House of Diesel Retro Gladiator EcoDiesel

[houseofdiesel]

So glad to have a Jeep back in the driveway to enjoy adventuring in with the family on the weekend. We have them at the ranches but don't get out to them enough to really enjoy them for just good off road wheeling. Have been really excited and chomping at the bit to get one of these EcoDiesels in a Jeep for a long time. My nephew had one in a Ram and absolutely loved it. We plan on going with a retro style with modern high performance components.

Icon Stage 7 2.5"
17" Black Rhino Roku Powder Coated White
37" DC Extreme Country
Yellow Bee Design Retro Stripes

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[Oilburner]

No school like the old school!

 

[BajaDrifter]

Does anyone know if this eco-diesel engine is made in Italy? I'm reading as far as diesel engines go, it's reputation is rapidly sliding and people are not getting the high mileage you expect out of a diesel engine. As I understand it the old cummings straight 6 was a beast that never died, of course it's output was way less than this new model.

 

[houseofdiesel]

Does anyone know if this eco-diesel engine is made in Italy? I'm reading as far as diesel engines go, it's reputation is rapidly sliding and people are not getting the high mileage you expect out of a diesel engine. As I understand it the old cummings straight 6 was a beast that never died, of course it's output was way less than this new model.

Range on the Wrangler EcoDiesel is over 500 miles with a smaller tank as opposed to the gas Wrangler's 406. Yes some of the efficiency has been engineered out of the cycle to meet NOx emissions. NOx is the by product of a more efficient combustion cycle. Hence anything using forced induction is creating more NOx than a naturally asperated cycle. The EPA is using NOx to handicap diesel. If it was as toxic and deadly to humans as they claim they would be more worried about the 60% plus overwhelming majority of the market that is using small displacement forced induction mills, but they are not holding those vehicles to the same NOx emissions standards as diesel. So to meet these emissions engineers are having to do two things. First they have lowered the compression ratio in diesels to 16.0-16.5 from the older more efficient diesels that ran compression ratios of 17.1 and above. Next step the engineers were forced to do to lower the NOx emissions was run all the cooling systems over 200*. This means that the air entering the cylinder is less dense than the air running through a system with 190* thermostats. So starting in roughly 2018 HD trucks started getting dual radiators. They still return roughly 10-15% better economy than gas, just not the 20-30% that a higher compression ratio and cooler systems returned.

With tuning, lower temp thermostats you can gain around 5-10% of the efficiency back but in order to get the maximum efficiency of a diesel cycle someone would have to change out the pistons to a higher compression ratio. Hope that helps shed some light on things. As far as for off road there are even more advantages like the amount of low end torque created by the diesel. This means that we don't have to lower our axle ratios like gas powered rigs do. And as people are finding out with Eco-Boost motors the gas powered components are not built to the higher strengths that diesel components are.

This is the 3rd Generation of the Eco-Diesel now in a RAM/Jeep product. We had a first Gen in my nephews RAM and absolutely loved it. Most of the problems that people have had is from poor maintenance and EGR systems just like every other manufacturer. We've also bought a few of the new GM LM2 3.0L rigs lately and love them too. Unlike the EcoDiesel at least it is an American Industrial design in an Inline configuration. But GM doesn't make a Gladiator.

 

[houseofdiesel]

No school like the old school!

I'm just having a hard time which colors will go best with the blue.

 

[houseofdiesel]

Well I goofed up on the offset IMO. Didn't properly research and realize that the offset was so extreme on the JL/Gladiator platform and tires stick out more than I like. I might swap out to AEV Pintler down the road powder coated white. As far as the white wall wheels I am absolutely in love with how that came out and looks. Now just gotta find someone to install the Icon Stage 6 lift. But no rubbing in normal driving conditions though I'm sure if we took it to our ranch or Hollister Hills they would rip into the fenders. For the record -18 comes out to +2.25" outward not including the added width of the wheel.

I also made and attached an offset chart I made up after realizing my error and lack of research before I ordered wheels for our 392.

 

[houseofdiesel]

Does anyone know if this eco-diesel engine is made in Italy? I'm reading as far as diesel engines go, it's reputation is rapidly sliding and people are not getting the high mileage you expect out of a diesel engine. As I understand it the old cummings straight 6 was a beast that never died, of course it's output was way less than this new model.

