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Is it me, or does the JT really struggle...

Litfuse

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There's the answer - comparing to supercharged vehicle or "cars".
This is a 5,000 pound truck.
You are comparing to a truck with a 5.7? Not standard fare for the most part.

I've driven a lot of vehicles - Mostly Jeeps but because I work on other things for other people, other vehicles as well. Most of the trucks I've driven in the last 10 years have been Chevy trucks, from my 2011 to my neighbors 2014 and now his 2018. (I recently sold a 345 HP 390 equipped Javelin and still own a 377 HP (dyno tested) Javelin so I know some HP, too)
I wasn’t giving a comparison, I was giving perspective. You made the comment that my wife didn’t drive another truck. I said she had.
Again, lens of experience. If you think 377hp is high, then I prove my point.
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ShadowsPapa

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I wasn’t giving a comparison, I was giving perspective. You made the comment that my wife didn’t drive another truck. I said she had.
Again, lens of experience. If you think 377hp is high, then I prove my point.
It's the highest I own now. When you have that much HP in a 3,000 pound car it's akin to a lot more in a heavier car. Takes HP to move mass.

I've had to thin the herd a bit.


There's this -> (had to install LSD and Cal-tracs to keep it going straight)


Jeep Gladiator Is it me, or does the JT really struggle... carb-linkage-full
 

Litfuse

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It's the highest I own now. When you have that much HP in a 3,000 pound car it's akin to a lot more in a heavier car. Takes HP to move mass.

I've had to thin the herd a bit.


There's this -> (had to install LSD and Cal-tracs to keep it going straight)


Jeep Gladiator Is it me, or does the JT really struggle... carb-linkage-full
I too have thinned the herd. Tell me about the motor in the pic.
 

dcmdon

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How high? I can get my rpm to hang near 2800-2900 rpm in 3rd gear going up a hill without crossing that 3k threshold.
Why would you even care about 3k RPM. Its nothing.

Back in the 90s Subaru ran an endurance test where they ran a 2 or 3 Legacies flat out for 30 days. 24 hours per day. We're talking about 720 hours at full throttle and 6000 RPM. They had no failures.

I see no reason the Pentastar couldn't survive the same torture. Don't be afraid to rev it. Obviously its more serene to keep the revs low. But when you need the power, you need the power.

And again, I've found moving into manual mode makes things much easier. Its become second nature to me in my current car. Getting on an entrance ramp, I put it in manual. Then if there is a turn and I back off, it doesn't immediately upshift, but holds the gear. Then the revs are there to accelerate onto the highway.

I'm sure I'll end up doing this with the Gladiator.
Even with my wife's car, which is a turbocharged V6 and has tons of torque, I use manual mode. Except in her car, I use a higher gear and let the revs drop lower before accelerating.
 

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dcmdon

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How fast do you really want to go in one of these anyway?
Now I'll play devils advocate. Its not about going fast.

Its about effortlessly accelerating onto a highway or accelerating before you move into the left lane to pass one.

Power was the largest concern I had with the Gladiator. Enough so I put a reservation in on a Bronco with the Turbo V6.

On one test drive, without the salesman in the truck, I used manual mode to hold higher RPM and the truck gets out of its way just fine. Its not by any means "quick". But it is adequate.

For passing on the highway, I found dropping the gear into whatever got me to about 3K and then running up to 3500ish, worked well. If I needed more, I'd go down 1 more gear.

High RPM don't hurt engines. Even at high miles.

I will agree that if you drive your Gladiator like you drive a 5.7 V8 or an Audi supercharged V6, expecting your daily driving needs to all happen between 2000 and 2800 RPM you will be severely disappointed.
 

dcmdon

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If we look at torque/power vs RPM charts of an Audi supercharged V6 vs a pentastar we see some interesting stuff.

The Audi makes 400 NM (about 295 ft-lbs) of torque all the way from 2000 RPM up to 5000 rpm.

In Contrast, the pentastar makes anywhere between 190 and 210 ft-lbs in the same rev range.

