2025 Joose Rubicon Gladiator Build

[Surferbandit]

This is my first time doing a build log but I have built many jeeps over the years. We, along with a couple of friends, are planning a trip out west to hit Colorado, Utah, and eventually the Rubicon trail. This is a bucket list series of trips that we’ve been talking about and planning for years.

I have a Jeep JLU Rubicon that I have been building on over the last 2 years and my intention was to take this on the trip… But I kept going back and forth between bringing a gladiator or the wrangler and eventually decided the gladiator was the best way to go. I am really looking for something that would serve as a well rounded adventure vehicle. I needed something that could rock crawl, handle the trails but also carry additional gear, tools and a roof top tent for some extended off-grid exploring. I’ve had a few gladiators in the past and have always loved them so I purchased an orange “joose” 2025 Rubicon and have started ordering parts. The goal is to build it out on the weekends over the next 3-4 weeks. Below is what I’m planning so far. The parts are starting to arrive so I’m starting to build this weekend.

Here’s my wrangler

and now the gladiator

Suspension & Axles

• Clayton 3.5 Overland Plus Lift Kit with HD rear springs
• 1/2 inch Teraflex front spacer
• Front Adam’s driveshaft
• Teraflex front brake line anchors
• Rock jock drive shaft spacer
• RCV’s In front and Yukon or revolution axle shafts in rear?

Bumpers and Rock Rails

• LOD Destroyer rock rails
• Road Armor rear bumper with bed protectors
• Turn off-road front bumper w/ Skid plate
• Badlands 12k Synthetic winch

Armor

• Asfir oil pan, transmission, and gas tank skid plates
• Rock hard shock and control arm armor
• Rear sway bar braces by metal cloak
• Metal cloak front and rear diff armor

Wheels and Tires

• Vision Wheels
• 38x13.5 r17 Tires (TBD)

Other

• Overland Vehicle Systems Bed cap
• Top Oak Rooftop tent
• Dee Zee Roof Rack
• Starlink Mount
• Arb air compressor mounted in bed

Lighting

• KC light bar
• Bumper lights TBD

Interior

• Wolfbox
• Roof Molle Panel
• Hard wired GMRS radio

I’ll post more as I start to build it out!

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[Bandit’s Lair]

That’s a big endeavor for over a couple weeks. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

[Surferbandit]

I made a little progress last night. I installed the LOD Destoyer rails/steps. This was surprisingly easy. On my wrangler I had to drill to mount… and even though the instructions for the gladiator said there were two areas that I needed to drill, I had threaded holes there already. I had to cut one bracket off but that was it.

I also dropped a cheap bed mat in from Amazon since I’m not planning on bed lining this anytime soon.

The shipping company said they are delivering the OVS bed cap today. I’m out of space in my garage so I’ll probably install that next because I have no where to store it. Hoping to start the lift kit tomorrow morning.

 

[JLPeekaboo]

Amazing color and great build, Looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

[Surferbandit]

I made a lot of progress this weekend. The lift is mostly done… I still need to torque down the control arms and track bars and bleed the brakes after installing the brake line extensions.

I still have the stock tires - plan on getting 38s later this week.

I added met cloak Swaybar reinforcement brackets

I also added rear Swaybar spacers so I could reuse my metal cloak rear diff armor from a JL

I added rock hard’s front and rear lower control arm skids and rear shock skids. I didn’t realize they didn’t include the frame side rear lower control skid so I ordered them.

I just ran out of time to get it all done and have to travel tomorrow. Will likely pick it up again on Friday afternoon.

ill post about the OVS cap soon

 

[Surferbandit]

I spent weekend dialing things in and swapping out the rear bumper on the Gladiator as the build continues to take shape.

First up, I went through and tightened down all the control arms and suspension components, bump stops etc. Nothing too exciting , but an important step before I test it out.

The biggest visual upgrade this weekend was definitely the new tires: Milestar Patagonia MT2s in 38x13.5 R17. These things completely change the stance of the truck—aggressive, beefy, and exactly the look I was going for. Can’t wait to see how they perform once we get them out on the trail.

