Auto Swap. Seriously

[Gatorac]

A re-gear will make a big difference. You will be able to use 5th & 6 more. Backing up will be easier. But there is no guarantee that after the re-gear you'll be happy with it. Perhaps someone has a re-geared manual with 37's that you can get a ride with? Even if you had to fly somewhere to do that, it may be worthwhile.

Otherwise it's time to pull off your mods and trade it in.

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[wannajeep]

My MT is bone stock which includes 4.10 and 33 inch tires. Feels slightly underpowered, clutch feels light, reverse is too tall, but I just end up adapting to it and still love this truck every day. I know what you mean about backing up a hill or towing the boat. I tow a 2,000 lb boat and a 3,500 lb camper but not frequently, and not in hilly terrain.

My point is you may have a point, given your applications - backing up a hill daily (and if that includes with the boat, even worse), towing.

By "auto swap" at first I thought you meant finding someone who would swap vehicles with you, but it sounds like maybe you mean auto transmission swap.

Unless you're really tied to your 37s and mods, I'd bring it back to stock and see if it meets your needs.

If that's not what you want, I'd just trade it. Yes you'll lose some money, but in my opinion unless you've done a swap before, time and money spent won't be worth the effort.

If trading at a dealer is too costly, consider selling it privately (more dollars in your pocket), rent something cheap while shopping/negotiating for an auto JT (or even a non Jeep with more power. You wouldn't want to go through that process and end up with something that still doesn't solve the problem, that would be even more disappointing.)

 

[loudog3114]

Lots of talk about gears; here's why they will make no difference. 1 - First is fine where it is. If anything it's not tall enough. So a regear will just have me starting in second. 2 - It's a manual. I can keep it in a higher gear to keep the rpms up. There's still no power, it just makes more noise. it's really the trans ratios that need to be closer. Between 3rd and 4th the rpms change by 1500. 1500 rpm! If they weren't so ambitious with 6th trying to eek out that horse shit mpg rating and kept the ratios closer it would have been a much better experience. It really needs to cruise on the highway at at least 3k to have any ability to get out of its own way. 5th and 6th hover around 2k. At 2k uphill, it quits.

All regearing will solve is reverse which just isn't worth the cost.

Not being a naysayer; I came here for the input. But I have thought of all of this.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

So assuming not trolling, maybe you have a few options.
Bring the tires down
Get a diesel Gladiator
Buy a 5-10yr old full size truck for towing. Probably what I'm going to do. I ordered a manual and knew the limitations going in and will not be towing anything too heavy for too long without getting a full size truck (leaning towards a ~5yr old long box Tundra if I start towing more often)

 

[loudog3114]

So assuming not trolling, maybe you have a few options.
Bring the tires down
Get a diesel Gladiator
Buy a 5-10yr old full size truck for towing. Probably what I'm going to do. I ordered a manual and knew the limitations going in and will not be towing anything too heavy for too long without getting a full size truck (leaning towards a ~5yr old long box Tundra if I start towing more often)

Yep, you're spot on. Cant bring the tires down; it looks to good. So getting rid of it seems to be the way to go for either the diesel or the 4xe. Or nothing. Not sure. I have other cars. Already did buy another truck for towing; disco 2 - 7700lb capacity and what jeep desperately needed to put in this truck, a small v8.

 

[BryantJT]

For backing up the trailer just throw it in 4 low for the 2 minutes that it will take.

As far as auto swap, engine swap, sell it, trade it.....Sign up for Tread Lightly if you haven't already, call Leon at Criswell Jeep in MD and order a diesel, mention the forums, do your financing there and you're 7% under invoice. Used Gladiators in my area (way up north in NY...I can see Canada from my yard with my drone) are selling for more than original MSRP. Your comment on losing 10k....the discount above is a solid 6 to 7k. My gas auto rubi order was just shy of 7k off sticker.

Negotiate with them to swap your parts to the new one, your lift, if you have one, won't work well unless you get different front springs but everything else would swap.

