Gladiator EcoDiesel Rubicon - Quality & Efficiency Build

[GladiatorPilot23]

Bought in Nov 23' when they gave those great deals. Plan to keep this amazing truck for life. If not for the EcoDiesel I would not have bought it. Went 900 miles to pickup had to have High Velocity with options I really wanted. Top and fenders had to be black for me with this color for that amazing contrast.

Goals for this build are to use some of the best parts and keep mindful of weight and fuel efficiency when possible.

Options:
Leather
Cold Weather
Aux Switch
Tow Package
Trail Cam
Spray Bed Liner
All Weather Mats - Grab Handle

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[GladiatorPilot23]

Ti lug nuts from ACER. They look very close to oem. https://www.acerracing.com/products...08856&pr_ref_pid=4299839897635&pr_seq=uniform

They are 21MM vs 22MM and 42M long vs 38MM for OEM

OEM 5 Lugs = 13.6OZ

5 Ti Lugs = 7.8 OZ

Close to 1.5Lbs of savings on 4 corners. I love the OEM wheels and they come in at 23lbs. I can't find any wheels that are as light or lighter out there?

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Installed a Antigravity Lithium ion battery's! Forgot to take pics but it's the OEM Group 94R. Went with the 80Amp hour. Never get stranded! It has restart tech in the BMS. Once you get down to 20% capacity, it shuts off. You push a button and it comes back to life to restart. Also no battery memory from sulfating like a lead acid when you discharged. Rated for 10 + years of life or more.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/starter-batteries/automotive/ag-h7-rs/

For the Aux battery this was the closets one that would fit and still have the restart tech.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/starter-batteries/restart-oem/at12bs-hd-rs/

Over all saved 30Lbs and on the front end where it is heavy.

I also installed a charger harness and a battery monitor on the Aux. I can see the volts with it and capacity so when I use the bed plug. It will help.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/accessories/battery/chargers/btr3-bluetooth-tracker/


Also got this 4 back charger. Very nice unit. I plan to go to Lithium on some other vehicles.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/pr...y/chargers/optimate-tm-485-4-bank-maintainer/

 

[Freems]

Install a Antigravity Lithium ion battery's! Forgot to take pics but it's the OEM Group 94R. Went with the 80Amp hour. Never get stranded! It has restart tech in the BMS. Once you get down to 20% capacity, it shuts off. You push a button and it comes back to life to restart. Also no battery memory from sulfating like a lead acid when you discharged. Rated for 10 + years of life or more.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/starter-batteries/automotive/ag-h7-rs/

For the Aux battery this was the closets one that would fit and still have the restart tech.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/starter-batteries/restart-oem/at12bs-hd-rs/

Over all saved 30Lbs and on the front end where it is heavy.

I also installed a charger harness and a battery monitor on the Aux. I can see the volts with it and capacity so when I use the bed plug. It will help.

How can the monitor see the volts and capacity of the aux battery? the JT system ties both batteries main and aux in parallel, your monitor will report the combined volts and capacity.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/accessories/battery/chargers/btr3-bluetooth-tracker/


Also got this 4 back charger. Very nice unit. I plan to go to Lithium on some other vehicles.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/pr...y/chargers/optimate-tm-485-4-bank-maintainer/

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Hi there, your reply came out blank.

 

[Freems]

Installed a Antigravity Lithium ion battery's! Forgot to take pics but it's the OEM Group 94R. Went with the 80Amp hour. Never get stranded! It has restart tech in the BMS. Once you get down to 20% capacity, it shuts off. You push a button and it comes back to life to restart. Also no battery memory from sulfating like a lead acid when you discharged. Rated for 10 + years of life or more.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/starter-batteries/automotive/ag-h7-rs/

For the Aux battery this was the closets one that would fit and still have the restart tech.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/starter-batteries/restart-oem/at12bs-hd-rs/

Over all saved 30Lbs and on the front end where it is heavy.

I also installed a charger harness and a battery monitor on the Aux. I can see the volts with it and capacity so when I use the bed plug. It will help.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/accessories/battery/chargers/btr3-bluetooth-tracker/


Also got this 4 back charger. Very nice unit. I plan to go to Lithium on some other vehicles.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/pr...y/chargers/optimate-tm-485-4-bank-maintainer/

Don’t forget both aux and main battery are tied together in parallel, any voltage or capacity numbers you get will be for the pair combined.

 

[Rusty PW]

Glad you started a build thread.

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Don’t forget both aux and main battery are tied together in parallel, any voltage or capacity numbers you get will be for the pair combined.

Glad you confirmed that. That was the impression I had of the system but would love to read a detailed info on it. So effectively both batteries are like 1? Being Lithium will make it so much more reliable over sulfating lead acid. I use start stop as well as it not only saves 4-11% in fuel in testing. The wear metal is less from fuel dilution as soon in lab work on a video from Lake Speed Jr. & Engineering Explained.

 

[Free2roam]

I'd be interested in how the lithium batteries hold up. As far as I know. Lithium batteries are not recommended.

 

[Sweetums]

Ti lug nuts from ACER. They look very close to oem. https://www.acerracing.com/products...08856&pr_ref_pid=4299839897635&pr_seq=uniform

They are 21MM vs 22MM and 42M long vs 38MM for OEM

OEM 5 Lugs = 13.6OZ

5 Ti Lugs = 7.8 OZ

Close to 1.5Lbs of savings on 4 corners. I love the OEM wheels and they come in at 23lbs. Can't find any wheels that light our there or lighter if anyone knows of one?

