What did you do TO your Gladiator today? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS, NO GUN TALK]

[antwon412]

Today I went from 35’s to 37’s. Totally changed the look and drive of the truck. ??

Stock gearing? Not sure what trim love you have - are you on factory 4.10 gears?

Contemplating moving from 35 to 37 on my Mohammed, and trying to decide if I should wait so I can do a gear change at the same time.

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[Varooom]

Installed Rusty's lower control arm sliders. Of course, had to paint them orange!
Varooom

 

[Mr.Wilson]

Stock gearing? Not sure what trim love you have - are you on factory 4.10 gears?

Contemplating moving from 35 to 37 on my Mohammed, and trying to decide if I should wait so I can do a gear change at the same time.

Yeah I’m running the stock 4:10 gears and programmed with a Tazer mini. Shifts perfectly and my speedometer is dead on with GPS.

 

[ttn333]

What did I do to my Gladiator today?!?!? Hopefully what a bunch of other people are doing...

I loaded up for:

Headed up tomorrow morning to set up camp at the venue. The down side is it looks like it may rain the whole weekend...but we've got some relief from that:

Nevertheless, here's some pics since that's what we do. If you are there, look for:

Kitchen and fridge are all packed (after this pic though, lol):

Tell me more about that drawer slide. Looks fantastic. I'm planning to build someting this summer that would fit right under the alucab cabinet.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Those handles work better with the sunrider? I got my Mopar handles to work but it tweaks the sunrider mount a bit.

Definitely. They mount using hardware from the bottom of the roll bar, so no interference at all. Existing hardware, black washers provided by @darksidedesign. He’s a fellow Mohave person as well. He’s got them on his with a nice Mohave orange mixed with matching colors for his gator paint. Is yours gator or sarge? I can’t remember. He does very nice work.

 

[HooliganActual]

Tell me more about that drawer slide. Looks fantastic. I'm planning to build someting this summer that would fit right under the alucab cabinet.

If you're planning on building your own, I'm not sure what all I can tell you. This was a manufactured setup from:
https://www.overlandkitchen.com/

They make one specific to the Gladiator that Dan Grec used on his trip around Australia:

BUT having ordered mine in September 2022 and being told just before Christmas that it likely wouldn't be built until after May 2023 due to some issues with the slides, I requested a refund and went another route.

That other route was pulling the one out of my Wrangler that I bought several years ago when the Wrangler was my overlanding vehicle.

Main difference between Overland Kitchen's Wrangler version and the Gladiator version is that the Wrangler version is made to fit behind the Wrangler's rear seat and the Gladiator version sits the full bed length on one side.

I unbolted the two halves of the kitchen (easier to see in this pick on the day it arrived):

With the two halves unbolted, I needed a solid base to mount to. I installed a bunch of nutserts into the floor of the bed and bolted down some 3/4" plywood.

The panel against the front wall of the bed is not in the final build because the plan changed. With the truck bed version of the kitchen, it would have been there but since I had to use the Wrangler version, the overall length dimension changed. NOTE: I made a "shelf that allows me to carry RotoPax Fuel cans over the wheel well and between the kitchen and bedside.

Then I fit my fridge at the front of the base plate and the Wrangler kitchen just behind it.

Ultimately, I think the wife and I are actually happier with this configuration for one main reason. With the Gladiator version, you have to open the rear door, open the tailgate and pull the entire slideout just to get something out of the fridge. In this configuration, you just open the side panel:

As you can see in the last picture, I used the other half of the Wrangler kitchen (the fridge slideout portion) to hold larger items like my Solo Stove, recovery gear, GoTreads and propane bottle. I also store my RTT ladder in a gap between the two:

 

[Dougstdig]

Installed Rusty's lower control arm sliders. Of course, had to paint them orange!
Varooom

I know the factory setup is open on the bottom. Do the Rusty’s brackets have a provision where dirt and rocks will be pushed out when packed in? Looking at the photo made me have some concern regarding debris being packed in and around the bushing…

 

[bakobobby]

Attached my hi-lift on my rack. Its not just bouncing around the bed now. Also some pics of the jeep/mopar base to be able to use the scissor jack.

 

[ttn333]

Attached my hi-lift on my rack. Its not just bouncing around the bed now. Also some pics of the jeep/mopar base to be able to use the scissor jack.

I have one of those. They work well as leveling blocks.

 

[Rusty PW]

Finished phase one of my Frankenstein lift. In the front. JKS hydraulic bump stops with adjustable spring seats. Clayton 2.5" diesel springs. Clayton sway bar end links. Core track bar, and lower control arms. Synergy bump stops. In the rear. Clayton 3.5" springs, track bar for the 37" spare, sway bar end links, and bump stops. Teraflex rear track bar relocation kit. Tires are 37/12.5R17 Eldorado Mud Claws. Got a deal from Walmart. Synergy 1.75" wheel spacers. Measured from the bottom of the Rubi rock rail. Front was 16", rear was 18". It now sits at 23" all the way around.

 

[Hootbro]

Finished phase one of my Frankenstein lift. In the front. JKS hydraulic bump stops with adjustable spring seats. Clayton 2.5" diesel springs. Clayton sway bar end links. Core track bar, and lower control arms. Synergy bump stops. In the rear. Clayton 3.5" springs, track bar for the 37" spare, sway bar end links, and bump stops. Teraflex rear track bar relocation kit. Tires are 37/12.5R17 Eldorado Mud Claws. Got a deal from Walmart. Synergy 1.75" wheel spacers. Measured from the bottom of the Rubi rock rail. Front was 16", rear was 18". It now sits at 23" all the way around.

Looks good!

 

[Rusty PW]

Cool, Let me know. Mine should be here this week. Either way, broke zirks are easy to get out. Guess I could just screw plugs in the holes too. Realistically they only need greased a couple times a year.

Got the Core control arms on. I made the notch about 1" longer on the front Rock Hard skids. Could have gotten away with about 1/2". i have to figure something out to fit the Rock Hard skids on the front axle lower frame mounts. As I have the Teraflex geo brackets.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Finished phase one of my Frankenstein lift. In the front. JKS hydraulic bump stops with adjustable spring seats. Clayton 2.5" diesel springs. Clayton sway bar end links. Core track bar, and lower control arms. Synergy bump stops. In the rear. Clayton 3.5" springs, track bar for the 37" spare, sway bar end links, and bump stops. Teraflex rear track bar relocation kit. Tires are 37/12.5R17 Eldorado Mud Claws. Got a deal from Walmart. Synergy 1.75" wheel spacers. Measured from the bottom of the Rubi rock rail. Front was 16", rear was 18". It now sits at 23" all the way around.

Great work on your monster.

 

[aFatBird]

New bumper, now just gotta get that winch

 

[Rusty PW]

Great work on your monster.

Thank you. Next phase is paying off a credit card. LOL. Then bead locks, the rest of the Core control arms, drive shafts, longer shocks, winch bumper, winch.

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