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

[PlayfulBird]

That’s so odd because I feel the opposite and mine is on 35s. I feel like I’m going way faster than I really am when I smash the pedal haha.

I will say this and I have no real evidence of it but I swear the 8 speed has a mind of its own in some vehicles. In my old Ram, the 8 speed was VERY inconsistent. I actually thought it was a bad transmission but everything I read said otherwise. Sometimes flooring it would throw me to the back of my seat. Other times it would drag along with little action.

I got a Charger RT after that and the 8speed was AMAZING. Same goes for my JT 8speed. Again, very anecdotal but my 2018 Ram definitely had some weird transmission gremlins that I never got sorted out.

Tbh the only way you could have checked is by taking another 2018 Ram that is built exactly like yours and with your driving style check if it behaves differently. Otherwise, it is comparing pears to oranges, diesels to petrols...
The JT ZF 8 Speed is a very decent transmission that is well tuned and programmed.
Even having driven the same transmission but in two different models/ brands of vehicle, the programming can make the world of difference...

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[Camaroboi13]

Seriously comparing a heavier, longer, truck to a smaller shorter lighter JL?
There's hundreds of pounds difference, depending on the options, could be close to 1,000 pounds difference. A light JL could be under 4,000 pounds while a JT can be in the upper 4,000 range.
If we go there, the 4.0 in my car can keep up with my JT - but then my car only weighs 3,300 pounds and my JT is closer to 5,000 pounds.

I have a JLU with the 3.6 and a buddy of mine has the 2.0T. While on paper the power output is nearly identical, the pentastar is absolute GARBAGE compared to the 2.0T when it comes to using that power. Pretty sure he's got a couple hundred pounds on me too.

Chevrolet is and has been over 300 horsepower in their V6 for a very long time now, at least 10 years. I fail to see how other companies aren't keeping up with that pace, it's not hard to do. A 3.5 liter V6 could be WELL into the mid 300s and still be reliable enough to put a warranty on it.

That being said, when it came time to get the JT, the only engine I was going for was the non pentastar engine.

You can't keep comparing it to the old 4.0s of the early days, making it sound like they're so much better. Yeah, they are... but they're still worse than most 3 liter 6 cylinder powerplants on today's market.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I will have a look at that, I like to have the offroad pages on and look at the temps and pressure and have not really noticed such a big jump

@ShadowsPapa thats were mine sits most of the time 30ish, even when i punsh it on the Autobahn. Will see what happens offroad and with a trailer though.

Recently a fellow JT owner was tearing down the Autobahn, 150/160 km/h around 93/99mph folr about 3 hours, parked it, got a coffee got back in and when joining onto the Autobahn the check engine light. Needs a new engine

WHOA ???

Granted, I've not run mine at that speed for 3 hours, but I've had mine in the mid-90s for short bursts and have pushed it really hard against head-winds, keeping RPM and MPH up.

I will say this and I have no real evidence of it but I swear the 8 speed has a mind of its own in some vehicles.

It does. Drive my wife's GC and it behaves very differently. Then I drove a GC TrailHawk loaner and what a totally totally different vehicle in every way. The 3.6 in it was responsive beyond belief, the transmission shifted differently.
And with my first JT - I was disappointed after a while in how quickly my transmission liked to upshift - like driving with my mother in the truck with me.
Then they did a PCM flash and I got the truck back and it was a totally different animal for a long time - it did settle to shifting a bit too soon, but not as bad as it had been.
This one is different yet.
4 different Jeeps - 2 JTs and 2 Grand Cherokees, all with different "transmission personalities" and I swear, that GC TrailHawk could trounce any other Jeep I've driven, and it was a 3.6

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You can't keep comparing it to the old 4.0s of the early days, making it sound like they're so much better. Yeah, they are... but they're still worse than most 3 liter 6 cylinder powerplants on today's market.

Wow you totally missed my point. I was saying that the 4.0 felt as good in a very light vehicle and it was unfair to compare an engine in a JL to one in a JT with the weight difference. If you are going to do that, then compare the low HP, low revving 4.0 in a light vehicle.
I never said or implied they are better - look again.
I was using it as a comparison to WEIGHT of the vehicle.

People need to compare like to like vehicles for weight and stance, drag and so on and not say "the engine in my XXXXXX does a lot better" when we're talking a difference of hundreds of pounds.

So you wanna compare to Chevrolet? You like direct injection? Jeep could get more power out of the 3.6 if you will accept direct injection and a few other tweaks - but Jeep also has to be concerned with corporate numbers - CAFE and so on. Chevy has a more diverse selection of vehicles so you can't compare what one company does to another.
Fleet matters. CAFE/EPA matters. and if you want certain other design changes and will accept all that goes with it, then yes, Jeep could. But go DI and you'll have a few Jeep people walking away from that engine. Chevy is having trouble with their DI engines. Dig around in their recent patents.

 

[Camaroboi13]

Wow you totally missed my point. I was saying that the 4.0 felt as good in a very light vehicle and it was unfair to compare an engine in a JL to one in a JT with the weight difference. If you are going to do that, then compare the low HP, low revving 4.0 in a light vehicle.
I never said or implied they are better - look again.
I was using it as a comparison to WEIGHT of the vehicle.