I also installed the Body Armor rear bumper. Overall, first impressions are solid—it’s extremely heavy duty and the build quality seems good. That said, there are a few things I’m already noticing:

• The towing plug doesn’t stay seated in the bumper and keeps falling out, which is pretty frustrating.
• The mounting points on the rock rails and the rails themselves don’t feel as stout as the OEM setup. Not sure how they will hold up
• The bed protector pieces above the step are pretty lightweight—I’m a little concerned that any real impact there might just bend them into the body rather than actually protect it. I’m debating on removing them.

Didn’t have enough time to get to the front bumper install this weekend, but that’s next on the list along with mounting the winch—hoping to knock that out sometime this week.

Looking ahead, next weekend will be focused on relocating the steering stabilizer, then shifting into electrical—lights, radio, and getting everything wired cleanly. After that, it’s some molle panels and more armor.

The plan is coming together, and the timeline is getting tight—because the weekend after next, we’re heading to an off-road park to really test things out and see how the suspension flexes under load. That’ll be the first real shakedown, and I’m looking forward to seeing what needs to be dialed in.

 

[Surferbandit]

I meant to elaborate on the OVS truck cap install. This was something I was looking forward to building since our focus shift toward longer trips and more practical storage.

The cap showed up really well packaged on a pallet, which was great to see. Some of the parts I buy are damaged in shipping. Everything arrived in good shape, but it also meant I had to jump right into the install since I didn’t have anywhere to store all of it.

The recommended approach was to assemble it on the ground and then have a few people help lift it onto the truck. That wasn’t an option, so I improvised. I ended up building it directly on the Gladiator, with my wife helping hold everything in place while I got it lined up and bolted together. It worked just fine.

I did run into a bit of an issue with the tailgate not wanting to close properly once everything was in place. After a little trial and error, I found that shifting the cap slightly forward solved the problem and got everything lining up the way it should.

Overall, I’m really happy with how it turned out. The fit and finish are solid, and it already feels like it’s going to be a huge upgrade in terms of usability. Having the added protection and storage is going to make a big difference—especially with our upcoming trip out west. This is one of those additions that makes the whole build feel a lot more purpose driven.

 

[Surferbandit]

It’s been a little bit since my last update, but I’ve been making progress. I’ve been working on it whenever I get some free time.

Finally got the front bumper and winch installed. I went with a Turn Offroad bumper, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

First off, this thing is it’s super solid, heavy-duty, and exactly the kind of protection I was looking for. i like the way it looks. Plenty of room for the winch too, which made mounting everything pretty painless.

Now for the not-so-great… Even though the box showed up in perfect shape and everything was packed really well, the powder coat wasn’t great . There were multiple spots where it was rubbed off, the bar had some bare areas, and one section even showed up slightly bent. Nothing I couldn’t live with, but definitely not what you should get when you buy a brand-new bumper.

Install itself wasn’t terrible, but it definitely wasn’t plug-and-play either. No instructions in the box, which isn’t the end of the world—but there were extra parts that had me second guessing things for a bit. A quick YouTube search cleared it up—looks like this bumper is shared with the JK, so not everything gets used on the Gladiator.

The passenger-side fog light wire was too short. Ended up splicing in a little extra length and calling it good—easy fix.

At the end of the day, I’m happy with how it turned out. It looks aggressive, and it’s very solid. I called them (was able to get them on the phone and they were friendly and helpful) they gave me a small refund, but not enough in my opinion. I’m not sure if I’d buy it again.

More to come soon—still plenty left on the list.

 

[Surferbandit]

It’s been a while since my last update. Once it started getting closer to the deadline to get the Jeep ready for the trip out west, pretty much every free minute went into finishing the build. Fortunately we got it done, and we just got back from two weeks out in Moab exploring. I'm do a series of posts covering the rest of the build, starting with the shakedown run.

Before we left, a buddy and I headed out to Iron Mountain here in Georgia to test it out. Everything was great but unfortunately we had to cut the day short because my buddy's Gladiator had in issue with the 4wd mid way through. Ended up under his truck trying to fix it and then headed home.

