Beautiful truck. I've never owned a diesel but like the concept of them. Can't say I "need" one but would sure as hell like to have one for the added capability and MPGs. I read having a diesel in the city may not be the best though along with short trips or drives.
Damn that is a lot of walnuts! Very realistic approach on the full-size truck vs a midsize and the added length of a Gladiator. I used to have a dual cab long bed Tacoma and did not enjoy driving it at all. I loved the idea of having a reliable truck but I also came from a 2dr wrangler.. talk about opposite extremes.With my former 4 door JK, the rear door and space behind the 2nd row was far more convenient for anything from groceries to electronics and anything else that I might tote. Lay down the 2nd row seat and bingo, more somewhat flat length to work with. Inside. Out of the rain or snow. With the roof on.
With my changeover to a JT, the floor of the 2nd row isn't quite the same. You can fold up the 2nd row seating or even remove it but the more-narrow area with the side door acess just isn't as convenient as the back space was in my former JK (same as JL in this regard). You can always lay down cardboard or a tarp, etc in the back of the JK/JL to deal with dirty or greasy stuff of sizes that you can't, or would not want to hustle into the 2nd row.
The rear of JK/JL's are just more agreeable for quick locating of stuff that fits better back there. And you can always drop the 2nd row seat backs to get a semi-flat-ish floor extension. And there are many times that I have loaded 2x4's, pipe, other things that I can fit between the front bucket seats to either lay on top of the dash, or angle down in then passenger floor area, these long and narrow items. I always carry a couple of towels so I could protect the front seats & arm rest. 2nd towel put on the front-end of these objects to sit on the dash top or passenger floor area to corral wood dust, splinters or what have you. When I sold the JK, I had managed over its 16 yrs with me, to keep the cloth (my preference) nearly like new and I did a lot of hauling this or that.
The JL has its 5 ft bed. Never as good as my full size pickup I also used to have. See picture sattached as an example of a 6 ft long and wider pickup bed. I can't haul; this amount in my JT. 30 x 5 gallon buckets vs 18 buckets in the 5 ft long, narrower bed of the JT. Same bed extender modified for JT width used on tailgate down load additions. Not complaining; I just make more trips to haul more stuff. Note that the full size truck also had a very useful storage bin in it too.
IN case your curious, each bucket has an average of 240 black walnuts for 23 lbs avg bucket weight. 414 or so, pounds of the walnuts w/bucket in the JT versus about 690 lbs of walnuts in the 6 ft and wider full truck bed size. Along with the storage bin taking some room and I'd guess about 70 or so more pounds for that.
Am I complaining about my loss of the rear floor in a Wrangler? That I totally recognized before I bought my (outstanding) diesel JT? Just a little bit of regret re the trade-off of the interior floor space with seat up or down fast & easy & lockable loading of clean or dirty in rain/snow/dust/sticky finger viewpoint of the JK or JL versus a JT. Ideally I would have kept the JK except the space to keep another vehicle, maintain it, license and insure it, etc? Nope. Done that sort of thing before. As it is I have a small RV and classic '79 last of the 4th gen Nova. Keeping the JK too, sad to let it go for the above mentioned conveniences.
The extra 1.5 ft or so of length in a JT does affect where I park, sometimes. Viewing this versus my wider, taller and longer, former full size truck... The nimble-r JT is vastly better. But compared to the JK/JL length; I was able to whip my JK into spaces that the JT either takes a few seconds longer, and may be much slower sometimes, to back out of. Depends on width of the aisle and the smaller marked spaces. Do you hear me whining, Coeur d'Alene HOME DEPOT? (grin).
Aside from pros and cons that always exist, my JT (purposely chose a diesel) is my favorite of ANY car or truck I have ever owned or driven. With any load inside and/or outside. If it made sense space, maintenance and cost wise, I would definitely have kept my JK, even with its less spunky 3.8 gas engine. With a quality soft roll top and a bed extender, the JT goes to bat just fine. and boy oh boy, is the reasonably quiet diesel, outstanding to drive. This is the only vehicle I have ever added a discounted price, Extended Warranty. Anything that goes wrong is stupid expensive to deal with. So far literally zero issues, just like my high miles driven JK except for one door lick and a slight oil leak that was taken care of.