The biggest reason to replace the lugs is because the OE ones will rust inside the cheap sheet metal cap, swell up, and then become very difficult to remove because you can't fit a tool over them.

Forget stealing wheels, I'm going to come Strategically Transfer Equipment to Alternate Locations - and that equipment is those titanium lug nuts.

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

I'd be interested in how the lithium batteries hold up. As far as I know. Lithium batteries are not recommended.

I went with Antigravity Batteries as they were the top tier of this tech. They supply to government and military. They also work with some OEMs as well. They use LifePo4 so it is the most safe. No fire just smoke with then short. There are cheaper options but they are not to this standard and none have the restart feature. It should be good for over 10 years but if anything happens, I will for sure post here for an update.

Also if you wait for holiday deals, they do run a good % off or if you get on there email list you can grab maybe deals that way.

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Hi guys how's everyone doing? Hope all is well.

Installed the new front end.

I liked the look of the 2024 grill BUT the 20% reported extra air flow and winch clearance was a must for me. I got the grill from Distinction Applied painted. It looks factory flawless nd prefect match.

Installed the Grimm winch plate but I grinded the holes out farther back with a dermal. Used the sanding bits until I pulled back about 5MM. I was able to fit the big Zeon Platinum 12S winch WITH OUT grinding the sides of the frame. Very tight fit but was able to do it. I don't know if the 2023 grill would fit or not since I may stick out more. I like using the factory body hardware over what comes in the kits. Keep the factory look and they seem to be more beefy. I torqued the which plate to 65 ft/lbs and the winch to 35 ft/lbs.

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Did the MP Concepts aluminum Mopar look bumper. It's light as expected and a pain to install. Watched vids and read posts on it but just has many pieces and no real instructions on what order is best on the install. The factory bumper would be much better with the install I suspect in the engineering of it. There are some holes that you push the front camera and fog light harness to hold out of the way. I cut some of the push zip ties clips off and out some new ones were I needed it to make it work and run it clean.

I also installed the Mopar triple loop bar and Baja Design lights. The lights are very strong for the size! They turn on with the factory AUX switch and it makes it easier if you buy the upfit kit for it.

You see the recovery hooks. You have to adjust this and bolt down the inner shell or it will move and very hard to fix later. You can see the gap before and after. I had to use ratchet straps to pull the bumper to the body then tighten the bolts on top and bottom that holds the shell to the bumper.

I also installed the Maximus Mopar filler plates behind the bumper. It really finished the look and they are also aluminum.

Oh and the front steering shield. There is 1 bolt that you will not be able to install unless you have another winch plate or no winch. It's not going to hurt anything as there are many others holding it very good. I bet the OEM would not have been made like that. Oh well. If you want aluminum factory look this is it.

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

I went ahead and also did PPF my self on the front grill and lights. OMG it is hard to learn and do right but after many hours I got better. I watched vids on it and talked to guys on a PPF group.

I got my kits from carprotectionpros. They had the best price on kits and I wanted an OEM supplier and the inventor of PPF 3M. Went with the 3m Pro Gen 200. This is the best they make. So far I did the front grill but not the center. I tried to do the center with the pre cut kit I bought but it's very hard to stick good and not have flaws due to the size of the slots and how they rounded. Not worth it, don't do! I just going to order another grill to keep as a backup painted the same Rubicon dark gray.

I also filmed the head lights, fog lights, side markers. Head lights are VERY HARD to do due to the dome shape. You have to go from the center around and around and it takes hours because you have to keep going as it dry so it stick. You will be squeegee the same spot over and over and make sure no bubbles.

Next up will be the hood and windshield. I'm still having PTSD from the front end install of the PPF.

 

[smlobx]

Did the MP Concepts aluminum Mopar look bumper. It's light as expected and a pain to install. Watched vids and read posts on it but just has many pieces and no real instructions on what order is best on the install. The factory bumper would be much better with the install I suspect in the engineering of it. There are some holes that you push the front camera and fog light harness to hold out of the way. I cut some of the push zip ties clips off and out some new ones were I needed it to make it work and run it clean.

I also installed the Mopar triple loop bar and Baja Design lights. The lights are very strong for the size! They turn on with the factory AUX switch and it makes it easier if you buy the upfit kit for it.

You see the recovery hooks. You have to adjust this and bolt down the inner shell or it will move and very hard to fix later. You can see the gap before and after. I had to use ratchet straps to pull the bumper to the body then tighten the bolts on top and bottom that holds the shell to the bumper.

I also installed the Maximus Mopar filler plates behind the bumper. It really finished the look and they are also aluminum.

Oh and the front steering shield. There is 1 bolt that you will not be able to install unless you have another winch plate or no winch. It's not going to hurt anything as there are many others holding it very good. I bet the OEM would not have been made like that. Oh well. If you want aluminum factory look this is it.

Thanks for the confirmation that the MP Comcepts Aluminum bumper will fit with a little finess! Did you use the OEM skid plate or the one that came with the bumper and why?
Also, the same question about the winch plate…

Thanks!

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