I don't know if you ever had one, but they were worse on the highway despite what the ratio says, and the power delivery of the 8speed makes up for any deficit.
There's the transmission equation that's not being factored in. It's all about gearing.
The CJ7 was the first vehicle I owned. Left the Corps in 1984 and bought it a week later. Owned it for six years. I never said the CJ drove better on the highway, was a better daily driver, was a better tow vehicle, or any thing else. My CJ was a three-speed manual - so it drove no where near as well as a 2021 8-speed Gladiator. Don't know where folks got the idea I was saying the CJ was a better vehicle than the Gladiator. I was comparing power to weight ratios of the two vehicles, which I think was really clear. Sounds like most folk on here are happy with their power train - congrats on your truck and happy Jeeping!
Thank you for your service.
305?? Not in 86. Unless you bored it or swapped engines - maybe you put a SBC in it?
2012, it was my going out in a blaze of glory Jeep for when the Mayan calendar expired in December. Just my luck, the world didn’t end and I had to keep making payments.
I think the Wikipedia article needs updated. Other sources show the 258 I-6 as having about half that power in ‘84.
Be wary of HP numbers of that era. They were figured very differently for multiple reasons. Hard to imagine an engine that in other years shows almost double the HP with no real changes............
stickshifterI still can't get over the fact that my 1978 CJ-7 had much better power to weight than the current Pentastar Gladiator, and that power came on so much earlier in the power band - where it is usable. The 3.5 NA V6 in the 3rd Gen Tacoma gets the same critique as the Pentastar, as do most other engines in the mid-size truck segment
2021 Gladiator with 3.6 NA V6 Pentastar: 285 hp at 6400 rpms, 260 lb/ft at 4400 rpms (Source: Jeep).
Curb weight for Rubicon: 5,050 pounds (Source: Jeep).
1978 CJ-7 with 4.2 NA I6: 200 hp at 4400 rpms, 280 lb/ft at 2200 rpms (Source: Wikipedia).
Curb weight: 2,770 pounds (Source: Automobile Catalogue).
Yeah, all the current mid-size truck engines have more hp than Jeep's 1978 I6, but that CJ-7 was a much lighter vehicle, so the power to weight was actually much better in the CJ:
2021 Gladiator Rubicon: 17.7 pounds of vehicle weight per horse power.
1978 CJ-7: 13.9 pounds of vehicle weight per horse power.
2021 Gladiator Rubicon: 19.4 pounds of vehicle weight per unit of torque.
1978 CJ-7: 9.9 pounds of vehicle weight per unit of torque.
In order to get the same power to weight ratio we had in 1978 in the CJ-7, Jeep needs to put an engine in the Gladiator Rubicon that makes 363 hp, and 510 lb/ft of torque!
Conclusion: We need a better power plant in the Gladiator, but one that is relatively affordable (let's say $3,000 over the price of the Pentastar).
Horsepower numbers went from SAE Gross to SAE Net in 1972/3, which resulted in a large drop in output figures, even if it was a more realistic number.