Last week I was running late and didn't realize that I had an appoint so far away and had to drive rather fast since my destination was over an hour and half away. Holy *#^% the EcoDiesel is the mill the Wrangler/Gladiator platform always needed. Unlike the V6 these things flat out move down the freeway. Unlike the V6 that struggles to accelerate out of it's own shadow with even the slightest headwind or just trying to maintain anything over 65 mph this thing drives and accelerated like a normal vehicle should. And unlike the V6 there is absolutely zero range anxiety. Even driving like an idiot with less than half a tank it made it easy on that less than half a tank and my horrible driving habits. Our 392 is a whole nother level of insanity but that comes with range anxiety since it only gets half the mileage. lol

Wife drove it back from Central Texas to San Jose, Ca last month and absolutely loved it too. She has RA and said the ride and comfort was great compared to the JK but her favorite thing was the added range and torque. In our opinion the diesel is way under rated by the press. Something we are finding in all of our current diesels.

I've owned some pretty rare hot rod off road vehicles for hopped up CJ's to FJ40 and FJ45's with everything from stock straight 6's to LS1 and these things really bring back the nostalgia and seat in your pants feeling of the resto mod Icon's. No more mall crawler feeling with the 392 or the diesel.

 

[houseofdiesel]

Well thanks to Arabia's Overkill for installing the Icon Stage 7 system on our Glad. As always am absolutely impressed as hell with the system that Icon has engineered for the Gladiator/JL platform.

This thing rides like a Cadillac now on the road. Haven't had it through the curves yet or off road but on road this is hands down these are the best systems made imo. Soaks up the biggest pot holes and speed bumps like they aren't even there. Also completely settled down the feedback we were getting through the steering wheel from the Mickey Thompson Baja Claws. Worse than normal due to the tire shop that mounted them not being able to properly balance them and just throwing in bags. Have an appointment to get the bags removed and them properly balanced next week.

Look forward to giving more feed back after some trips to the ranch for deer season or maybe to Hollister Hills if I get a chance to break away and run down there.

 

[houseofdiesel]

Oh and I've experienced little to no drop off in performance what so ever as far as the 37"s. These things are so much more fun with the EcoDiesel torque. Not a 392 by any means but actually gets with it unlike the base V6 gasser we have been stuck with forever.

 

[AdrianVall]

Absolutely beautiful! Love it man! I ended up getting 35's because I was worried about power loss or needing to regear, which I didn't want to do. My last gladiator I had regeared with the 37s but I was soooooooo overly paranoid about the gearing not being installed correctly. Didn't want to have to worry about that nonsense again.

 

[houseofdiesel]

Absolutely beautiful! Love it man! I ended up getting 35's because I was worried about power loss or needing to regear, which I didn't want to do. My last gladiator I had regeared with the 37s but I was soooooooo overly paranoid about the gearing not being installed correctly. Didn't want to have to worry about that nonsense again.

With the excess torque of the diesels there is zero reason to put in lower gears unless actually using it to tow or overland with 37"s. This one will end up being my daughters when she graduates so will spend 95% of it life on the road. And even for that it's looking like oil cooling is going to be the more pressing issue that needs attention.

I run 3.31 gears in all my SuperDuty and never had a problem. Considering going taller in my F450 that is on 37"s to get some of my fuel mileage back. Too many places these days where the speed limit is 80 mph.

 

[Red_5]

I'm just having a hard time which colors will go best with the blue.

This is exactly what I had in mind if I went white. That looks amazing!

 

[Free2roam]

Well thanks to Arabia's Overkill for installing the Icon Stage 7 system on our Glad. As always am absolutely impressed as hell with the system that Icon has engineered for the Gladiator/JL platform.

This thing rides like a Cadillac now on the road. Haven't had it through the curves yet or off road but on road this is hands down these are the best systems made imo. Soaks up the biggest pot holes and speed bumps like they aren't even there. Also completely settled down the feedback we were getting through the steering wheel from the Mickey Thompson Baja Claws. Worse than normal due to the tire shop that mounted them not being able to properly balance them and just throwing in bags. Have an appointment to get the bags removed and them properly balanced next week.

Look forward to giving more feed back after some trips to the ranch for deer season or maybe to Hollister Hills if I get a chance to break away and run down there.

Nice looking rig. What caught my attention is the Icon lift. I recall as they told me that none of their lifts were diesel specific? Also gonna be a long ass run to Hollister Hills from Central Texas. It was my backyard literally down the road up until I moved out of town.

 

[houseofdiesel]

Nice looking rig. What caught my attention is the Icon lift. I recall as they told me that none of their lifts were diesel specific? Also gonna be a long ass run to Hollister Hills from Central Texas. It was my backyard literally down the road up until I moved out of town.

How's Katemcy and Wolf Cave? I've got some property in Fredericksburg but never had a chance to go out to either and check out the trails.

 

[Free2roam]

How's Katemcy and Wolf Cave? I've got some property in Fredericksburg but never had a chance to go out to either and check out the trails.

Katemcy? Wolf cave? Never heard of those. Fredericksburg not sure how that is. May have been burned by the tamarack fire

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