over 1000 mi on my 3 week old gladiator: pros and cons

[Blade1668]

I've not read though all of this thread yet but just a few of my thoughts after making it through page 1.
1. ESS system of not shutting it off every stop many of us don't want that our reason very my reason is a starter only has so much lifetime of starts added engine wear (yes I know that there is some so called special coatings supposably) my B.S. meter is up with that. Just like lifetime oil in transmission's B.S. or as mfg plans to sell you new ones.
Part 2: yes it can save fuel but in some cases at the loss of lifetime of vehicle the possibility of advanced wear on components costing more and reliability. I don't change vehicle's like socks and underwear.
I lived in Europe and at RR crossing and extended stops required to shut off vehicle end result my MJ has as much wear and tear on it as my LJ with almost double the miles starter failure at less than half of miles, CPS, and other parts.
2. Staying clean... ??? OEM side steps and mud flaps will help some, I live in National Forrest and farming community. Dirt and dust or mud and gravel color selection helps it to not look dirty. The side steps are not to help me get in but to cut rock damage it helps a lot.
3. Mileage is all over the place with JT's or Jeeps in general. Last year I was "hyper mileage driving" (Max-Tow w 4:10 gears) I could push it to 25 plus MPG that includes roads from gravel to I-State driving I would get best MPG driving over 45 and top speed of 69 mph that was it's sweet spot for mileage. Briskly getting up to speed not lollygagging around to speed.
Note: on my MPG I log in all my fuel and cost since I bought it. As delivered the speedometer read high 1 mile than actual speed with OEM tires. Now with 33s speedometer is dead on.
I can come across as a A@@ H@@@ I'm not as knowledgeable as many here but I've only owned Jeep's since 91 have drove over a million miles in vehicle's amongst other things. Over half of that in Jeeps. I have owned GM, and Ford's before I don't want IFS vehicle's more stuff to wear out and break. Have I seen it yes in Chevy's and Ford's yes. My current work "car" is a POS with only 40767 miles that gets mpg in teens, oh it's better than the Chevy's we did have.

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[Gvsukids]

Me to, atleast on the Ford RS I sold to purchase the Jeep. I thought I read you could permanently disabled it through reflashing or through add on devices such as a TAZER.

Yes, Tazer can be used to stop the ess from working as a does pushing the button.

 

[ecidiego]

Auto stop doesn't bother me as much as the piece of crap satellite radio and death wobble

Satellite always sucks.

What have you or Jeep done to address the steering?

 

[SargeDiesel]

Yes, Tazer can be used to stop the ess from working as a does pushing the button.

You are right Sir !!! Personally I have no issue pushing the button, I was just giving an alternative to someone else that said it was a PIA for them to do it......

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have owned GM, and Ford's before I don't want IFS vehicle's more stuff to wear out and break. Have I seen it yes in Chevy's and Ford's yes.

Wow, you have bad luck with vehicles!
My SX4 went over 160,000 before any front end parts were replaced. Original ball joints, original tie rods, original idler arm and pitman arm, original steering gear. The PO abused the car - 3 springs were broken when I got it and the seat frame came out in 5 pieces (the seal belt was extended about 12")

My 73 Javelin went 100,000 miles before I decided "the hell with it, just totally rebuild the whole front end" while switching to disk brakes.

I've not had a vehicle that didn't go at least 100,000 miles if not more on original steering and suspension parts - some well over that.
My first car hit 200,000 miles on original steering and suspension.
My second car - my first Javelin, went over 120,000 miles and I sold it to my brother who drove it a couple of years and sold it to a collector - all original steering and suspension.

I've never had to replace steering or suspension on any truck I've ever owned - save for my F250 that developed - yeah, a really bad wobble at highway speeds (and it was not IFS)

 

[Terry]

sting grey rubicon, stock so far.

i'll start with the cons:
- very disappointed in the auto start system. last night i took the family to see a drive-through christmas light show at bristol motor speedway. the line to enter was probably over a mile long and took 2.5 hours of sitting for a minute, idling forward a car length, then sitting for another minute. pretty much like a cali daily commute lol. Once in, the show was at least 2-3 more miles long and an additional hour+. 630-1030, 4 hours total to drive 4 miles. in that entire time, the engine shut itself off THREE TIMES. No, AC was off, windows down, radio off.

however, i guarantee that when i pull in my driveway it will shut itself off, then when i shift to park, it turns itself on again, just so i can kill it when i hit the off button.

i'll refrain from sharing my suggestions for career changes to the engineers responsible for that system.

- of the roughly 1050 miles, 400 have been interstate/highway and prob 30 have been steep mountain logging roads, and the remainder small town and rural roads. avg mph currently 16.4. again, stock everything. Given how slow I typically drive and easy on the accel/decel, I'm a little disappointed.

- seems impossible to keep clean, outside and in. any mud/rain and the sides (doors) are covered.

now the pros:
- everything else is pretty much awesome. very happy overall. very impressive offroad. our German shepherd is a huge fan too.

Atticus loves the Jeep, nose paints the Shell windows, and barks at all who pass by. Just the other day, I rolled hard into a little gas station out in the Mojave Desert, screeched to a stop, jumped out and loudly proclaimed.... Give me 40 Cents worth of regular, two quarts of oil, and a New York Roadmap...... Jeepin is fun. I got 35K on my 20 and can't wait to get in it again.

