Observations from 600 mile trip on Day 1

[460Cobra]

Drove my son back to CT today and noticed a few things and wondering if this is normal as they are not the same as my JK.
The cruise control varies about +/- 2 mph, auto trans
Does not track straight down road, constantly making slight corrections left/right; possibly due to larger tires on the Rubicon. My JK has smaller tires and does not do this
It seems as though I feel the side winds more in this than my JK
Other than these small things I love this JT and can’t wait for tires to wear out to justify the lift and bigger tires/rims.

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[Snowdogyyz]

The “loose steering” is well known on the Gladiator. There are threads galore about it- whether it’s an issue or non issue, etc. You do have to correct your line at highway speeds a lot, but nothing too terrible.

 

[Troybilt]

I am also coming from a JK. I have had the exact opposite experience. My cruse is dead nuts. I set the cruse and it works perfect. JK not so much. With the JL the ride is so much smoother and the steering fells like a sports car compared to my JK. I am amazed at how well it drives for a solid axle truck.

 

[Sespe]

My cruise stays dead set, I don't wander, but yes, the wind does push me around. And this is coming from a Commander, even boxier than the gladiator.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Drove my son back to CT today and noticed a few things and wondering if this is normal as they are not the same as my JK.
The cruise control varies about +/- 2 mph, auto trans
Does not track straight down road, constantly making slight corrections left/right; possibly due to larger tires on the Rubicon. My JK has smaller tires and does not do this
It seems as though I feel the side winds more in this than my JK
Other than these small things I love this JT and can’t wait for tires to wear out to justify the lift and bigger tires/rims.

My Silverado cruise varied at least +/- 3 mph, my JT does a lot better. It stays pretty close - especially considering I live in hilly area.
I noted one thing from day one - the JT came with the speedometer showing in the center of the cluster between tach and speedometer.
I noted the electronic display always showed accurate while the dial showed about 2 mph higher. If I set cruise on 65, the dial shows 67, radar signs show 65.
So the dial speedometer doesn't agree with the digital display - or the city radar signs.

DEPENDING on your exact situation - one guy had his track bar replaced under another bulletin, and there's talk of the steering sector being replaced for more than one person here.

These are large flat-sided vehicles -the box doesn't help matters. It's longer than the other Jeeps. I feel the wind a lot with mine but then - it's a big sail in the wind and it's usually windy here, too. I got used to it pretty quickly. It's not a whole lot different than the bigger long trucks I have had, but feels worse because of the more narrow wheelbase than my other trucks have had and this sits a bit higher.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I am also coming from a JK. I have had the exact opposite experience. My cruse is dead nuts. I set the cruse and it works perfect. JK not so much. With the JL the ride is so much smoother and the steering fells like a sports car compared to my JK. I am amazed at how well it drives for a solid axle truck.

I've said that about my JT here as well. I am amazed at how well it does. I'm impressed with the ride and the handling.
In town it's as good as any car I have, corners well, goes where I point it. It's what I call "sensitive", quick steering. But that's ok.

 

[TrailHiker]

Took my Sport S JT for its first road trip down a Freeway, 60 miles up and down some hills in NorCal Hwy 101, avg. 24 mpg going South, and 20 mpg coming back North, with more up hill grades, so a 22 mpg average, using cruise control on part of the run and not in a Hwy construction area. Getting back to the coast on a 2-lane mountain road 18 mpg, still OK for steep grades and constant switchbacks. Cruise control worked great

The JT handles well, no wandering, only some minor steering corrections, thinking of adding a Fox steering stabilizer.
Cheers

 

[Mark Doiron]

My cruise works fine--used on a recent trip from OKC to Houston. I do notice that the steering seems to wander a tad more. I figured this being a Rubi with a small factory lift over non-Rubis, they may have kept the same front control arms, changing the caster. That would lead to slightly more wander in a Rubi model as compared to a non-Rubi. Do non-Rubi owners have a similar complaint? And my JK has adjustable control arms and aftermarket driveshaft, which let me fine tune the caster for minimum vibration with nice on-center steering feel. Do you have mods on your JK that may have improved its steering?

 

[BlueCT]

You mention you have larger tires. I have can say that if you are on a road that gets ruts from large trucks driving and you have wider (taller doesn’t matter) that you can get tossed around between these ruts a little. I noticed it when I put wider tires on my last Jeep. That said many people have noted a loose steering problem on the forum, I don’t have it so i cant comment on it, from your posts though it wasn’t clearly if your problem was loose steering or just tracking straight. I will say if it is ruts from trucks you will probably be able to tell because on different roads the truck will handle differently ie when there are not ruts. I got used to it pretty quickly and learned how to minimize it by lane choice etc. Good luck with the new rig.

