A Tale of Four Gladiator's....Goldilocks and the Three Bears

[Gladiatorx2]

Hello to all! This is probably not for all as it truly is devoid of technical advice or any how to's. It will be long as there is no other way to share my experience. Everyone is familiar with Goldielocks and the Three Bears. Which one will be my Goldielocks?

My first Gladiator was a 2022 Sport S that was black. It was missing the MaxTow Option that I really wanted so it had the 3.73 gear. The only change that I made was a tire change to 265/70r17 Coopers. One thing to note was that at like 10 miles on the odometer it hit a pot hole with the right front tire and experienced a wobble in the front end. When I got home and looked under it both front shocks were leaking. I installed Fox Shocks and that fixed the problem. I put 16,000 miles on it in 6 months. The performance was acceptable as was the economy. I averaged like 22 mpg. It just didn't feel "sporty".

Number two was a pretty well modified used 2021 Rubicon. It was done up pretty well. I liked it so well that I put over 10,000 miles on it in 90 days. It saw several trails and if it would fit, it would go! Never used the lockers or winch. In town with the 37's it was harder on fuel but in the hills of Tennessee I still managed 20+mpg combined. You just had to work at it. Performance was adequate but still no sporty. Largely due to owning Performance Cars and drive Police Vehicles daily. It was traded in on Number three.

Number three was a white 2023 Sport S with Max Tow. On the 500 mile drive back from the dealer I was impressed! With the oem tires this one was quicker than the other two and was much more fun to drive! The only downside was the fuel economy. I got better economy on the Rubicon with 37's and tried to drive it the same. When I got home I installed a Teraflex 1.50 spacer and Mojave wheels as well as 315/70r17 Goodyear MT's. This one traveled more trails than the other two put together. It felt great and actually felt,well.....sporty! Fuel economy never was as good as the other two. I traded this one for a 2024 Bronco Badlands ( but that's a different story)

My current Gladiator is number four. My wife insisted that she didn't like the Bronco and wanted another Gladiator! It is a 2023 Rubicon with a 3.5 lift, 37's, wince. light upgrades, etc. I traded at a Ford Dealership and they did me right! It has everything that I wanted other than the trail camera. When I bought it, it still had the oem Rubicon wheels and tires so I installed Teraflex Wheels and Kanati Trail Hog AT Tire in 37x12.50r17. It still has 4.10 gears and I will leave it that way. I will be adding a pinion spacer and a Fox Pass Through Stabilizer as well as making corrections for the tire size. Performance is now again adequate but not in the ballpark of the Max Tow with near 35's. Heck, the 37's seem small! So far I am very pleased and glad to be back in the family!

Which one is my Goldielocks?

N

N

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[Gladiatorx2]

Pictures before changing wheels and tires.

 

[Deleted member 57233]

I bet the dealers in your area absolutely love you lol

 

[Stan H]

Hello to all! This is probably not for all as it truly is devoid of technical advice or any how to's. It will be long as there is no other way to share my experience. Everyone is familiar with Goldielocks and the Three Bears. Which one will be my Goldielocks?

My first Gladiator was a 2022 Sport S that was black. It was missing the MaxTow Option that I really wanted so it had the 3.73 gear. The only change that I made was a tire change to 265/70r17 Coopers. One thing to note was that at like 10 miles on the odometer it hit a pot hole with the right front tire and experienced a wobble in the front end. When I got home and looked under it both front shocks were leaking. I installed Fox Shocks and that fixed the problem. I put 16,000 miles on it in 6 months. The performance was acceptable as was the economy. I averaged like 22 mpg. It just didn't feel "sporty".

Number two was a pretty well modified used 2021 Rubicon. It was done up pretty well. I liked it so well that I put over 10,000 miles on it in 90 days. It saw several trails and if it would fit, it would go! Never used the lockers or winch. In town with the 37's it was harder on fuel but in the hills of Tennessee I still managed 20+mpg combined. You just had to work at it. Performance was adequate but still no sporty. Largely due to owning Performance Cars and drive Police Vehicles daily. It was traded in on Number three.

Number three was a white 2023 Sport S with Max Tow. On the 500 mile drive back from the dealer I was impressed! With the oem tires this one was quicker than the other two and was much more fun to drive! The only downside was the fuel economy. I got better economy on the Rubicon with 37's and tried to drive it the same. When I got home I installed a Teraflex 1.50 spacer and Mojave wheels as well as 315/70r17 Goodyear MT's. This one traveled more trails than the other two put together. It felt great and actually felt,well.....sporty! Fuel economy never was as good as the other two. I traded this one for a 2024 Bronco Badlands ( but that's a different story)

My current Gladiator is number four. My wife insisted that she didn't like the Bronco and wanted another Gladiator! It is a 2023 Rubicon with a 3.5 lift, 37's, wince. light upgrades, etc. I traded at a Ford Dealership and they did me right! It has everything that I wanted other than the trail camera. When I bought it, it still had the oem Rubicon wheels and tires so I installed Teraflex Wheels and Kanati Trail Hog AT Tire in 37x12.50r17. It still has 4.10 gears and I will leave it that way. I will be adding a pinion spacer and a Fox Pass Through Stabilizer as well as making corrections for the tire size. Performance is now again adequate but not in the ballpark of the Max Tow with near 35's. Heck, the 37's seem small! So far I am very pleased and glad to be back in the family!