 

[Blade1668]

Wow, you have bad luck with vehicles!
My SX4 went over 160,000 before any front end parts were replaced. Original ball joints, original tie rods, original idler arm and pitman arm, original steering gear. The PO abused the car - 3 springs were broken when I got it and the seat frame came out in 5 pieces (the seal belt was extended about 12")

My 73 Javelin went 100,000 miles before I decided "the hell with it, just totally rebuild the whole front end" while switching to disk brakes.

I've not had a vehicle that didn't go at least 100,000 miles if not more on original steering and suspension parts - some well over that.
My first car hit 200,000 miles on original steering and suspension.
My second car - my first Javelin, went over 120,000 miles and I sold it to my brother who drove it a couple of years and sold it to a collector - all original steering and suspension.

I've never had to replace steering or suspension on any truck I've ever owned - save for my F250 that developed - yeah, a really bad wobble at highway speeds (and it was not IFS)

Heck a VW Golf car I drove in Germany was in use before I joined the Army. The odometer was probably rolled over (maybe a few times) and starting second lap now it was a reliable vehicle but so slow it could hardly get out of it's own way a 4 cy non turbo oil burner w 4 speed. I look at IFS as more parts to wear out not that they all do but if used in dirt, mud, sand and dusty conditions there is more moving parts to fail than on a solid axle AKA less spare parts needed to have. Set of ball joints, U-joints, tie rod ends leaf spring bushings or control arm bushings VS bushings, struts, swing arms /A arms with ball joints. Now one plus for IFS is CV joints vs U-joints.
I've yet to see solid axle control arms broken bent maybe. I think /find it easier to rebuild a solid axle than I.S. on a trail or bum@@@@ locations.
But I'm just one that doesn't like changing vehicle's often.? Or change of some things. I'm not a fan of how dependent on electrical/ computers for a vehicle travelling down the road. Controlling brakes and let alone drive by wire steering n brakes. I can think back to the military Humvee the cooling, brakes (power) and power steering are the same hydraulic system. After having a simple part failure you've got one more application of brakes and no power steering already and overheating. I wasn't in a nice location when that happened. Oh and then the loss of a 1/4 bolt out of critical location and the whole wheel assembly comes off. That one is nasty to see end result of especially at regular road speed. I've not seen ball joints or U-joints failure like that with out quite a bit of warning. Unless shock loading. The Jeep dealership in Weiden Germany was surprised when I told them the right side ball joint was bad and needed replacement I could hear it clicking on and feel it grab slightly when I turned but it wasn't like many let them get before replacement. The problem was when built slightly cocked the ball joint during manufacturing it almost broke the axle getting it out. The plus was my loaner vehicle.??? a lot nicer and faster but I didn't need that much power n speed at that age. Side note the dealership wanted my MJ hindsight I should have done a trade in there with it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

At least these things aren't steer by wire. I like that solid shaft between the steering wheel and the steering gear down below - and actual mechanical links connecting the steering gear to the knuckles. It means these can't park themselves, but my wife never uses that feature on her Grand Cherokee anyway. I learned to park when drivers ed was still taught by the high schools.

Not afraid of a little suspension and steering work - entire steering system and all suspension removed, including cross member, for restoration...............

 

[cotnballs2000]

My check engine light came on at 450 miles for a too rich condition and stayed on for a two weeks. My oil cooler and timing chain cover was leaking at 3100 miles. They replaced the oil cooler seal (took 6 weeks to get) and re-sealed the timing chain cover. Gave it back to me and it was back in 3 days later, they damaged a fuel injector that was leaking diesel everywhere and the oil cooler was still leaking. They ordered a new injector and whole new oil cooler for me, who knows how long that will take. At least I have a 21 Grand Cherokee loaner that drives like a wet noodle. I owned a 15 JKU and a 16 JK, with very minor issues after the warranty was up. This JT has been very disappointing regarding liablity.

 

[Chetnik]

That mpg seems off. I picked up my new gladiator 1 month ago. I have put 3k miles on her since. 40% has been offroad while the other 60% has been daily driving. Im averaging 20mpg on the cars life. I agree she never seems to stay clean though lol

 

[DavdZ]

Satellite always sucks.

What have you or Jeep done to address the steering?

I mentioned it when the dealer did state inspection. They did nothing, but it wasn't too bad then. I has since got worst to undrivable when it happens until I slow down and it settles out.
Got an appointment tomorrow where they said they'll change the steering damper.
I'll let you know how that works out.

 

[ecidiego]

I mentioned it when the dealer did state inspection. They did nothing, but it wasn't too bad then. I has since got worst to undrivable when it happens until I slow down and it settles out.
Got an appointment tomorrow where they said they'll change the steering damper.
I'll let you know how that works out.

The damper doesn't cause this. It muffles it.

 

[NC_Overland]

My gas mileage went up a lot after about 10k miles. I’m it sure if it was the first long road trip or the fact that I drove it really really hard for about 20 miles ona curvy mountain road while we were there, but it literally started getting about 4 mpg better since then. I never got better than 18-19 mpg hwy and now it consistently gets 22-23 hwy. I can’t recommend running your engine really hard like that, it could have been a coincidence.

 

[Gvsukids]

The damper doesn't cause this. It muffles it.

The dealer replace my steering dampener and I had a death wobble and it fixed it. How can I check to see if it's still there?

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