I only really noticed this behavior before I reset the tire size in the ECU with a TazerJL. Once the right tire size was programmed, the shifting was basically back to normal with 35s.
If your're curious about the outcome of this Gladiator, it looks like it had the rear frame chopped off, a custom reinforced frame added, and a whole lot of big suspension upgrades on top of that.
Around 7min or so he says something like "we've seen lots of videos of frames bending on these, so...
I'll curious to see your experience as well. They were fantastic for the first two years, then seemed to decay quick after that.
My gripe with them is less about tread design, and more about the rubber compound. To your point, several competitors have make copycat versions of the duratrac...
I had them on my TJ back in 2011. They're kind of an ancient design at this point in need of a compound update or at a minimum, a price drop. The brand new Toyo ATiii, Falken ATs, and General Grabber ATs are all newer and more affordable.
I liked them on my TJ alright, but as they aged, their...
Closest competor at the moment seems to be the recently announced GFC Platform Topper. Light aluminum, strong enough to jump, side opening doors, and right at the $4k mark.
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/gfc-platform-topper.62850/
https://gofastcampers.com/pages/topper
It also seems like they photoshopped that thumbnail to make it look way worse than it is. Don't get me wrong, that thing is totalled, but its not bent nearly to the same degree as the thumbnail.
I remember reading somewhere about a batch of 20's that had the seal pinched when installed? Not sure. Seems like a relatively straight forward fix after they dropped the tcase out. For mine they ordered one seal, removed the tcase, then had to order the other seal. So all in all I was jeep-less...
I have a hard time justifying running tires that aren't 3PMSF rated given how much I end up driving in snow, personally. I don't see that rating on those Nittos.