Sponsored

DJ the Persevering Gladiator

Krash1642

Well-Known Member
First Name
C. Brown
Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Threads
8
Messages
158
Reaction score
143
Location
Delaware
Vehicle(s)
1984 CJ 7 (Bessie), 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S Bright White (DJ), 2016 Jeep JK Willy’s (traded for wife to get Ford Focus due to work), 2018 JLU Sahara (Wife’s traded for JT)
Occupation
Teacher
Vehicle Showcase
1
My build thread for my 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S tow package.
Purchased June 28, 2019

So I’ve been wanting to start this since the night we brought her home.... I recently lost my Mama to cancer and her and I had made some plans to have a few adventures in the Gladiator, but that didn’t quite work out, so this was just a lil hard to get started.

***i apologize, realized this was super long when I finished....but it feels relevant to me so here it is***

Some back story: Like many on here I’ve been waiting for this truck to come out since that concept way back in 2004/2005. I grew up workin on my Great Grandparents farm, had a cousin that had a CJ7 and he would come over once a week to ride the fence lines and make repairs... it was my favorite day because I got to ride in the Jeep and help... my love affair with Jeeps started then, I was about 4 when that began. Move along to 16, wanted a Jeep so badly, couldn’t afford one, bought a Chevy pickup for $500 so I could expand my lil yard business that I have been doing since I was 8. A year later, Chevy needs major work, found a lil Dodge D-50 pickup for $1050, drove it through college. 1995, graduate from college finally can by a Jeep, base sport 4 cyl, 5 speed, soft top, strip model... loved this Jeep! Everything that was put on, I did myself. Absolutely loved it!! Owned it for 15 years and 300,000 miles... always regret having to sell it when I did. It was a tank, never left me stranded, never got stuck... and never had a lift. Over the years I owned a 2004 TJ, 6 cyl, 5 speed Sport S bought new and in 2011 traded it for my 1984 CJ7 and cash (still own her, Bessie is her name, named after my Great Granny whose farm I worked on and got to ride in the CJ one a week). 2008, waiting for the Jeep Truck and no where in site, so I bought a new 2008 Nissan Frontier SEV6 4x4 king cab. 2016, just before my Daddy passes away from Pancreatic cancer we have a talk about new trucks and cost and whether I should get one or get something else to drive to keep the miles down on the truck so I don’t have to buy another one. We lose home June 24, 2016... in July 2017, we see a 2016 JK Willy’s edition, with only 23,000 miles... so I bought it to help keep the truck miles down like my daddy advised. Dec 4, 2017 the Nissan catches on fire while I’m driving.... an electrical housing that had a recall that I didn’t get the recall for... but thanks to my daddy’s advice, I still have the JK to drive (Bessie the CJ only rides in warm and sunny weather or snowy weather but always close by home). Word of the Jeep truck being a real thing is back out... so the JK rear seat comes out and we make it work for the yard business, in addition to borrowing my buddy’s trailer.... waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting still for the Jeep truck to come out (lol). In 2016, November, my Mamas cancer comes back and they say 4-6 weeks max... she once again proves them wrong (this is her 3rd bout with Breast Cancer, she also had type 1 diabetes s so treatments are a lil more complicated). Whenever I visit home (4 hours away, I’m in Delaware and from Virginia) during the summer, we have always made a point of having adventures in my Jeeps. When the Jeep Gladiator reveled, my Mama and I started making some adventure plans as we were learning they were running out of treatments/options and the cancer was no longer being held at Bay, so without stating it she was kind of implying she felt this was her last summer and she was hoping I would be able to get my truck and we could have some fun in it. She knows I’ve been waiting for the truck to come out for a long time... she thought it was super cool and perfect for me... I’ve always been a Jeep kid but also a truck kid, so the best of both worlds! I grew up pretty poor in rural VA, hard work and tough skin have always had to be a part of our lives... my Mama always made me feel like I could do anything if I put my mind to it and my daddy always showed and taught me how to do things for myself along with of course my mama, grandparents and great grandparents.. beating odds has been our thing. May 10, 2019 we lost my Mama, it has been a hard hit loss, I FaceTimed her everyday, shared my adventures with her on FaceTime and she loved seeing my dog Ryder, her grandpuppy, ride waves, paddle board, look for Deer, watch sunsets and enjoy bonfires. So though we loved four hours apart, I tried to let her be apart of our adventure with me via FaceTime when we weren’t having adventures together in VA. So when my dealership go the first Gladiator I got a text right away, it was a white rubicon, and it was amazing. I knew at that time I one, wasn’t getting a rubicon and two, wasn’t ready to buy yet but they are cool and they knew I wanted to see the unicorn in person and drive one. The next day they got an overland, my wife and I went over to look at that one and drive but ended up just looking at it, as there was someone ready to buy it and they were gonna take it for a ride so we got to play in it but didn’t drive it as we, again knew we weren’t buying that one. A dealership near my wife job got a sport s, max tow package, hard top etc... I went down to drive it, knew pretty certain we were getting a sport s (not from that dealer) but my dealer had agreed to the 5% below invoice if I placed the order... so I wanted to drive a sport s max tow first. Again, loved it! I’m a teacher, so as soon as our summer break started it was time to really figure out if this was gonna be possible in a few weeks, months or another year. They let me know they had some sports in with the regular tow package (so 3.73 gearing) and soft tops... so I went over to drive that so I could compare to the others I had driven, get the numbers breakdown and possibly prepare to order, or at least know where I stood. As I was waiting for my guy to finish up with a customer and bring the keys out my Mamas butterfly was flying around... it followed my all over the dealership.... when near the JT’s she would land on the truck, then flutter of and rest on my arm or shoulder... this went on for over 30 minutes before I drove the truck.... It was the first Gladiator I had driven with a soft top, I loved it even more than the previous two test drives with the hard tops and 4:10’s. I’ve always had soft tops but had thought this time I’d get the hard top and add the flip top thingy.... I LOVED the soft top! The 3:73’s felt zippy and overall I liked it more than expected. Took a nice long test drive, enjoyed every second of it, head back to the dealership to talk numbers. We ran some, I felt we were still too far apart to place the order (also having to do trade in numbers for our JLU), so I left to head back home to mow. Later that afternoon, I come in to get a drink while mowing to find a few messages and a video, Luis, my guy at the dealership has called and sent me a video of a truckload of Gladiators, 3 are white (which is what I want). I text back to let me know what options they have, he immediately calls... his GM has told him if we come and purchase one that day they will honor the 5% below without having to order... I reminded him our numbers were not really close enough and he assures me we will get it right. My wife gets home, we talk about it... I empty our JLU out and head over.... after a lil squirting around with numbers we get it right and drive the truck home in ship mode at 946pm... have to be back at 8am so they can take it out of ship mode and swap our wheels and tires over from the JLU.... one Happy Jeeper here!!!