I have a diesel and don't really drive it on long trips. This topic was also discussed in another thread and there are plenty of people who only drive it on short trips and don't have any issues. With that being said I would make sure you do the research on the diesel engine and you get the diesel engine because you want the diesel and are ok with the extra maintenance on it or you may come it hate it. I traded my 3.6 gas for the 3.0 diesel and haven't looked back.
Can we just talk about all the colors going on here in this picture. Love it lolThe only reason we own a Gladiator is it rides much nicer than a Wrangler.
My wife would jam just as many pumpkins into a Wrangler without a problem.
Good to know and very true! Last thing I want is a maintenance nightmare... I mean we know what we're walking into with our Jeeps but I try to keep it at that threshold and nothing extra
Just be aware when you are researching the diesel I would say that about 95% of the hate the diesel gets is from people that don't even own a diesel. Most of the people that have the diesel love it. There are a few that hate it and had a lot of issues with it but that will happen with any engine. At the end of the day get what makes you happy whether it is the gas or diesel, Sport, rubicon, mojave. If it makes you smile then it is the right one for you.
My first Gladiator was a 21 Sport Max Tow. I stuck a Mopar Performance lift under it and added 33" tires on steel (spare tire) wheels. I loved it. It would go anywhere I was brave enough to go and towed a 3k lb little travel trailer just fine. I always regretted trading it in and that is what led me to start looking at Gladiators again. When I saw what I could get a new Mojave for, well, I couldn't help myself. I traded in a nice 3rd gen Colorado ZR2 for the Mojave and don't regret it.
Nice! Glad you have both so you don't get FOMO lol. Love the Ocean Blue JLUR. My first Jeep in the JL platform was a 2019 Ocean Blue JLUR with the SOT top. Haven't been able to look at another Wrangler without the SOT.. it spoiled me.I've got a JLU and a JT, both 2020 Rubicons. They function the same with the exception that the breakover angle on the Gladiator makes the bottom rub a little faster.
I put a soft tonneau cover on the Gladiator so I could carry luggage stuff in the back
I put a shelf in the Wrangler, both to contain my recovery gear in case of an off-road mishap, and to make grocery getting go easier.
On the road and around town I do not notice any difference. Yes, the gladiator is a little bigger, but the parking places I have used are sized for vehicles bigger than the Gladiator.
My Jeeps are mostly stock with 35" tires. They take me places that scare me and my co-pilot. Nothing bent or broken so far.
I hear you on finding your way back to a Jeep. One of my recent trades was a 2019 4Runner TRD Pro. Was well built, over engineered, and just a quality truck.. but it was also gutless. I found myself missing my Wrangler and shortly traded it in for one... with some other vehicles in between - Rav4 and Xterra. I like the idea of Toyota reliability and this or that on a spec spreadsheet, but so far nothing has beat the fun and liveliness a Jeep brings - least to me and the others on these forums.My first Gladiator was a 21 Sport Max Tow. I stuck a Mopar Performance lift under it and added 33" tires on steel (spare tire) wheels. I loved it. It would go anywhere I was brave enough to go and towed a 3k lb little travel trailer just fine. I always regretted trading it in and that is what led me to start looking at Gladiators again. When I saw what I could get a new Mojave for, well, I couldn't help myself. I traded in a nice 3rd gen Colorado ZR2 for the Mojave and don't regret it.
I'm getting too old to be messing around on the ground doing suspension work so I also figured the stock Mojave is pretty much set up to do whatever I need.
They are actually less capable as far as tow rating and payload. The most capable is the 3.6l/8AT with the max tow package. You’d think they’d have a higher tow rating, but it’s always been lower from the factory because they weren’t able to fit a proper cooling system with a large enough grill opening.
Red
