Eco diesel or max tow

[danielspivey]

Towing is only a small part of your life. Also factor it the rest of your driving habits. If you only have a 15 minute drive to work it will not make sense to have the diesel.

There is more to towing than weight such as frontal area of your trailer. Most campers that people are towing with these have much more area than the measly 55sqft they are rated for.

So throw all of the towing aside because we all know ratings are there to be broken.

All that said I bought my diesel to tow a 5100lb camper. I will do a full review when I get the chance to tow it in the spring.

The frontal area thing initially came out for trailers with a flat front. Most modern larger travel trailers get around this by having a curved front. Almost half of mine is pitched backward, and at 45 degrees it’s not considered frontal area. Mine is 8 wide and only has about 5.5-6 feet of the front that is less that 45 degrees.

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[Mr._Bill]

I think the cooling is bs
And they did not want the gladiator to steal any ram sales

towed a 16 foot toyhauler with a can am x3 inside
Total weight 6,800

Gladiator diesel tows it just as nice as my f350 diesel
and get better mpg than the hummer h2 that usually tows it

There was an interview with a Jeep engineer posted some time back that outlined the restrictions imposed by the body size and shape. Cooling is a legitimate issue. The ratings are based on the standardized long incline test without overheating. Many will be able to do better than advertised. The Gladiator is a mid-size truck, and that is the market aimed at. The Max Tow gives them a model that is at the top of that market. Anyone who does heavy towing will be looking at a full-size truck and not a Gladiator.

 

[jdwhichard]

get a max tow if it doesnt do what you want you can put a Magnuson SC on it it and pull the diesel backward and still save a k or two

 

[aztec1382]

If towing anything above 7k
I agree get a bigger truck

the 16 foot Carson fun runner fL
Is one the lightest toy haulers that can fit a 2 door utv.
And that thing is right under 7k
Fully loaded

cant imagine pulling anything bigger than that

 

[Oil_Burner]

get a max tow if it doesnt do what you want you can put a Magnuson SC on it it and pull the diesel backward and still save a k or two

I don't think that is accurate.

My Diesel engine cost me just a bit over $3500 after tax. It puts out 70% more torque than a stock gas engine.

Add a Magnuson SC, and you still are at 380 lb-ft of torque, not the 442 that the diesel puts out. My diesel is fully warrantied by FCA... I'm not sure what happens to your 3.6L FCA warranty when you add the SC. If you want the Magnuson 3/36 warranty, it was reported that you would need to have it professionally installed at a labor cost of $1 to $2k. (https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...n-tvs1900-kit-available-now.25396/post-409007). There is a later post in that thread, post #47 where they talk about SC Cost. Your Magnuson SC will cost you $7,245 installed. The kit price is $6,495 and installation from someone doing it frequently is $750. Those prices are without tax.

So, I'm thinking that you are not even close to saving "a k or two"... It's more like spending about $3,700 plus tax more for the SC... for lower performance while feeding that 3.6L SC engine with premium gasoline. That SC will cost you over 100% more than the Diesel engine.

As far as pulling the diesel backwards... unlikely. Why? The diesel has more torque and is a heavier truck.

 

[CerOf]

get a max tow if it doesnt do what you want you can put a Magnuson SC on it it and pull the diesel backward and still save a k or two

Where does the torque come in with forced induction? 4K?+ rpms?
Where does it mount the intercooler?
Will this reduce the tow rating if installed? I’d be worried about heat soak, knocking, and having to run premium.

Cost savings? Nope. The s/c is $6,500. Plus install.
The diesel is $6k more.
Premium fuel costs 30~50 cents more per gallon than diesel around here.

As for dragging a diesel around? Lol
The s/c is still 60lbs less torque.

I got the diesel for the ease of towing up to about 5k. I also prefer the way it drives compared to the gas. Especially with 35” tires. (I did not want to regear or feel the need to do so.)

 

[Oil_Burner]

Cost savings? Nope. The s/c is $6,500. Plus install.
The diesel is $6k more.
Premium fuel costs 30~50 cents more per gallon than diesel.

If you compare apples to apples. MSRP on the diesel is $4,000 more. The automatic transmission (AT) is $2,000 more for the diesel over the manual transmission (MT). But if you want the 3.6L Gas with the AT, it is also $2,000 more than the MT. For me the $2,000 transmission cost is a wash, because I was getting it either way.

So the MSRP for the Diesel engine is $4,000. Factory Wholesale Price for the diesel is $3,500. If you did what I did, and ordered and got a fantastic price of 8% below invoice, and have a 6.75% sales tax, my net final difference in increased cost between a gas with a AT and a diesel with an AT, is $3,437.

 

[danielspivey]

I don't think that is accurate.

My Diesel engine cost me just a bit over $3500 after tax. It puts out 70% more torque than a stock gas engine.