 

[loudog3114]

For backing up the trailer just throw it in 4 low for the 2 minutes that it will take.

Here's the kicker - I have to turn too. I was probably typing my text to Leon as you were typing this response. I am really bummed to lose the look of this truck; punkn with some tints and black wheels just looks so good. But it clearly has to happen.

 

[Mark Doiron]

... Particularly reversing up my hill driveway, the stick is pretty awful. ...

You are the third person. the other two being close friends, who says that reverse is too tall on the Gladiators with a stick. One traded his in on a 4Runner (yes, with auto and he's a lifelong stick driver). The other still has his, but complains about it being underpowered (but he sold his supercharged Corvette with stick just before buying the Gladiator), and stalling too easily when backing uphill into his garage (Why do people back into their garages, anyway? That's a rhetorical question; please ignore). Anyway, I'm also a lifelong stick driver--over a half century--and guess I'm fortunate that I don't have to routinely back uphill and that I run 35" tires. And don't have a boat. Or really tow things.

Fifth and sixth are too tall for 4WD-high, but actually work well for 4WD-low (obviously not very useful for those who don't use 4WD-low much). It is better than the Rubi transfer case in the JKs in 4WD-low, where higher gears were too fast for rock crawling, and too slow for overlanding--it meant shifting back and froth between 4WD-high and low, which is a nuisance.

Honestly, short of opting for the 4Runner, your best option may be to look at regearing. Having been through three sets of blown pinion gears on my JK in 267,000 miles, I'd recommend don't go too low. I'm running 4.88s in the JK, but it's an X (Dana 30 up front, 44 in rear) that weighs way too much. I'll replace the front and rear axles in the near future. You're fortunate with stronger axles than the JK. If you want to improve the odds that you don't blow a pinion gear, consider downsizing to 35s. If you upgrade to 4.88s (assuming you have 4.10 and not the optional 3.73) and downgrade to 35s, you'll experience a 21% increase in torque at the wheels. And that ignores the effect of reducing tire weight--weight that must overcome rotational inertial to go and stop.

37-35=2 2/37=0.054 0.054x100=5.4%
4.88-4.10=.78 .78/4.88=0.159 0.159x100=15.9%
5.4+15.9=21.3%

Anyway, good luck with your decisions.

 

[MrKnowitall]

Stock stick rubi gears, should be 4.10. I’m on 37s

I think we're onto something....

And because you have modded your JT in such a way that it is not drivable you wish to trade it in or add an auto tranny or another engine....Am I still on track?

There are plenty of happy users out there with manual transmissions. There are plenty of guys running 37's. You need gears. period. 4.88 with 37s will have you turning 2500-2800 on the highway. You need every bit of that rpm, and it won't hurt that engine a bit. Its the same final drive as my JKUR 6spd. AEV specs 4.88s with their MT JL370 and JT370. If you want an easier time at low speed, I'd suggest the Certerforce 2 clutch kit, together with the gears.

 

[loudog3114]

I think we're onto something....

There are plenty of happy users out there with manual transmissions. There are plenty of guys running 37's. You need gears. period. 4.88 with 37s will have you turning 2500-2800 on the highway. You need every bit of that rpm, and it won't hurt that engine a bit. Its the same final drive as my JKUR 6spd. AEV specs 4.88s with their MT JL370 and JT370. If you want an easier time at low speed, I'd suggest the Certerforce 2 clutch kit, together with the gears.

I have geared in the past. Gears don't add power, they change rpm. No matter what the rpm, there is no power with this motor. I don't need to change RPM, I can do that by using a lower # gear. Gears are only useful if first is too tall, and it isn't. If anything it isn't tall enough. Yes, gears will solve reverse while towing a boat uphill, but that was already solved by buying a $1500 beater with more towing capacity.

