Gladiator is crap for towing

[aphillips76]

Last Sept, I towed my camper (3500lbs) from CO to Delaware, to Tennessee, to Dallas, to Denver to Moab, to Phoenix, to Denver all last September and it was nothing but performant. Note, I do have a Diesel...

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[Sweetums]

That's a very slick awning setup on the camper.

 

[maSS-hole]

Last Sept, I towed my camper (3500lbs) from CO to Delaware, to Tennessee, to Dallas, to Denver to Moab, to Phoenix, to Denver all last September and it was nothing but performant. Note, I do have a Diesel...

Its also a tear drop which helps tremendously.

Towing a 5500 lb dump trailer with sod in it and towing my 5500 lb travel trailer are two totally different animals. My GX towed the dump trailer at 65mph without much issue up and down grades, but my travel trailer its down to 55 mph with my foot buried in the firewall.

Once my kids grow up I will hopefully be able to downsize to something like that.

 

[yoda13]

I haven’t had any issues towing either. The Gladiator tows better than my f150 did in terms of stability, feel, etc. the V6 doesn’t have as much grunt, obviously…

 

[aphillips76]

Its also a tear drop which helps tremendously.

Towing a 5500 lb dump trailer with sod in it and towing my 5500 lb travel trailer are two totally different animals. My GX towed the dump trailer at 65mph without much issue up and down grades, but my travel trailer its down to 55 mph with my foot buried in the firewall.

Once my kids grow up I will hopefully be able to downsize to something like that.

Yeah, I get it. When I got a mid sized truck, I knew I was compromising from having a wrangler and an F150. But the trade off was well worth it to have 80% of a wrangler and 80% of an F150 in one vehicle... I'm happier than a hound dog in a hubcap factory.

 

[maSS-hole]

Yeah, I get it. When I got a mid sized truck, I knew I was compromising from having a wrangler and an F150. But the trade off was well worth it to have 80% of a wrangler and 80% of an F150 in one vehicle... I'm happier than a hound dog in a hubcap factory.

Thats exactly why I am looking at these. Smaller and better offroad than my F150 but tows better than my Lexus GX.

 

[RIPLER]

I have no complaints.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have no complaints. View attachment 356788

View attachment 356787

My only complaint is - "that's not me!"

 

[Idlethunder]

I bought my Gladiator knowing it would not be an ideal tow vehicle but that it can be used as such when needed. After pulling the first trailer, my opinion changed. In the last 2 years I've towed approx 20 travel trailers with lengths ranging from 19' to 27' with weights from about 3,900 to a little over 7,000. With the exception of the 27 foot 7,100lb trailer, they have all pulled great. I will say also that when towing with the Gladiator, I am staying below 65 mph and have not pulled anything further than 200 miles. I also tow a 16' flatbed and a lite 21' pontoon boat but other than seeing them in the mirrow, you can barely tell they are back there. Where I've towed has been Oklahoma and northern Texas. We have lots of hills and it is usually windy but no mountains. My Rubicon has performed well above my expectations and I feel that is because I keep the speed down. It even gets better mileage than my last Ford F150 with 3.5L Ecoboost, but with the Ford I drove 5 to 10 mph faster.

 

[Dave D]

Who or what is TFL? Can you post a link?

I bought my JT for truck duties, I had intended to install a mild lift and bigger tires.
When I began to read about the towing test to get the rating (even though I have no intent of towing at that weight, in that heat) I decided to leave it stock.

I had noticed the impact of AT tread vs. highway tread on mileage in the past. I plan on doing some traveling with this truck and every MPG helps.

I also prefer the tires stay in the fenders, I'm sort of stuck with factory rims.

TFL Towing info.

 

[DailyMoparGuy]

I bought my Gladiator knowing it would not be an ideal tow vehicle but that it can be used as such when needed. After pulling the first trailer, my opinion changed. In the last 2 years I've towed approx 20 travel trailers with lengths ranging from 19' to 27' with weights from about 3,900 to a little over 7,000. With the exception of the 27 foot 7,100lb trailer, they have all pulled great. I will say also that when towing with the Gladiator, I am staying below 65 mph and have not pulled anything further than 200 miles. I also tow a 16' flatbed and a lite 21' pontoon boat but other than seeing them in the mirrow, you can barely tell they are back there. Where I've towed has been Oklahoma and northern Texas. We have lots of hills and it is usually windy but no mountains. My Rubicon has performed well above my expectations and I feel that is because I keep the speed down. It even gets better mileage than my last Ford F150 with 3.5L Ecoboost, but with the Ford I drove 5 to 10 mph faster.

I will say, when I towed through Longview and Texarkana area with the JT, it was not as comfy on those tight curvy roads at night. I was a bit on edge tbh. That was easily the worst part of my trek from Houston to Massachusetts.

 

[LOGS]

Southern tip of Texas to northern Minnesota twice a year pulling this on 38s. Ecodiesel FTW!

 

[nanook12]

Southern tip of Texas to northern Minnesota twice a year pulling this on 38s. Ecodiesel FTW!

Is that a 14’, 16’ V?

 

[tj3089]

My old 2020 sport towed our 4,800 lb (loaded) toy hauler just fine. It didn't like doing it but it got 8-12mpg on our trips to Colorado, Arizona and Big Bend. I try to take a trip up to the mountains at least once a month in the summer. I live at 4k ft and my favorite campsite in the NF is at 9K ft. It takes less than 15 miles to get up the mountain and the 3.6 did it without issues even in 100+ temps.

My new Ecodiesel tows even better and holds 8th gear except on steep inclines. It takes way less effort to get up to speed and hold it. I should also mention that I have been using a RedArc tow controller and it helps. We shall see if I need to add any additional cooling when summertime arrives.

 

[tj3089]

Mine tows OK. It goes and stops when I want it to go and stop. I'm lifted, 37s, and 4.88s. I've towed to Arizona from socal, up and down mountains. No indication that anything was getting warm, but I got 11 mpg.

Edit- originally a Max Tow S. But gears obv. changed, springs changed, and shocks changed.

What campsite is that in AZ? Looks like a great place to crawl with the RC cars.

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