 

[Surferbandit]

I did something stupid and shattered the rear window of the OVS cap. I installed a Wolfbox, 3 camera system. I needed to mount one in the rear. There's basically zero visibility out the back of the cap and the Wolfbox replaces your rearview mirror with a monitor. I had the idea to drill through the cap and mount the rear camera up high for a better view.

Itarted drilling and it barely scratched the surface. Tried different bits, step bits, everything… and nothing was making progress. I'd bored out a little bit and was leaning into the drill when it slipped, caught the edge of the glass, and shattered it. The glass went everywhere. Pretty stupid move that I regretted immediately, I can't believe I did that.

I called OVS to buy a replacement and it turns out you have to order the whole metal frame plus glass together for $1,500. They actually recommended I just take it to a custom glass shop instead. My problem was I was running out of time before the trip.

So I improvised… I went to Home Depot, grabbed a sheet of thick polycarbonate storm door glass replacement. My wife made a template, and I cut it with a router and jigsaw. Installed it with windshield adhesive. It was clear, so I picked up tint from the auto parts store and ended up having to tint it from the outside so you couldn't see the glue line through the clear glass.

It's not perfect, but it looks decent and its functional. It’s held up fine through our trips so far. Definitely wasn't how I planned to spend that time, but fortunately we got it fixed quickly. I ended up mounting the rear camera on the license plate frame mount that came with the wolfbox.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Oh man!!! I bet that hurt!!!! Drilling the cap is a PITA!!! I drilled the top of mine to pass the Wolfbox wire through for the rear camera. Step bit and liberal amounts of drill lube got it done eventually. It’s marine grade stainless so it’s hard as hell. Great for longevity but a pain to drill into. I used the 3M pad on the top of the angle on the rear cap door and ran the wire into the flat of the bedcap wall above the rear door. Good idea getting the poly on there!!

 

[Surferbandit]

Installed the Wolfbox mirror,a ceiling molle panel from Exceed Fab for extra storage and mounting, a GMRS radio for comms, and a Voswitch JL400 grab handle 4-switch panel system. Needed 7 switches total, so getting everything wired and organized took some planning.

I also so added some Auxbeam lights on the bumper and a KC light bar. The KC is definitely overkill, but it's incredible out in the desert at night. Bought it used off a Raptor — it came as a 9-light, so I took the 9th light out, spliced the wires together, heat shrunk and wrapped it to clean it up. The covers were yellow KC branding, so I put orange vinyl stickers over them to match the truck.

 

[Surferbandit]

I got the rooftop tent installed, then moved on to organizing the bed.

Ran lighting in the rear cap tied to a switch so I have light back there at camp. I added molle panels on the gull wings and the bulkhead. My plan is to keep gear on the gull wings so it's easy to grab, and use the bulkhead panel to keep other items anchored down.

On the back of the bed I mounted two 2-gallon Rotopax, an axe, and my traction boards. None of that gets used often, so I wanted it out of the way but still have it accessible if I actually need it.

I also pulled the two crossbars off the top of the tent and mounted them between the bed rails, then set my Roam box on top of that. My backup tent, hammocks, sleeping bags, and pillows all fit inside.

Last thing I did was installed a Wolfbox air compressor, wired it through the plastic cap that covers where the factory electric outlet would normally go. It was a clean spot for it and kept me from having to cut anything new. The power wire was too large to fit through anywhere else

 

[Surferbandit]

I ended up pushing the trip to bring the jeep to Colorado back a week. I was able to finish the critical things, the day before I left.

I went with Asfir skid plates - I run them on my JLUR and they've held up to some serious bashing over the last 2 years, so I put put the same setup on the Gladiator.

We left for Denver the next morning.

 

[Surferbandit]

I also swapped out the winch line for a bleepin’ Jeep Freedom winch line, swapped out the tail lights. There were three bigger items I didn't get to in time: the Adams driveshaft, RCV front axles, and regearing to 5.13s. All three were on the list, but I ran out of time. The jeep drove great but going uphill with the wind pushing against me, I got terrible gas mileage.

I’ll post some pictures of the trip in a bit

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