Whats interesting is that peak power of the engines is similar. In the 270 to 280 range. (500 kw of power =272 hp)

So the Audi makes less peak HP. But remember that peak hp is HP at ONE specific RPM. We dont' drive around at 6500 rpm normally. So this doesn't begin to tell the story.

But what it does show us is that if you rev the Jeep, it makes HP. Where as most forced induction motors don't need to be revved to make power.

Jeep Gladiator Is it me, or does the JT really struggle... 3_6_liter_pentastar_graph_01


A perfectly flat torque curve is easy to do in a forced induction car. The ECU varies boost in order to get the target torque value. On a normally aspirated car the torque at a given RPM is dependent on things like cam timing, mixture, and ignition timing.
Jeep Gladiator Is it me, or does the JT really struggle... header15
 
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foo.c

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Now I'll play devils advocate. Its not about going fast.

Its about effortlessly accelerating onto a highway or accelerating before you move into the left lane to pass one.
I don't know what everyone else does, but I just press my right foot down as far as it will go. It's minimal effort on my part. :)
 

dcmdon

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I don't know what everyone else does, but I just press my right foot down as far as it will go. It's minimal effort on my part. :)
Yes, most people don't want to do that. But I agree with you. Though the jerk as it downshifts is mildly annoying. If I have the time, I'd rather drop it down a couple of gears manually then step on the gas. But just putting your foot down works fine.
 
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joeym7

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I just went to my Chiro and was braging on my Mojave order...He said that one of his other patients has a Gladiator (didn't know the trim though) and his patient absolutly loves it...

There have been a # of threads discussing this issue by the way, and indeed, when I joined the forum I was concerned too based on some of the internet comments...

But what I found was that almost all of the owners who have driven them for a while have no issue simply because they know how to keep it in the "power-band" when they need to.

A skilled driver should have no problem doing this (especially with an 8 speed). Even an unskilled driver should have not too much difficulting with a little positive attention and practice.

Some people feel that one shouldn't have to do this with a Truck. Well, ok, but than you purchased the wrong truck and that is on you. In the mid size, maybe a Ranger would have been better because (last time I looked) it had class leading Torque.

Sure, I'd take a little more power, I'd like the Torque of the Ranger, the HP of the Frointeer (both class leading) in the exact same Truck I ordered (the Mo') but that is not reality, every truck in this segment comes with tradoffs...I do belive the Mojave is the best of all worlds for (me), not withstanding you do pay up for its versitility and class-leading off-road capability (along with the Rubicon of course).
 

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Mac

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What skill? with the automatic, you want to go faster you push the gas pedal, it downshifts if needed. To me the JT is pretty peppy, I am running 35" tires also which definitely sap some of the acceleration out.
 

joeym7

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Here is another opinion, this Women does a Raptor vs Mojave analysis...Puts some of the issus in this thread in perspective, especially chasing power as the be all and end all...

Even though the Raptor is full size, you will be surprise which Truck she perfers...

A good vid.

 

dloon

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Considering 99% of people on this forum drive a Gladiator, not sure why there's so many weirdly defensive and confrontational comments in this thread haha. We're all in the same boat, it's ok to point out shortcomings and in my opinion it's pretty hard to argue that this truck wouldn't feel a good deal better with a bit more power. Does it get the job done? Sure, but it could absolutely be improved, and there's nothin wrong with pointing that out.
 

joeym7

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Defensive? I guess I missed that, all I see are responses with a lot of good points of view, honesty, which goes both ways. Most of which is in hopes the "complaint" about the truck would be mitigated if the OP gives them a try...Got to keep the thing in the beffy part of the power band for optimal acceleration, not very remakable really.
 
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Litfuse

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Defensive? I guess I missed that, all I see are responses with a lot of good points of view, honesty, which goes both ways. Most of which is in hopes the "complaint" about the truck would be mitigated if the OP gives them a try...Got to keep the thing in the beffy part of the power band for optimal acceleration, not very remakable really.
My point is that even optimal acceleration is not ver optimal. As mentioned above, lack of power is an issue in the midsized truck segment. With emissions and epa regulations, not sure of a fix.
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