Drove my son back to CT today and noticed a few things and wondering if this is normal as they are not the same as my JK.
The cruise control varies about +/- 2 mph, auto trans
Does not track straight down road, constantly making slight corrections left/right; possibly due to larger tires on the Rubicon. My JK has smaller tires and does not do this
It seems as though I feel the side winds more in this than my JK
Other than these small things I love this JT and can’t wait for tires to wear out to justify the lift and bigger tires/rims.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You mention you have larger tires. I have can say that if you are on a road that gets ruts from large trucks driving and you have wider (taller doesn’t matter) that you can get tossed around between these ruts a little. I noticed it when I put wider tires on my last Jeep. That said many people have noted a loose steering problem on the forum, I don’t have it so i cant comment on it, from your posts though it wasn’t clearly if your problem was loose steering or just tracking straight. I will say if it is ruts from trucks you will probably be able to tell because on different roads the truck will handle differently ie when there are not ruts. I got used to it pretty quickly and learned how to minimize it by lane choice etc. Good luck with the new rig.

Clearly loose - play. And it wasn't rutted roads - it was highways of all sorts. Not due to trucks or bad roads. There are videos of it more than one person has posted. And they had stock tires and wheels. Stock JT for the most part.
Been round and round for hundreds of posts on it in multiple threads. It's loose. When they can turn the steering wheel 2" before the front end responds - on a solid highway....... There aren't that many roads rutted by big trucks - they'd know if that was it because as soon as they left that road their steering and handling would be improved. That's pretty simple - rutted road, bad; not rutted road, good - must be the road.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Took my Sport S JT for its first road trip down a Freeway, 60 miles up and down some hills in NorCal Hwy 101, avg. 24 mpg going South, and 20 mpg coming back North, with more up hill grades, so a 22 mpg average, using cruise control on part of the run and not in a Hwy construction area. Getting back to the coast on a 2-lane mountain road 18 mpg, still OK for steep grades and constant switchbacks. Cruise control worked great

The JT handles well, no wandering, only some minor steering corrections, thinking of adding a Fox steering stabilizer.
Cheers

I actually made someone think about it for a couple of seconds when they told me about their mileage driving from Iowa to Florida and back and I suggested they got better going to FL because they were going downhill the whole way and coming back of course would be worse because they were coming back up - I said just hold the map - which is up and which is down? See, it's easier driving down to Florida. About 2 seconds later their look of recognition that they'd been had.........
They have really nailed it with the cruise control in these - this JT holds a lot better than other vehicles I've had. Only my Eagle does almost as well and that could be because the little Eagle is a stick - with the Jeep cruise system in it (that was fun adapting the switch controls)
But the JT is so far the best cruise I've used and when you hit the - or + it changes it pretty much exactly 1 mph unlike others that got it in the ball park.

 

[futzin']

Regarding the JT cruise control: Does the set speed display separately on the screen? Our 2015 Dodge shows the speed that the cruise is set to; I like it. Single pushes of the + or - result in 1 mph changes, reflected in the shown set speed.

 

[sad85XD]

Regarding the JT cruise control: Does the set speed display separately on the screen? Our 2015 Dodge shows the speed that the cruise is set to; I like it. Single pushes of the + or - result in 1 mph changes, reflected in the shown set speed.

Yes it does.

 

[futzin']

Cool, I like that system. Thank you.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Regarding the JT cruise control: Does the set speed display separately on the screen? Our 2015 Dodge shows the speed that the cruise is set to; I like it. Single pushes of the + or - result in 1 mph changes, reflected in the shown set speed.

As the man said - yea, and I love it. That's one way I knew my analog speedometer was off, that and displaying the speed digitally in the cluster - the two disagreed.

This cruise is far better than my Chevy was - which seemed to be a "we'll get close to what you asked for, but it may vary a lot" cruise control.

The ACC worked great. I could set the distance I wanted and it responded very well. Come up on some big trucks going slower but there was a solid line of traffic to the left with no space to get over and around, the cruise kept me a steady distance from the truck and as soon as I got over to the other lane it resumed speed - when some idiot cut right in front of me it responded (as did I LOL)

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