How do you plan to drive your Gladiator?

[GotGladiator]

Not my DD and so I drive it hard like I own a gas station whenever I get the chance to drive it. LOL. It's mainly to pull our rolling condo or boat or utility trailer(HD/Lowes and dump run). Dirt- yeah camp ground dirt. Mud- only when it rains. Once in a while I pamper it with a good detailing and of course it would rain a few days later. Dang weatherman is wrong again. Ha!

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[PsyRN]

I guess I'll only be the 2nd Gladiator with an Ovrlnd Camper according to them. Looking forward to using it on the way back from Flagstaff.

Then I know the guy who got the first. Kent, who they just posted about is semi-local. I’m totally looking forward to mine. Glad to know you’ve had a good experience with them. Post up pics when you get it installed.

 

[joeym7]

I've had mine about a mouth and have been off road already. Yep, there is some mud on my Mojave as we speak, I like the look! I will clean it eventually...

I purchased this truck because of the utility it offers like any pick-up truck, and because I can go off road (easily the best off road vehicle in its class - nothing else comes close except the Ruby) also. That said, I will not be rock-climbing with it anytime soon...I like fast fire trails, (especially with elevation changes) mostly.

 

[JAVIERGONZO]

100% daily drive and fun all together. Can't fathom spending money on not having fun. But fun is subjective.

 

[Orange01z28]

It’s my DD and a family vehicle we take on vacation

 

[Labrat1970]

Like I own it. I bought it to use it and enjoy it. Not to have it sit and be a paper weight.
Mine is my daily driver as well as how we get to places we have fun. I maintain it correctly and make sure it’ in working condition. I’ve canceled one trip because of a battery issue which turned out to actually be a computer software issue that needed an update.

 

[cranbiz]

I drive it efficiently most times. I don't need to drive it like I stole it unless responding to an alarm but even then, I'm not horrible on it.

 

[Sbro2021]

I drive mine over stuffs...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I drive it efficiently most times. I don't need to drive it like I stole it unless responding to an alarm but even then, I'm not horrible on it.

I bet you already know all of this - but for anyone else -
"driving it like you stole it/own it" can lead to premature wear if done all the time. Think of it this way - if you can keep engine revolutions down to 1800 ROM for an hour's drive at 60 mph, you are moving each piston up, then back down 108,000 times scraping the rings along the cylinder walls that many times.
If you drive it at 3,000 RPM for that same hour, you are at 180,000 up then back down. Increasing the wear a fair amount.
Same for bearings and other parts.
Connecting rods go through compression and stretch cycles each revolution of the crank. The heavier the piston and the higher the RPM, the more energy that mass contains and must be stopped at the top and yanked back down. The stretch of connecting rods can be measured - it's not uncommon for very high rpm to be in the .020" range, otherwise .004-.006 according to some.

On the other hand, driving it as if your grandmother was in the truck with you can be bad as well. The travel of the piston and thus the rings is limited. Drive it carefully for thousands of miles and you develop a normal ring ridge on a specific spot at the top of the cylinder.
After thousands of miles someone jump hard on it and winds it up - the rings can be shoved into that ridge and break things.
Likely not at all common on our engines, but, I've seen it, and have seen ridges sharp enough to catch rings.
Varnishes can build up on valves and then suddenly they are flung open faster, farther, and they get into that unworn area with varnishes and they can stick.

My thing is vary it. Don't abuse it, but don't baby it, and keep things varied up.

 

[Chief_jeep]

@Sbro2021 said it best… I like driving over stuffs. I currently dd mine. I don’t baby it on the road but I don’t abuse it either. Off-road is very different story but that’s what I bought it for

 

[Warped]

The JT will be my hauler for large items, trash, yard stuff, etc.

 

[KevinM60]

I bet you already know all of this - but for anyone else -
"driving it like you stole it/own it" can lead to premature wear if done all the time. Think of it this way - if you can keep engine revolutions down to 1800 ROM for an hour's drive at 60 mph, you are moving each piston up, then back down 108,000 times scraping the rings along the cylinder walls that many times.
If you drive it at 3,000 RPM for that same hour, you are at 180,000 up then back down. Increasing the wear a fair amount.
Same for bearings and other parts.
Connecting rods go through compression and stretch cycles each revolution of the crank. The heavier the piston and the higher the RPM, the more energy that mass contains and must be stopped at the top and yanked back down. The stretch of connecting rods can be measured - it's not uncommon for very high rpm to be in the .020" range, otherwise .004-.006 according to some.

On the other hand, driving it as if your grandmother was in the truck with you can be bad as well. The travel of the piston and thus the rings is limited. Drive it carefully for thousands of miles and you develop a normal ring ridge on a specific spot at the top of the cylinder.
After thousands of miles someone jump hard on it and winds it up - the rings can be shoved into that ridge and break things.
Likely not at all common on our engines, but, I've seen it, and have seen ridges sharp enough to catch rings.
Varnishes can build up on valves and then suddenly they are flung open faster, farther, and they get into that unworn area with varnishes and they can stick.

My thing is vary it. Don't abuse it, but don't baby it, and keep things varied up.

That goes in line with the break in instructions in the owners manual.
If I remember right, for the first 300 I think it was, stay below 55 and don’t jump on it too fast from the start. After 300 get on it some so it can handle Hard acceleration in the long run.
I learned from breaking in motorcycles new or after rebuilds for the first 500 to drive on longer drives but keep the accelerator moving up and down to avoid varnishing the cylinders.

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