7CF3D297-2314-4F08-B388-9BDF6ADB6D0A.jpeg


ACCB2A13-0D6B-4EB5-8D03-722F43E33299.jpeg
Sponsored

 
OP
OP
Krash1642

Krash1642

Well-Known Member
First Name
C. Brown
Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Threads
8
Messages
158
Reaction score
143
Location
Delaware
Vehicle(s)
1984 CJ 7 (Bessie), 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S Bright White (DJ), 2016 Jeep JK Willy’s (traded for wife to get Ford Focus due to work), 2018 JLU Sahara (Wife’s traded for JT)
Occupation
Teacher
Vehicle Showcase
1
June 28 as soon as we got home I installed our Jeep Slush mats from the JLU, the fronts are a perfect fit and the backs are a lil different but I unbolted the storage compartment and tucked the mats under then reinstalled the storage compartment... it’s good enough for now.

June 29, back to the dealership to swap our wheels and tires over and get it our of Ship mode... couple pics by our JLU before the swap and after...

Then her first adventure was off to the beach... she did amazing!

AD12DCE3-4E10-4FB5-8341-A66FFEBE8866.jpeg


731839A2-2A2E-4FF2-A182-8255D77ED962.jpeg


1220864A-BB96-4AF0-9FB4-E9812EADE7FC.jpeg


D0B41440-B9BE-415B-8909-7F45E39652FE.jpeg


743CED11-7CFA-4ADD-A445-D14A3BC5020D.jpeg


6DDD8FE5-B893-4652-9EC0-2DE67CA56E53.jpeg


36CB0878-BDD8-4A42-A90E-5FB0226E1DAB.jpeg


CD936975-1E38-49CE-AA32-6D9883D33B4F.jpeg


3BAB97CF-B59C-487D-99CE-E5AB130B4A4F.jpeg


C6BF5BF0-9D7B-44AD-82B0-595721B64F04.jpeg


48F7732B-4FDA-42D4-8234-BF88C43A9C5C.jpeg
 

Blu542

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Aug 25, 2019
Threads
6
Messages
85
Reaction score
52
Location
Wayne, PA
Vehicle(s)
JTR, 94YJ, 4XE
June 28 as soon as we got home I installed our Jeep Slush mats from the JLU, the fronts are a perfect fit and the backs are a lil different but I unbolted the storage compartment and tucked the mats under then reinstalled the storage compartment... it’s good enough for now.

June 29, back to the dealership to swap our wheels and tires over and get it our of Ship mode... couple pics by our JLU before the swap and after...

Then her first adventure was off to the beach... she did amazing!
Sorry to hear about your mom, I feel for ya. Goes w/o saying that cancer is the worst.
On a lighter note, that is a serious back-story of determination for the Gladiator, and the one you picked looks great, congratulations! I was eyeing Millsboro for a while because they had the JT I wanted, but then my local popped up with one out of nowhere.
Lastly, what beach is that? It can’t be too far from me, but I don’t recognize it.

