Looks like I'm coming back. Mojave or Rubicon?

[biodiesel]

That 2mile trip is very hard on a motor.

Our 2015 EcoDiesel gets driven 7 miles to work each day and 7 miles back home. It's been doing that commute since we bought it new. Fortunately, we do some heavy towing from time to time, so that helps blow the cobwebs out. I'm not bragging about the short commutes, but surprisingly, the little diesel is still going strong with 128,000 on the odometer. I pull an oil sample at each interval.

Sponsored

 

[Zachanadandy]

Wow, that's quite the haul. Where's the approximate location of the property in Arizona?



8,400 lbs is a lot of weight for the Gladiator, but at least your load is low profile. Nonetheless, that's very impressive!

The road(s) to our property are fairly good most of the year. There's still one section of the road that isn't maintained (dirt road). The rest gets maintained (graded) at least once per year. It's not uncommon to be snowed in for a few days until the roads get cleared. Monsoon season can sometimes cause enough erosion issues and make roads impassable at times, but that's where the Gladiator comes into play. We like the ability to get in and out of the property and not have to worry too much about weather/road conditions. We use the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel for most of our towing needs. We've been slowly developing the property for building.

We are outside wikieup of the 93, making kingman the closest place for home depot trips. Eventually we will build our retirement home out there but for now we are just building our small off grid cabin. Already hauled a 550 gallon water tank out and set up an outdoor shower.

 

[AstroZombie]

I totally agree. The fluids are not getting up to proper temperature. In fact, according to a mechanic at a dealership, he told me my check engine light was periodically coming on because the computer "thought" that the thermostat wasn't closing properly since the temperature was often very low (I only have 40k on my 2016 JKU and often just use it during the week to drive to the food store or mall, less than a mile round trip). So I took his advise and periodically would run a few extra miles to get all the fluids up to temperature. Maybe its just a coincidence, but since then, no check engine light.

its not a straight shot and probably more like 3 miles. there are at least 12 red lights or stops along the way. the engine gets to temp the brakes get plenty hot, and sometime the AC is even needed. then the coffee drive through or the drive back home for forgotten items. Although this is a good excuse to use when i want to drive it

 

[biodiesel]

We are outside wikieup of the 93, making kingman the closest place for home depot trips. Eventually we will build our retirement home out there but for now we are just building our small off grid cabin. Already hauled a 550 gallon water tank out and set up an outdoor shower.

Very nice! We go through Kingman from time to time. I'm looking forward to seeing some updates.

 

[Bonanza]

Thanks for the offer but no thanks.

Why would you regear from 4.10 to 3.88??

4.88*

 

[Coldjensens]

Sounds like you found the color and model you wanted. However I would check the records if possible. As it’s either a return lease with too high residual to buy out, or near the end of the warranty on a troubled gremlin plagued rig? For the price asked for that used Mojave, you could buy a new Sport S maybe a Willys, if you shop around for the best discount coming. Good luck!

Thank you. We already bought it. We prefer the Mojave for a number of reasons and we are very happy with it so far. We have the purchase documents from when it was new. It was bought in an upscale Washington DC suburb (Virginia). It was driven 12,000 miles and then re-sold or at least re-titles in Ann Arbor Michigan where it was driven for about 21000 miles over 2 years and then traded in at a ford dealership. It has a Ford "Certified Blue" warranty which is good for 4000 miles/ 3 months, so we are going to have our mechanic go through it carefully to see if he can find anything wrong with it. We took it on a weekend trip about 3.5 hours each way and out on some roads you would not want a regular car on (my RAM would have done ok, but the Jeep handled the nasty road beautifully). We had no issues. So far, the only thing we do not like about it is the stop start thing and the fact that you cannot turn it off permanently. Also it came with a soft top in huge box and we are trying to figure out where to store it.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Thank you. We already bought it. We prefer the Mojave for a number of reasons and we are very happy with it so far. We have the purchase documents from when it was new. It was bought in an upscale Washington DC suburb (Virginia). It was driven 12,000 miles and then re-sold or at least re-titles in Ann Arbor Michigan where it was driven for about 21000 miles over 2 years and then traded in at a ford dealership. It has a Ford "Certified Blue" warranty which is good for 4000 miles/ 3 months, so we are going to have our mechanic go through it carefully to see if he can find anything wrong with it. We took it on a weekend trip about 3.5 hours each way and out on some roads you would not want a regular car on (my RAM would have done ok, but the Jeep handled the nasty road beautifully). We had no issues. So far, the only thing we do not like about it is the stop start thing and the fact that you cannot turn it off permanently. Also it came with a soft top in huge box and we are trying to figure out where to store it.

Michigan roads are a great test for the Mojave suspension.

