Anyone ever swap out the 3.6 gasser for the 3.0 diesel?

[shrinkhead]

In my experience every inch in tire increase cost me 1MPG going from 35s to 37s to now 38s. With the 38x13.5x17 I have now i am getting 13.5 in the city and 17-20 on the Interstate depending on speed. This still yields a good enough range for me. going 50 on a flat road you even get 25 mpgs but...

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[Flyin6]

In my experience every inch in tire increase cost me 1MPG going from 35s to 37s to now 38s. With the 38x13.5x17 I have now i am getting 13.5 in the city and 17-20 on the Interstate depending on speed. This still yields a good enough range for me. going 50 on a flat road you even get 25 mpgs but...

That's about what I would have expected. Tire size and also lift work against mileage. Unshrouding the undercarriage reduces the ground effect which would have masked some of the parasitic drag occurring in that rather busy undercarriage. In your case, 13.5 X 2 = 27" of flat plate drag pushing back any chance of laminar airflow, (With those tires) so the mileage is not going to be pretty.
I think it was Motec, using an LT with stock-size tires was able to get over 24 mpg on their desert test loop. So plug in 3" lift and bolt on that sheet of plywood like you are pushing. I do believe there are benefits to be had by converting to a Chevy drivetrain, but I have to wonder how much better.

I am going to a V8 because with the V6, I only really have a grocery-getter. I can't imagine my JTR pulling my overland camper, a dog, and a wife and stuff anywhere but across the lawn with that wheezer of an engine.

Thanks for the info...

 

[GtownTX]

as someone driving a swapped 6.4L JT for 2.5 years now I will just add that dated or not it’s a great fit for the truck and plenty of power with very easy serviceability and good MPGs (that really depends on your tire size). I’d just go with whatever your local shop offers

Agree completely based upon my 2 months so far...made it a completely different jeep/truck. Way more on the smiles/gallon, significantly more power and honestly a pleasure to drive.

 

[Flyin6]

Agree completely based upon my 2 months so far...made it a completely different jeep/truck. Way more on the smiles/gallon, significantly more power and honestly a pleasure to drive.

...Encouraging to hear.

So on my other forum, the one I own, I am running a more or less, parallel discussion. One of the members there is one of the chief engineers over at SpaceX. He is also a die-hard Mopar guy. I opened up that thread to see the latest comment and it read:

HEMI be the man feel the power and I bet you get pretty close to the same MPG.

 

[Toyfrog]

I cannot agree at all
I paid a hefty price for an AEV
Then I have already invested in the Clayton suspension, 5.13's bumper, winch and on and on
Additional things do not bring a strong premium
and
I will not realize anywhere near what I paid for this AEV
Nossir, I am on the tipping point and since I like the vehicle, I want to build this one

Now, respectfully,

Has anyone heard of a 3.0 swap?????

Thought the AEV kit came with lift and gears? Did you change them out?

 

[GtownTX]

...Encouraging to hear.

So on my other forum, the one I own, I am running a more or less, parallel discussion. One of the members there is one of the chief engineers over at SpaceX. He is also a die-hard Mopar guy. I opened up that thread to see the latest comment and it read:

HEMI be the man feel the power and I bet you get pretty close to the same MPG.

Neat! He's probably elsewhere in the state. Of course MPG depends upon so many things. It's hard to be easy on the gas pedal all the time now that it is so much more functional.
Geared correctly for your tire size, the highway mileage is not significantly different between the 3.6 and 6.4....but with actual useable power. Need 85 mph to execute a pass?... go get it in a couple seconds and enjoy the ride.

 

[Flyin6]

Thought the AEV kit came with lift and gears? Did you change them out?

Sure did

AEV supplies the wrong gear for their JT370 build. They only put 4.56 ratio in there when the truck clearly needs 5.13, so I changed that. Before I was getting poor mileage and almost never in 8th gear, but now I am mid 16's-17's and it runs in 8th most of the time.
The lift AEV supplies are little more than a couple of brackets. Not meaning to be harsh on them but they use all-stock Jeep stuff, bolt on a couple of brackets, and some Bilstein shocks, and lavish the marketing over it. In truth, the difference between the Clayton 3.5 vs the 2.5 bracket junk that was on there before is remarkable.
I would have never paid the surcharge for an AEV if I knew the Jeep product as well as I do now. I have also removed the very heavy AEV bumper and bolted on something 1/3rd the cost and saved around 70 pounds. Having gone through this, I would not say I am a fan of AEV products.