Mike
 
OP
OP
Krash1642

Krash1642

Well-Known Member
First Name
C. Brown
Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Threads
8
Messages
158
Reaction score
143
Location
Delaware
Vehicle(s)
1984 CJ 7 (Bessie), 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S Bright White (DJ), 2016 Jeep JK Willy’s (traded for wife to get Ford Focus due to work), 2018 JLU Sahara (Wife’s traded for JT)
Occupation
Teacher
Vehicle Showcase
1
July 3, 2019 Retrofitted a doggie seat cover for the back seat until Bartacts rear seat covers are ready for seats without the console thingy
July 14, 2019 installed Tygre Tonneau Cover
July 15, 2019 installed Mopar Jeep sil covers
July 22, 2019 receive motorcycle mirrors, so took doors off for the first time, with the top off ❤
August 8, 2019 installed Rydonaia 13” stubby antenna

1C669801-57FC-4A1D-9A20-98B497D63CE1.jpeg


2C618F88-5A65-40BB-A4BB-1A2F3957E668.jpeg


9590D577-C476-442A-B30A-DBBC814190F8.jpeg


D4885A19-135F-4552-92F2-DF09C56C279A.jpeg


993420BE-2147-48F5-8BA1-6CE745F6013F.jpeg


661910EE-228A-452F-9361-E22E6AD13E5F.jpeg


31FB0400-8D6D-4720-8BA3-1058D556BE74.jpeg


C877EEDF-907F-4658-9A96-B46C943474FD.jpeg
 
OP
OP
Krash1642

Krash1642

Well-Known Member
First Name
C. Brown
Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Threads
8
Messages
158
Reaction score
143
Location
Delaware
Vehicle(s)
1984 CJ 7 (Bessie), 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S Bright White (DJ), 2016 Jeep JK Willy’s (traded for wife to get Ford Focus due to work), 2018 JLU Sahara (Wife’s traded for JT)
Occupation
Teacher
Vehicle Showcase
1
Sorry to hear about your mom, I feel for ya. Goes w/o saying that cancer is the worst.
On a lighter note, that is a serious back-story of determination for the Gladiator, and the one you picked looks great, congratulations! I was eyeing Millsboro for a while because they had the JT I wanted, but then my local popped up with one out of nowhere.
Lastly, what beach is that? It can’t be too far from me, but I don’t recognize it.

Mike
@Blu542 Thank You so much! Yea, I hate cancer!!! Lost My Daddy to Pancreatic Cancer (age 66) and Mama, like I said, to Breast Cancer (age 64).

And thank you, I love the white, love how it’s turning out, love how it drive and the usability in addition to the Jeep feel! Millsboro has always been good to us, but glad you were able to get one from your local peeps! We were at Cape Henlopen State Park at the Gordon’s Pond entrance.
 

Sponsored

OP
OP
Krash1642

Krash1642

Well-Known Member
First Name
C. Brown
Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Threads
8
Messages
158
Reaction score
143
Location
Delaware
Vehicle(s)
1984 CJ 7 (Bessie), 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S Bright White (DJ), 2016 Jeep JK Willy’s (traded for wife to get Ford Focus due to work), 2018 JLU Sahara (Wife’s traded for JT)
Occupation
Teacher
Vehicle Showcase
1
August 27, 2019 Finally got to install my rubicon take off springs and Fox Shocks! Gained a lil less than an inch on the front and about an inch on the back. Did it in the driveway, not to bad! While doing that my Under the Sun Insert that I purchased at Jeep Week in Ocean City, MD was delivered so I also installed that.

441815B4-EFE5-4A68-BF14-25D09F7B2787.jpeg


6341260A-A1B9-4A56-AB04-124B35FED938.jpeg


B6284AF9-4AEB-4103-A59E-F338D7F95CFB.jpeg


7E9AF8BF-CE84-4F92-AADC-6F044E5317E4.jpeg


618A28B6-CD3C-4FD8-BFF4-F2D4A517A79C.jpeg


BA77B9D1-623D-421D-B90C-44B0539A7E31.jpeg


F550362B-E647-4F09-90EA-3CCA8B122FFC.jpeg
 

Raven

Well-Known Member
First Name
Chris
Joined
Aug 15, 2019
Threads
7
Messages
131
Reaction score
105
Location
PA
Vehicle(s)
2020 Gladiator Sport S Max Tow
What are the specs on the wheels and tires?
 
OP
OP
Krash1642

Krash1642

Well-Known Member
First Name
C. Brown
Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Threads
8
Messages
158
Reaction score
143
Location
Delaware
Vehicle(s)
1984 CJ 7 (Bessie), 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S Bright White (DJ), 2016 Jeep JK Willy’s (traded for wife to get Ford Focus due to work), 2018 JLU Sahara (Wife’s traded for JT)
Occupation
Teacher
Vehicle Showcase
1
What are the specs on the wheels and tires?
265/70r18 (33’s) Falken Wildpeak AT3W’s
Fuel Hostage III’s 18x9 Anthracite 5” Backspace
Sponsored

 
 



Top