 

[hjdca]

If you watch the weight of your tires and rims, you can also help your cause. 4:88 or 5:13 gears with lower mass wheels and tires is a better combination for your needs. If you look carefully, you can stay with a 26 lbs rim (stock weight) and buy 37 inch tires that are approx. 10 lbs more than the stock 33 inch tires (ie. goodyear kevlars, BFG A/Ts, etc...). That will give you 4 inches more diameter for only a 10 lbs. penalty per tire. This will help performance a lot. If you are running 35 lbs. rims with 80 lbs. tires, then, you that is an extra 20 lbs per tire your are pulling around that you do not have to -- this will hurt performance a lot.

Theoretically, if the weight is the same per wheel/tire (33" and 37"), and the gears are modified for the added height of 37 inch tires, then, performance will not suffer much at all.

 

[Dewyaw]

What part of Houston are you in?

Tomball..

 

[stickshifter]

I have geared in the past. Gears don't add power, they change rpm. No matter what the rpm, there is no power with this motor. I don't need to change RPM, I can do that by using a lower # gear. Gears are only useful if first is too tall, and it isn't. If anything it isn't tall enough. Yes, gears will solve reverse while towing a boat uphill, but that was already solved by buying a $1500 beater with more towing capacity.

This is starting to confuse me. You are complaining about the power of the 3.6 - and I agree. But folks have offered up viable options for you - most notably (given your apparent preference to stay with your vehicle) - a supercharger. Here is my previous post, and I'm pasting it in again, because I don't see you recognizing that the three suggestions actually respond to all three of your complaints (not enough power in the engine, concern about the ability of the clutch to stand up to more power, and gearing in reverse).

If you were seriously considering the expense of an auto swap (not really a viable option) why not re-gear to 4.88, add a supercharger, and swap in a Centerforce clutch? The manual should hold up to the supercharger with the Centerforce clutch and flywheel:

https://www.centerforce.com/articles/centerforce-dual-friction-kdf157077

https://www.quadratec.com/p/centerforce/ii-clutch-kit-jeep-wrangler-jl-and-gladiator-jt-KCFT157077

This will run you around $11-12K total, but will make that manual pretty dam sweet. Some superchargers come with a 3-year warranty (do your research). The Magnuson SC (for example) produces 440hp and 380 lb-ft of torque at the crank. EDIT - note that this is more power than "a small V8" which you voiced a preference for, and since there is no small V8 available, other than swapping in a Chevy 5.3 LS (roughly $30,000 if you pay a shop), this is actually something in the marketplace right now.

https://www.magnusonsuperchargers.com/product-p/01-19-36-003-bl.htm

Whether or not $11-12K is a lot of money is your call and not my business. If you want to stay in a Gladiator, but you want more torque, and you want one now, trade for the diesel which comes with 440 lb-ft of torque and the 8-speed auto (which has better gearing for your needs). Yup, you may not be able to get your color preference. Life is full of choices - prioritize your preferences. Another option is to wait a while, and buy the 6.4 from the factory. The 6.4 puts down 450 HP and 450 lb-ft of torque (that's big V8 power, not small V8 power or supercharged V6 power). Price is yet to be announced, as is the release date for the Gladiator.

If money is not an issue, your options are pretty clear.

 

[Dewyaw]

I have geared in the past. Gears don't add power, they change rpm. No matter what the rpm, there is no power with this motor. I don't need to change RPM, I can do that by using a lower # gear. Gears are only useful if first is too tall, and it isn't. If anything it isn't tall enough. Yes, gears will solve reverse while towing a boat uphill, but that was already solved by buying a $1500 beater with more towing capacity.

You’re correct, gears don’t add power. But they absolutely do put you back in the power band if you’ve changed the size of your tires, allowing you to use the power more effectively.

 

[loudog3114]

This is starting to confuse me. You are complaining about the power of the 3.6 - and I agree. But folks have offered up viable options for you - most notably (given your apparent preference to stay with your vehicle) - a supercharger.

Yep, a supercharger is a solid option for a power adder. The question is do I want it in stick any more at all, and I think the answer is no. I more or less came to a conclusion further up in the thread, that swapping it for a diesel is really the best option.

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