People need to compare like to like vehicles for weight and stance, drag and so on and not say "the engine in my XXXXXX does a lot better" when we're talking a difference of hundreds of pounds.

So you wanna compare to Chevrolet? You like direct injection? Jeep could get more power out of the 3.6 if you will accept direct injection and a few other tweaks - but Jeep also has to be concerned with corporate numbers - CAFE and so on. Chevy has a more diverse selection of vehicles so you can't compare what one company does to another.
Fleet matters. CAFE/EPA matters. and if you want certain other design changes and will accept all that goes with it, then yes, Jeep could. But go DI and you'll have a few Jeep people walking away from that engine. Chevy is having trouble with their DI engines. Dig around in their recent patents.

Never said Chevy was the end all be all, you totally missed my point. My point is it's VERY easy to make 300 plus horsepower in a run of the mill V6 and still keep it reliable. I could care less about direct injection and a few other tweaks.

The 4.0 was a dog at any speed too, regardless of weight. It's currently in the lightest, slowest vehicle I own, and has never felt good at any speed.

 

[Gvsukids]

That’s so odd because I feel the opposite and mine is on 35s. I feel like I’m going way faster than I really am when I smash the pedal haha.

When my wife drives, coming from her 09 Civic, my wife has to watch how much throttle she gives the Gladiator. As the Jeep will accelerate quickly, even at highway speeds.

 

[Cooper_D]

When I put my 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee TrailHawk in sport mode you literally have to hang onto the steering wheel tight… I was hoping the JT could duplicate that… I’ll wake up from that dream when it finally gets here…

?

 

[Hog]

I test drove the old mini van motor. I felt it was a bit anemic. I purchased the diesel, as I preferred the torque. With that said, I did buy the 125K Mopar extended, because I don’t trust the diesel long-term either.

I still wish they would put the 5.7 in it.

 

[PyrPatriot]

I made this post owning the JT for 4 months. Now, almost 3 years and 60k miles later, I feel it is fine. Perhaps there was just a learning curve for the engine. Or maybe adding 35s a couple months later just gave it more self-esteem!

17 pages...really?

 

[joeym7]

Can you explain to me what that means? As in flooring the pedal or using the shifting function on the automatic? Not sure what you mean.

In most cases with any automatic car/truck if you are kinda cruising along at a constant speed but want quick accelerations to pass or just speed up faster than your current gear allows, tap the gas peddle down quickly and it will shift to a lower gear getting more RPM and put you in the stronger part of the engines power band...You will have to try it a few time to master it and to learn when the truck will likely downshift via this method (if your engine is already revving a lot it likely will not downshift into a lower gear.

On the JT at least my 2022 Mojave you can also do this manual - it is like a stick-shift with no clutch needed. You just shift it left to the M+ mode (I think they call it)...It is pretty neat. I tried it once and it works great. Read the manual before you use it...Outside giving it a try, I never need it for my driving as I can always stay in the gear I want with the gas peddle.

 

[ZoMojave]

Chevy is having trouble with their DI engines.

You better believe it. I would never trade my 3.6 Pentastar for General Motors DI engine. Horsepower isn't always the deciding factor.

 

[2terpsjeep]

Handles hills better than my 2013 2 door soooo I’m happy

no kidding! compared to my '07 JKU, my Mojave drives like a dream. no complaints here!

 

[bgenlvtex]

I just returned from a 6 week 6700 mile trip towing my off road trailer that weighs +/- 3000 pounds.

Over the Continental Divide I don't know how many times, from -3 feet ASL to 13,000 feet ASL.

The 3.6 gets it done.
The 7000 pound tow rating is pie in the sky bullshit when operating in mountainous conditions.
It gets 9mpg @75mph and 13mpg @55mph in flat country.
I took the trailer to the bottom of Black Canyon, I had to put the transfer case in low range and stand on the throttle or I would still be there.

For legit towing purposes the 3.6 is not optimal, but i knew that going in.

If Stellantis doesn't offer the Hurricane in the JTR, this will be my last one that has a trailer hitch installed.

Everything I asked it to do, it did on road and off road.

Still wouldn't buy anything with Tier IV emissions controls on a bet.

Saw 3 vehicles burning on the side of the road through the trip, all 3 Ford 250/350, probably with the exploding fuel system feature because they were all under hood fires.

 

[AmishMike]

People like to dig up stuff. So I have a job for those type of people.

Seems like the perfect job for a woman....digging things up.

 

[Tommyd]

...going up hills. I swear, I could be driving it empty and it still drops the mpgs and sounds like it struggles even up small grades. Today I drove it up a park road (pavement) ranging from 9-11 degrees and it dropped all the way down to 2nd gear.

On highways, any hill requires pretty good gas pedal depression to maintain speed. I can IMMEDIATELY feel when there is even a slight slope because the Jeep will slow down in 2 seconds.

ETA: paved road hills. Off road it is great!

ETA2: I made this post owning the JT for 4 months. Now, almost 3 years and 60k miles later, I feel it is fine. Perhaps there was just a learning curve for the engine. 17 pages...really?

Give it more pedal! It’s not a power house. Rev it like it wants

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