Add a Magnuson SC, and you still are at 380 lb-ft of torque, not the 442 that the diesel puts out. My diesel is fully warrantied by FCA... I'm not sure what happens to your 3.6L FCA warranty when you add the SC. If you want the Magnuson 3/36 warranty, it was reported that you would need to have it professionally installed at a labor cost of $1 to $2k. (https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...n-tvs1900-kit-available-now.25396/post-409007). There is a later post in that thread, post #47 where they talk about SC Cost. Your Magnuson SC will cost you $7,245 installed. The kit price is $6,495 and installation from someone doing it frequently is $750. Those prices are without tax.

So, I'm thinking that you are not even close to saving "a k or two"... It's more like spending about $3,700 more for the SC... for lower performance while feeding that 3.6L SC engine with premium gasoline. That will cost you over 100% more than the Diesel engine.

As far as pulling the diesel backwards... unlikely. Why? The diesel has more torque and is a heavier truck.

sounds like I saved a ton of money using my max tow to tow my TT that is 6850 loaded. Does it win races? No. Does it suit my needs to pull my big TT 5 times a year? Definitely.


When I was younger I had a wagoneer with a 360 v8 in it. 175 hp and could tow 5000 lbs. My gladiator would run circles around it. Its v6 is peppy, I can spin the tires if I need to. Compared to the wranglers I had in the 90s I can’t believe we are even having the discussion the v6 is under powered.

In 10-15 years we will likely have electric motors with instant torque and will likely talk about how stupid it was to have a huge v8 in a JLU.... it’s all about perception and it changes with time.

I haven’t had a wrangler in 15 years because I could never tow my wakeboard boat. That changed with the gladiator, I’m happy!

 

[CerOf]

If you compare apples to apples. MSRP on the diesel is $4,000 more. The automatic transmission (AT) is $2,000 more for the diesel over the manual transmission (MT). But if you want the 3.6L Gas with the AT, it is also $2,000 more than the MT. For me the $2,000 transmission cost is a wash, because I was getting it either way.

So the MSRP for the Diesel engine is $4,000. Factory Wholesale Price for the diesel is $3,500. If you did what I did, and ordered and got a fantastic price of 8% below invoice, and have a 6.75% sales tax, my net final difference in increased cost between a gas with a AT and a diesel with an AT, is $3,437.

Totally agree. I was trying to err on worst case.

 

[danielspivey]

The diesel can’t do this mainly because of payload limitations. It’s comical now that I think of it.... it would tow my TT better, but, I can’t because of capacity limitations.

 

[Oil_Burner]

In 10-15 years we will likely have electric motors with instant torque and will likely talk about how stupid it was to have a huge v8 in a JLU.... it’s all about perception and it changes with time.

This is for sure! Tesla is coming out with a Model S this year that will have 3 electric motors. According to Tesla, the specs are this:

And Elon's Cybertruck...

Edit: In 1981, didn't the rock band Rush, write about our combustion engines in their song Red Barchetta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Barchetta?

 

[Mac]

sounds like I saved a ton of money using my max tow to tow my TT that is 6850 loaded. Does it win races? No. Does it suit my needs to pull my big TT 5 times a year? Definitely.


When I was younger I had a wagoneer with a 360 v8 in it. 175 hp and could tow 5000 lbs. My gladiator would run circles around it. Its v6 is peppy, I can spin the tires if I need to. Compared to the wranglers I had in the 90s I can’t believe we are even having the discussion the v6 is under powered.

In 10-15 years we will likely have electric motors with instant torque and will likely talk about how stupid it was to have a huge v8 in a JLU.... it’s all about perception and it changes with time.

I haven’t had a wrangler in 15 years because I could never tow my wakeboard boat. That changed with the gladiator, I’m happy!

I agree about the power, I was thinking about this the other day, my first couple trucks were '84 and '85 Toyotas they had around 120hp, I did all kinds of stuff with those and never had an issue, much later in life I got a '96 GMC full size, had a 255hp 5.7l V8, at the time it seemed to have all the power I would ever need.

 

[jdwhichard]

oilburner talked me in to it get the diesel best towing option up to 6500lbs up the rocky mountains. nice flat country like i live in get the max tow with up to 7600 lbs

 

[WXman]

I'm having issues deciding between the eco diesel in a willys trim or max tow,

Arguments for I really want a diesel

Arguments against we are looking at a 5200 lb trailer dry and its really pushing that weight capacity for the diesel tow rating.

Thoughts for and against?

Should we go with the diesel or max tow,
With saving the money on not going diesel I also would basically get to throw every package on there and be the same price as what I was looking at for the diesel

By "we", do you mean your spouse and children? If so the EcoDiesel is automatically disqualified because it won't have enough legal payload to handle that trailer.

 

[Dyzard]

By "we", do you mean your spouse and children? If so the EcoDiesel is automatically disqualified because it won't have enough legal payload to handle that trailer.

Just spouse and I. We think we have settled though on a 4800 lb trailer with a 490 tongue weight from what I've read and gathered that gives me 700lbs for payload and about 1700 lbs before max towing is reached to me this sounds doable but I'm new to the towing game so I could be completely wrong and ignorant

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