 

[Flyin6]

Neat! He's probably elsewhere in the state. Of course MPG depends upon so many things. It's hard to be easy on the gas pedal all the time now that it is so much more functional.
Geared correctly for your tire size, the highway mileage is not significantly different between the 3.6 and 6.4....but with actual useable power. Need 85 mph to execute a pass?... go get it in a couple seconds and enjoy the ride.

Yea, he moves around between Texas and Florida.

Well, I like the Gladiator too much to toss a grenade in it and move on. This has to be the very best Overland rig in the world. And I have actually driven other products on several different continents. It is a keeper and with a real engine will be more perfecter (Not a real word, but should be ;-)

 

[Shigeru]

Haven't personally heard of a 3.6 to 3.0 diesel swap, but it's intriguing, right? Is that 3.6 gasser not cutting it for you? I get it. Sometimes you just need more oomph under the hood. Comparing your Gladiator to the Cadillac XT6 is like apples and oranges, right? That Caddy's got some serious get-up-and-go with its 3.6 gasser. But hey, planning an engine swap sounds like an exciting adventure. And that 3.0 eco diesel sure has its appeal – torque for days! If you're hunting for spare parts for truck, you might wanna explore some options out there. Swapping engines, tuning, it's all part of the DIY fun.

 

[Flyin6]

So let's date this before I answer...That was spring/early summer before I took off on one of our adventure rides.

Having driven a few thousand miles getting there, then off-road and all over the Appalachian mountains, I have a different opinion.

The little 3.6 is not an exciting engine. I believe it is underpowered for this application.

But, it got the job done!

I was unable to cruise with other highway traffic except for the semis. I drove 63-69mph for most of it and at the end of the day, that isn't so much of a big deal. I drove all the way up to the summit parking lot of Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi, and I didn't need nor want to travel quickly. I preferred lumbering about or on the trail.

So in two weeks, we depart for the real storyteller. Going to do the alpine loop, Corkscrew, Big Bear, Imogen, Engineer and Eagle passes along with days up in the San Juan. From there we are driving to MOAB to soak in the red sand some before driving three days home (at 65 mph).

I was thinking of the US Army in WW2 driving around a 4-cyl flat-head jeep and probably at times wishing it had more power...But it worked. I remember a myriad of hard-core military vehicles that I had the opportunity to drive in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Alaska, and who knows where. And all of them were underpowered and all of them worked. The British Royal Marines loaned me one of their Defender 110's, diesel-powered, for a year in Afghanistan. That thing would barely spin a tire, but it always got me to/from anywhere I needed to be.

So I am not going to change the engine, I decided, instead, to just change me, and my thinking!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So let's date this before I answer...That was spring/early summer before I took off on one of our adventure rides.

Having driven a few thousand miles getting there, then off-road and all over the Appalachian mountains, I have a different opinion.

The little 3.6 is not an exciting engine. I believe it is underpowered for this application.

But, it got the job done!

I was unable to cruise with other highway traffic except for the semis. I drove 63-69mph for most of it and at the end of the day, that isn't so much of a big deal. I drove all the way up to the summit parking lot of Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi, and I didn't need nor want to travel quickly. I preferred lumbering about or on the trail.

So in two weeks, we depart for the real storyteller. Going to do the alpine loop, Corkscrew, Big Bear, Imogen, Engineer and Eagle passes along with days up in the San Juan. From there we are driving to MOAB to soak in the red sand some before driving three days home (at 65 mph).

I was thinking of the US Army in WW2 driving around a 4-cyl flat-head jeep and probably at times wishing it had more power...But it worked. I remember a myriad of hard-core military vehicles that I had the opportunity to drive in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Alaska, and who knows where. And all of them were underpowered and all of them worked. The British Royal Marines loaned me one of their Defender 110's, diesel-powered, for a year in Afghanistan. That thing would barely spin a tire, but it always got me to/from anywhere I needed to be.

So I am not going to change the engine, I decided, instead, to just change me, and my thinking!

Do not be afraid to wind it up! Heck, I hit 5,000-6,000 RPM here just merging into traffic while going up a grade and it does fine. It's not even breathing hard at 3-4,000 RPM. My Chevy with aluminum block LS engine had to hit 5,000 RPM to do what my 3.6 JT does at 4300 RPM.
And then I drove my 73 Javelin yesterday with almost 400 HP under the hood, highway speed I'm running 3500+ RPM and it just felt wrong. I didn't want to hit any 6,000 RPM with it - and pick up pieces, while the 3.6 I won't even think twice about kicking it in the butt and getting over 4,000 RPM.
Wind 'er up and turn it loose.
Do not be afraid to let it work.
I'll be hooking up to 5,000 pounds in a couple of days and towing 300 miles over the hills of I80 east in our state - where even the OTR trucker guys have to constantly downshift and try hard to keep speed (they can't) on the grades. It's one of the most frustrating stretches of road when two trucks get next to each other and then hit the next hill and the one that was passing the other has to fall back, unable to keep up the speed limit (well, sometimes they are playing games and do it on purpose - for 10 to 20 miles)