Which one is my Goldielocks?

N

N

Okay later

 

[Gladiatorx2]

I know, not for everyone. But, there is a point to all of this. After all is said and done I have put around 50,000 miles or more on four Gladiator's. From stock to fairly heavily modified. From 3.73 open differential, 3.73 limited slip to 4.10 E Lock on two of them. Tires have been 245/75r17, 265/70r17, 315/70r17 and 37x12.50r17.

I read everything on this Forum practically. Some for knowledge and some for entertainment. I have read a lot lately regarding gear ratio, tire size and weight.

I found the 3.73 gear to be fine with the 265/70r17 tire upgrade. It still got the best fuel economy of the bunch. Average was around 22 mpg for all miles driven since day one.

The Max Tow was by far the most fun to drive. The 4.10 gear seemed too low with the 245/70r17 tires but just right with the 315's. I liked the limited slip and the 1.5 lift was just right. I averaged a little over 20 mpg on this one.

I will just lump the Rubicon's together. They were very similar with the current one being lifted a tad more. They are more capable in extreme terrain. It's nice to know the capability is there even if not used. The Sting Gray Rubicon averaged very similar mpg to the Max Tow on near 35's. The current on is doing 17.6 to 18.2 mpg.

I really liked the combination of 35's and 4.10 gears. If the acceleration changes you couldn't feel it. The fuel economy stayed about the same and may have improved a little.

37's with 4.10 gears is not ideal, but livable for me. Trade off in my case is worse mpg in town but better on highway if under 70 mph. If the lift was less on this one I would have went 35's. The Kanati Trail Hogs weigh 74 lbs. The 315/70r17 Goodyear MT was 52 lbs.

With all four combinations I found that in my case the combined fuel economy varied from 22-20 mpg on the first three. So a difference of 10%. My current one it's more like double that bet I have not adjusted for the tire size and it is lifted more. There was very little difference in performance with the lighter 35's but much more difference with the 37's. This is most noticeable at highway speeds for me.

Just wanted to share my experiences with various platforms and combinations. I hope that it helps someone in some way.

You probably guessed it but Goldielocks to me was the mildly lifter Max Tow on near 35's. It was a great combination. But, if I needed to get where I am going regardless of terrain or circumstances...hands down the Rubicon on 37's.

 

[Supazuk]

you know you can just test drive them without putting a single dollar down

 

[Gladiatorx2]

Yes, and in that process learn little to nothing. That is exactly why I shared this. To inform those as to what it is like to put thousands of miles on different platforms and combinations.

As I said at the beginning of this post.....it ain't for everyone. If the information even helps one person in making the decision to purchase or not it was worth my time.

 

[NOTJeepBeerSleep]

You need to trade that in on a diesel. 5 gladiators seems right. Im only on #3

 

[chaosjake]

The current on is doing 17.6 to 18.2 mpg.

Your fuel economy on all four JTs blows my mind. I have a 2022 JT Rubicon on 315/70R17s and (edit: 4.10s), and I rarely see better than 13mpg in day to day driving. If I'm on a long road trip where I'm cruising on the highway all day for multiple days, I can get it up to almost 16mpg, but 17+ is an unattainable dream.

 

[Freems]

Your fuel economy on all four JTs blows my mind. I have a 2022 JT Rubicon on 315/70R17s and 3.10s, and I rarely see better than 13mpg in day to day driving. If I'm on a long road trip where I'm cruising on the highway all day for multiple days, I can get it up to almost 16mpg, but 17+ is an unattainable dream.

Wow, I have a 2020 sport on 35’s and stock gears, it has 55k miles now, real rare if I drop below 17.5 mpg in town, 20+mpg on the highway, long trips pulling my 18’ boat I’ll see about 15 - 16 mpg usually.

 

[leaffan1988]

How much money did you lose on this? Or are things different in your region??
What if the answer is the first one was the best one, will/can you go back?

 

[Gladiatorx2]

I really liked number two ( Max Tow ). It drove the best and was like a jack of all trades. The most that I lost was on the Shark Gray Rubicon ( 4,000). I actually made $2,200 on the Bronco and purchased my current for Clean Black Book Wholesale....or about 7,000 back of retail. The first was during Covid and it cost me 1,700 to put 17k on it.

I have extensive experience managing New Car Franchise Dealers.

 

[leaffan1988]

I suppose that's cheaper than modifying.

 

[cuteangel1007]

I have a question about how y'all are figuring the gas mileage. I've owned 4 vehicles with the tech on board to calculate average mpg, yet I always do the math when I fill up. I clear out my trip odometer after I fill, next fill I divide miles driven by gallons to fill to reach an mpg average. The math is ALWAYS at least 1-2 miles different towards the better. Ex; math says 15.5mpg, vehicle tech says 16.9 or some such. In my Camaros, both the 4 cyl turbo and the 6.2L the math was always 2 mpg worse than the tech said.
So I'm curious, are y'all talking apples & oranges, or apples & apples? To me one relying on tech another relying on math is apples and oranges.
M

 

[imallcrawl]

I wish I could afford 3 Gladiators

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