Gladiator stuck at dealership for 75 days

[818Gladiator]

I'd recommend you start your Lemon Law procedures. Working through the paperwork does not commit you to going through with it. My 2022 Mojave sat at the dealership here in San Diego for over 4 months while "specialists" came from LA and around the country to diagnose it's problem. It would sit for weeks between some new part or expert arriving with "the answer." Starting the Lemon paperwork mysteriously made the process speed up, and eventually, the problem go away. That was 2+ years ago. I did not accept the Lemon offer, but my legal paperwork clearly documents that I can do so at any time if any similar problem were you reoccur. (They would renegotiate the dollar offer)
For those interested, my problem was, when driving at speed (50+ mph) it , on its own, would do a "noise down, panic stop" reduction of speed. I initially thought it was the brakes coming on or the transmission dropping 2 gears. The dealer was able to replicated the problem a couple of times, but not regularly. The majority of the time at the dealership it sat in the lot, but they did inspect, measure, test: brakes, emergency brakes, engine and transmission and the systems involved with controlling all of the above. The cause was never documented officially. I think the answer was that the engine was stopping for a few second and the fix was they reprogrammed it. It's been good now for 17,000 miles, but I'm holding on to the Lemon Law paperwork.

If it was me I would go there and take it and go home , pull the transmission and change that second gear synchronizer myself.
Manual transmissions are not complicated at all to rebuild. Parts can be ordered heck you can order the whole transmission from @AllMoparParts.com
Back to step 1 get the Gladiator and if mechanic work isnt ypur thing take it to another dealership.

I can work on my own stuff, if it wasn’t under warranty I would have definitely pulled trans myself. I agree that manual transmissions are not complicated. I have done clutch jobs, auto to manual swaps in the past. If I would have known it would be this long I wouldn’t have taken it to the dealer, but hindsight is 20/20. Going to force them to give me a rental today

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[Bandit’s Lair]

Or 2? Despite what Ford or Toyota want you to believe, there is 0 competition out there for a serious wheeler. That said, I don't even go back to the dealer for the free oil changes. Can't be disappointed by their services if you never use them. Fortunately at 180k+ miles between the 2 JLs and the JT we've never had a warranty issue so they never needed to go back.

Completely agree on the “serious wheeler” aspect. I’m confident in the Jeep. I’m still heavy into research to build up our Toyota to be able to keep up physically. I have no concerns with the driveline as it’s pretty stout but the suspension components leave a lot to be desired out in the flexy stuff. Maybe if I win the lotto both rigs will get ProRock 44’s and I’ll cease concerns.

 

[3TDJEEP]

Load up that 550 with fuel tanks. Drive it through the front door. Strike a match and let it burn.

just sayin what you’re probably thinking. Sucks you have to go through that. Hopefully they get it resolved.

Reminds me of that guy that drove his newly bought used Subaru through the dealerships doors because it had mechanical issues and they would not refund his money.




Good luck OP. Sucks you have to deal with this. Only thing I can think of is to go to the dealership and ask to speak with the GM.

 

[Klauss214659]

Have a lawyer send them a "letter".

 

[Zachattack50]

"Serious wheeler" is kind of a stretch. Especially when you see multitudes of stock things in moab, doing the same stuff. Heck a 2wd mini van gets around out there. The only thing jeep has going in the "serious wheeler" catagory is a solid front axel. Thats even a debatable advatage anymore. The JT is a novelty that has alot of flaws unfortunately. The manual even worse as they discontinued it. If I could do it over id have a auto for sure.

 

[Zachanadandy]

"Serious wheeler" is kind of a stretch. Especially when you see multitudes of stock things in moab, doing the same stuff. Heck a 2wd mini van gets around out there. The only thing jeep has going in the "serious wheeler" catagory is a solid front axel. Thats even a debatable advatage anymore. The JT is a novelty that has alot of flaws unfortunately. The manual even worse as they discontinued it. If I could do it over id have a auto for sure.

Slickrock is damn near the grippiest surface you'll ever wheel on. The easy trails in moab might as well be paved roads. Show me the 2wds and stock tacomas or Broncos on the rubicon trail or an actual hard trail in moab like Pritchett canyon or even cliffhanger. Show me the built ones on jackhammer or fordyce. If you don't see the glaring differences from articulation to tire clearance to run big tires without a ton of mods to the much narrower body fitting between boulders without body damage that the others can't, I'm guessing you're not a serious wheeler and haven't run any of the trails I just mentioned. The web wheelers on those "competitors" forums are just as convinced with no actual experience on hard trails.

 

[Zachattack50]

I run my crap, and it hasn't been without finding the week points. Our jku was inadequate as well. You have to tweak everything. Usually if your willing to take damage your "capability" greatly increases. Show me the "serious wheeler" jt not moded to high heck running those trails without damage.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I run my crap, and it hasn't been without finding the week points. Our jku was inadequate as well. You have to tweak everything. Usually if your willing to take damage your "capability" greatly increases. Show me the "serious wheeler" jt not moded to high heck running those trails without damage.

The amount of mods and the cost are the huge difference. Winch, 2" spacer lift, and 37s and you're good to go. Granted I got a screaming deal on the new 37s from Walmart.com so that skews the cost. They were $400 and being that the stock 33s only had 1100 miles on them I sold them for $600. $550 for the lift, $850 for the bumper and winch. I was all of $1200 into the mods before running the rubicon. Good luck doing that in an IFS rig. The JLUR is a much better crawler thanks to the breakover and departure angles, but you see nearly 0 new tacomas, rangers, or Colorados on those trails for a reason. You see a few Broncos, but they break more often and need more expensive mods to keep up with the JLs. On 95% of trails the Jeeps advantages aren't necessary or obvious. Get into the really hard trails and there's a reason why Jeeps outnumber everything else 10 to 1 and the solid axle advantage is not debatable there.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Modding a Jeep PROPERLY is usually indicative of someone who IS a serious wheeler. If I see a well built Jeep I’ll usually give em the benefit of the doubt. People who have been around on the trails long enough can usually tell the difference. Of course there are some outliers in there every now and again. I’ve seen well built rigs driven by absolute idiots fail hard and I’ve seen stock rigs do the same obstacle or trail and cruise through it because they had better KSA.

 

[Zachattack50]

Same here. Some guys can run a 37 on a stock dana 30 for years. The point is i had the trans out of my "serious wheeler" at 9k miles. That's not "trail ready" to me. Nothing ever is. And, if you're willing to beat the heck out of it, stuff goes way farther than it's was ever intended to, more often than not.

 

[818Gladiator]

Anybody have any idea as to why my trans started failing? I’ve been driving manual cars 25+ years, I’ve never damaged a trans. I never ground a gear in the gladiator, it’s got low miles 28k, hard miles but low but never towed with it, just wheeling. Is it just that the trans is not suited to the vehicle?

 

[Zachattack50]

Anybody have any idea as to why my trans started failing? I’ve been driving manual cars 25+ years, I’ve never damaged a trans. I never ground a gear in the gladiator, it’s got low miles 28k, hard miles but low but never towed with it, just wheeling. Is it just that the trans is not suited to the vehicle?

I havnt had any gear pop out issues, only clutch issues. Both with the factory unit, (removed at 9k miles) and a centerforce unit (twice) that was the version that would not disengauge while in moab on metal masher. Limped it home to michigan as I dont usually trailor my stuff. The shift linkage could be part of your issue, or at least could have started the problem, if it was out of adjustment long enough. Once it pops out, your doing damage that only gets worse. I find mine needs adjusted about once a summer. Im currently at 52k miles.

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