 

[Sandman 4x4]

Thank you. We already bought it. We prefer the Mojave for a number of reasons and we are very happy with it so far. We have the purchase documents from when it was new. It was bought in an upscale Washington DC suburb (Virginia). It was driven 12,000 miles and then re-sold or at least re-titles in Ann Arbor Michigan where it was driven for about 21000 miles over 2 years and then traded in at a ford dealership. It has a Ford "Certified Blue" warranty which is good for 4000 miles/ 3 months, so we are going to have our mechanic go through it carefully to see if he can find anything wrong with it. We took it on a weekend trip about 3.5 hours each way and out on some roads you would not want a regular car on (my RAM would have done ok, but the Jeep handled the nasty road beautifully). We had no issues. So far, the only thing we do not like about it is the stop start thing and the fact that you cannot turn it off permanently. Also it came with a soft top in huge box and we are trying to figure out where to store it.

Ok! We wish you all the best luck and thrills. If you’re never planning to use the soft top? I would leave it in the box and sell it locally if possible for a sell it now price!

 

[Stan H]

Michigan roads are a great test for the Mojave suspension.

WV has 5x as many potholes, swoops, dips ,and drops as it does residents.

 

[NC_Overland]

WV has 5x as many potholes, swoops, dips ,and drops as it does residents.

It’s got nothing on MI. I’m up there pretty regularly because all my family is there.

I always thought my Audi rode good till I drove it there. I took it there once and never again. I’m surprised I never blew a tire or damaged a wheel on those potholes big enough to swallow up a car. The magnetic ride control is awesome, but the factory 235/35/19 tires are not made for MI roads. It was really fun in the WV mtns in the way though. Small, light car, 300+ hp and quattro with super sticky summer tires is perfect for those mtn roads.

 

[SaiintNick]

Another reason I went with the Rubicon, other than towing, was some of the stories I heard here regarding the shocks. I understand the Fox shock system rides very well but is it true that they have to be replaced or rebuilt at 50k miles and cost close to $2,000? Maybe I misheard or had my facts mixed up but it seemed very strange to me that shocks only last 50k miles. That sounded like a lot of coin to pay for something that I would expect double the mileage.

18K and one of my front shocks is making all kinds of noise and I took to dealership and they say they can't reproduce it. I took a video of the shock making the noise and I think they just don't want to replace it.

 

[double J]

18K and one of my front shocks is making all kinds of noise and I took to dealership and they say they can't reproduce it. I took a video of the shock making the noise and I think they just don't want to replace it.

My shocks on my Mojave started acting up at 9k miles. Took four trips to get fixed. Did not want to deal with its cost out of warranty later. Traded it in for a Rubicon.

 

[JTGuy]

I got the Rubicon over the Mojave . I stilll have not bent the frame or broke a knuckle. But I have used the front locker and 4:1 low range. I would like to try the Mojave front shocks but my Accutuned Fox 2.5s are not to bad. The Gladiator is the wrong choice to go fasten the desert IMO.

 

[SaiintNick]

I got the Rubicon over the Mojave . I stilll have not bent the frame or broke a knuckle. But I have used the front locker and 4:1 low range. I would like to try the Mojave front shocks but my Accutuned Fox 2.5s are not to bad. The Gladiator is the wrong choice to go fasten the desert IMO.

On paper it's a bad choice, but the Mojave with the Fox shocks its pretty fun plus it can do Rubicon stuff. I've barely needed a rear locker and I try to stay off the rocks. The Gladiator is a Swiss army knife in all its trims. Not really great at anything, but good at so many things. My dealership tech came out and said he might have heard something. He says, "Let's just replace it." I said well the other one will have 19K miles so he is replacing both fronts. Problem is they said 45 days. Oh well I can wait or knowing me I will trade it in. The least amount of times I'm at a dealership the better it is for my finances.

 

[Zachanadandy]

On paper it's a bad choice, but the Mojave with the Fox shocks its pretty fun plus it can do Rubicon stuff. I've barely needed a rear locker and I try to stay off the rocks. The Gladiator is a Swiss army knife in all its trims. Not really great at anything, but good at so many things. My dealership tech came out and said he might have heard something. He says, "Let's just replace it." I said well the other one will have 19K miles so he is replacing both fronts. Problem is they said 45 days. Oh well I can wait or knowing me I will trade it in. The least amount of times I'm at a dealership the better it is for my finances.

Obviously the mojave is no raptor or trx, but between being able to get my 2023 for half the price of a trx and it still fitting on trails (which those wide ass rigs don't) it was the obvious choice for me. Aside from the wide track IFS it's every bit as good as any standard IFS truck out there and better than many. The standard crew cab 4wd f150 was one of the worst I've ever driven in the desert. After a few minutes of wash boards it felt like it had no shocks at all. Just the 20 miles of dirt out to our property had my vision blurred and a headache like I'd made the drive inside a paint mixer. Sure with several grand in shocks you could probably make the f150 as good or better, but it still wouldn't fit on trails. The standard 4dr Bronco was even worse as the rear end wants to skip around (also hindered by its shocks). Something like a Colorado bison would probably be as good thanks to it's shocks but I've got no experience there.

Sponsored