs the 20's which I prefer. I have the steel Rubicon bumpers and back corner protection. I also have the older 8.4 inch screen, but I actually prefer that also. I was able to get the "selec trac" auto four wheel drive one of my critical check boxes. and the headliners.... I have the LED front light package and like that.

The big thing the nighthawk has I don't are the extra wide Dana Axles. Those are nice, wider tracked by about an inch and a half.

Other than that, I don't see much difference at all. Put em side by side with a nighthawk and you'd be hard pressed to see much difference. In fact, I have a post or two here from before the Nighthawk wondering shy Jeep didn't have a night edition dedicated package considering how much Ram charges for them and those are pretty much cosmetic... And then this came out. I'm betting, Jeep tested the concept with these 2,000 and based upon how well it is received, will continue or not into 2025.

Right now, for the money, the Willy's package is the best overall deal out there...

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