2022 Rubicon

[Azelja]

I am wondering if the Rubicon is the best option for both small travel trailer hauling and playing on the trails/mud. Thinking about pulling the trigger on a purchase just dont want to find out after, that a different trim would have been a better all around choice. Thanks

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[Mr._Bill]

The Rubicon is a good choice for what you have described. It depends on whether you want it ready to use when you drive off the lot, or if you want to spend time on modifications to make it what you want it to be. What is the primary or daily use going to be for the vehicle?

 

[Azelja]

Primary job will be my wife's back and forth work vehicle. Will look into mods and such if we end up with this vehicle, but suspension, wheels and tires already on the gladiator make it nice out the box to start with vs having street tires and having to buy all that stuff first.

 

[WILDHOBO]

We bought our rubicon for that exact use case. It was great right out of the gate.

 

[Gvsukids]

Primary job will be my wife's back and forth work vehicle. Will look into mods and such if we end up with this vehicle, but suspension, wheels and tires already on the gladiator make it nice out the box to start with vs having street tires and having to buy all that stuff first.

Or look at the Overland for comfort, or Max tow for towing.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Or look at the Overland for comfort, or Max tow for towing.

The op said he wanted towing and trails. The rubicon will do that far better than either max tow or overland. Overland doesn’t have nearly the off road capabilities or towing capacity. Max tow doesn’t either, but does have the towing capacity.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Or look at the Overland for comfort, or Max tow for towing.

I feel like my post came off as rude. My apologies. That wasn’t the intention.

 

[Mr._Bill]

The op said he wanted towing and trails. The rubicon will do that far better than either max tow or overland. Overland doesn’t have nearly the off road capabilities or towing capacity. Max tow doesn’t either, but does have the towing capacity.

The Overland is just as capable for playing on the trails or towing a small Travel trailer. It can now be ordered with AT tires from the factory. I would not try hard trails or rock crawling with a stock Overland, but it's a capable off-road vehicle.

Since it's going to be the wife's daily driver, I would suggest the Overland or Rubicon. I would defer to her wishes on the secondary uses, and how much of that there will be.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Primary job will be my wife's back and forth work vehicle. Will look into mods and such if we end up with this vehicle, but suspension, wheels and tires already on the gladiator make it nice out the box to start with vs having street tires and having to buy all that stuff first.

Just keep one thing in mind. The Rubi comes with a lower payload once built out with all the options you add due to the wonderful heavy duty offroad items. As you modify the rubi after you get it you will probably cause a additional drop in payload which means less ability to carry the tongue weight of a travel trailer. Think of how complicated you want on the trails. Then find the balance.

I started wanting the Rubi and in the end bought the Sport S Max tow for the balance in what I wanted (towing TT, trails and daily driver). With all the options it came in at 1350 payload which needs to cover people, things and tongue weight from trailer. With just two people (300 pounds), that leaves me 1050. 700 tongue for a 5000 pound trailer (close to a stable 15% and 50 pound less than my tongue max for a sport max tow…Rubi is 700 max tongue) that leave me 250 pound left for everything in the bed. Take off 72 for tonneau and now I have about 175 left. See how fast it goes? Keep that in mind. It does absolutely fine on trails, etc. Rock crawler? Nothing like Rubi which is fine. It is extremely comfortable for day to day driving to work.

So think it through.. Maybe start with the kind of travel trailer you want so you can ensure you will meet the payload you need.

Just some thoughts. In the end get what you need and not what anyone tells you to get as we are all different.

That is what makes the Gladiator great. Read up in detail on every trim. Each has a true purpose. So whatever is the MOST important feature for you choose the trim that meets that first.

 

[WILDHOBO]

The overland has a lower towing capacity than both. The rubicon is 7,000, only 650 less than the max tow sport s. The rubicon is comfortable and has has all the creature comforts you can get with an overland. It then has front and rear lockers, 4:1 low range, swaybar disconnect, off road plus mode, and more. Whenever one of these rubicon vs not rubicon threads starts, the owners of non rubicons come out to say rubicons aren’t necessary. Let’s be honest. It’s the perfect trim for someone that wants to off road, and tow. It just is. The difference between the 4:1 low range and the one in the sports and overlands is night and day.

 

[Azelja]

This is all wonderful info and exactly what I was hoping for. The rubi she is eyeing is a 6 speed so I know some towing is lowered a bit but I think we are well below the threshold for it not to be an issue


Jayco Jay Flight Slx 174BH - Camping World of Macon - 2136503
This is kinda what we are thinking travel trailer wise, but some of these overland trailers that are more designed for actually taking with you into the wilderness vs parking at a campsite also look interesting for similar ish price point. This will be our first endeavor with a travel trailer so all info is good info. Thanks

 

[WILDHOBO]

This is all wonderful info and exactly what I was hoping for.

Jayco Jay Flight Slx 174BH - Camping World of Macon - 2136503
This is kinda what we are thinking travel trailer wise, but some of these overland trailers that are more designed for actually taking with you into the wilderness vs parking at a campsite also look interesting for similar ish price point. This will be our first endeavor with a travel trailer so all info is good info. Thanks

That’s doable, depending on how much weight gets put in it. For reference, we tow an off road camping trailer that weighs 3,300 if fully loaded. It works great. If it were 4,500, it would still tow it, but not at interstate speeds up steep grades.

 

[Azelja]

That’s doable, depending on how much weight gets put in it. For reference, we tow an off road camping trailer that weighs 3,300 if fully loaded. It works great. If it were 4,500, it would still tow it, but not at interstate speeds up steep grades.

Does being a manual trans make a huge difference in the towable weight?

 

[Snake Eyes]

Does being a manual trans make a huge difference in the towable weight?

big time makes a difference. You will only get a 450 tongue and 4500 tow. That tongue weight is going to get in your way. YOu may not be able to tow that trailer you chose as the tongue could hit 500 when fully loaded. You really want an automatic if you want to tow unless you just want an overland pop tent. The rest of the overland trailers can get heavy due to suspension and materials

And a GCWR of 10000…yuck. IF you fully load your gladiator to the GVWR of 6250 you cannot have a trailer that weighs more than 3750 pounds GVWR.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Does being a manual trans make a huge difference in the towable weight?

Yes. It’s WAY lower. If you’re planning to tow, get the 8 speed auto with the factory tow package.

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