 

[Flyin6]

Do not be afraid to wind it up! Heck, I hit 5,000-6,000 RPM here just merging into traffic while going up a grade and it does fine. It's not even breathing hard at 3-4,000 RPM. My Chevy with aluminum block LS engine had to hit 5,000 RPM to do what my 3.6 JT does at 4300 RPM.
And then I drove my 73 Javelin yesterday with almost 400 HP under the hood, highway speed I'm running 3500+ RPM and it just felt wrong. I didn't want to hit any 6,000 RPM with it - and pick up pieces, while the 3.6 I won't even think twice about kicking it in the butt and getting over 4,000 RPM.
Wind 'er up and turn it loose.
Do not be afraid to let it work.
I'll be hooking up to 5,000 pounds in a couple of days and towing 300 miles over the hills of I80 east in our state - where even the OTR trucker guys have to constantly downshift and try hard to keep speed (they can't) on the grades. It's one of the most frustrating stretches of road when two trucks get next to each other and then hit the next hill and the one that was passing the other has to fall back, unable to keep up the speed limit (well, sometimes they are playing games and do it on purpose - for 10 to 20 miles)

That is really the crux of my "Problem" with the little 3.8. I think I was babying it. You have to understand I drive a Cummins 3500, a built 2500 Duramax, and a supercharged 4.56 gear Suburban which thinks it is a diesel...So, I have been used to barely touching the skinny pedal and I vaulted up to speed. I have noticed that this little 3.6 does shove out some ponies if I press harder and let it wind up some. It's just different and I am feeling I will get used to it.
On the flip side of that, going up and down mountains running at expressway speeds, and crawling around in low range still netted me a trip average of over 15mpg. That is not bad!

So the moral of the story, for me, is to give things some time to get to know and understand them better before judging. My bad I guess, cause, the Jeep is fine!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That is really the crux of my "Problem" with the little 3.8. I think I was babying it. You have to understand I drive a Cummins 3500, a built 2500 Duramax, and a supercharged 4.56 gear Suburban which thinks it is a diesel...So, I have been used to barely touching the skinny pedal and I vaulted up to speed. I have noticed that this little 3.6 does shove out some ponies if I press harder and let it wind up some. It's just different and I am feeling I will get used to it.
On the flip side of that, going up and down mountains running at expressway speeds, and crawling around in low range still netted me a trip average of over 15mpg. That is not bad!

So the moral of the story, for me, is to give things some time to get to know and understand them better before judging. My bad I guess, cause, the Jeep is fine!

I get it - switching back and forth between diesel and gas tractors used to drive me nuts - where the heck is the torque in this thing? Oh, yeah, move that lever forward.
Then in the diesel - why won't this thing wind up any more? It's stuck on idle. HA (yet it would pull a chisel plow from a dead stop when the plow was already in the ground)

 

[Flyin6]

I get it - switching back and forth between diesel and gas tractors used to drive me nuts - where the heck is the torque in this thing? Oh, yeah, move that lever forward.
Then in the diesel - why won't this thing wind up any more? It's stuck on idle. HA (yet it would pull a chisel plow from a dead stop when the plow was already in the ground)

I SOOOOO Get that!
Good comparison: Before I went to flight school and converted to an officer, I was an enlisted soldier in a tank battalion. I had a secondary MOS of being a recovery specialist. We used the giant M88 with a Continental supercharged 1050HP V12 gas motor to pull dead tanks. Only one way to run that thing, floored all the time. Now my M60A1/A3 battle tank had a 1000hp diesel. from an idle if you were on a slick surface, it could spin both tracks and it weighed close to 60 tons. It would only rev (with the Gov removed) to 3200RPM, but it would get there!
Always been a fan of oil burners. On the flip side, I raced a 9-second grand national and a slew of turbo and supercharged gassers.
Funny, that with all that experience under my belt, I couldn't connect the dots with this Pentastar motor.
The bottom line is: The warrant officer is all better now...

 

[NickTheRick]

Hey mate, im thinking of doing this next year. We dont get the diesel gladiators here. The way to do it would be to buy a damaged non repairable diesel gladiator for the donor and switch everything over. If the chassis are different its probably in the mounts in which case you would cut them off the donor and weld them on.

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