Just purchased a gladiator!

[JJeep]

Welcome, nice Glady....Just Empty Every Pocket!

Haha

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[JJeep]

Like my 17 year old JK Wrangler I just sold, my 2022 Gladiator also has had zero issues to date. But I keep mine essentlaly stock as they serve me fine as-equipped.

My only additions are ham radio and a couple of other instruments, tied into the AUX switches which is an absolutely great thing to have.

I personally prefer my vehicles ot have cloth seats. Warmer to initially sit on in the Winter. Less hot for the same initial sit in the summer. Easy to take care of too. When I sold the JK, its cloth seats in light grey still looked pretty close to new condition.

My Gladiator is truly a blast to drive every time I get in it. If my wife goes with, she insists on being the driver. I’m good with that, still a blast to ride in and maybe work some contacts on the VHF/UHF radio. I have a dedicated GMRS radio I might install too but hand held has done the typically shorter range work for me, just fine so far.

Have fun. I think the fun factor is stronger in the Gladiator’s and Wranglers among other reasons; because partial or complete roof and door removals add to the outdoor experience.

Good to hear you are issue free. I know what you mean with the cloth but I like the ease of cleaning leather. I have a 2 year old who will be in the back who loves to spill his milk. It’s nice to be able to wipe it up rather than let it soak in.

 

[JJeep]

My only complaint so far is the dang size of the key fob. Why is it so big!?!?

 

[cb4017]

Congrats! Nice rig. When I had my Max Tow I added the Mopar Performance Lift and Rubi take-off wheels and tires. It got me everywhere I needed to go.

 

[JJeep]

Congrats! Nice rig. When I had my Max Tow I added the Mopar Performance Lift and Rubi take-off wheels and tires. It got me everywhere I needed to go.

Nice, I’m looking for some Rubi or overland wheels. What are you in now if not the max tow?

 

[cb4017]

Nice, I’m looking for some Rubi or overland wheels. What are you in now if not the max tow?

Well, I'm driving this ZR2 now. Very nice truck but I've always kinda missed my Gladiator. Going to look at a Mojave tomorrow.

 

[JJeep]

Well, I'm driving this ZR2 now. Very nice truck but I've always kinda missed my Gladiator. Going to look at a Mojave tomorrow.

Nice!!!!! I was between the gladiator and the previous gen zr2 and the new gen frontier pro-4x.

All the the options drove better around town and had more bells and whistles. I somehow was drawn to the gladiator though. Idk why, but here I am.

 

[SaiintNick]

Nice Gladiator, good choice, drive it until the tires wear out before you change the tires/wheels/ possible lift to find out what you will really use it for, you may find out that bigger tires and a lift are not needed, and only empty your pocket book, and cost you more in MPG. But that is all depending on what you plan to do with it.

Put a lift, tires and wheels on ASAP. The Gladiator is a goofy looking stock truck.

 

[TexasProud]

Perhaps the best of the few mods I have made to my Nighthawk, the seat jackers have had the greatest effect, I picked up a set used, and just got back from a trip pulling my boat down to the florida keys for a month of fishing and catching lobsters. Before I got the seat jackers, my ass and back were hurting within an hour, with the seat jackers, those issues are gone. Best $40 I have spent on it (used, like new). I was searching for a set of Mojave seats to make the gladiator more comfortable, but they must be made out of Unobtainium , I could not find any, now I am no longer looking, the seats are just fine, it was the position of the seat bottom, now the weight is evenly distributed from my knees to my ass, instead of just my ass.

 

[HopSlammer]

Congrats OP

 

[JJeep]

Congrats OP

Thanks!

 

[WambliSka]

Thanks! Keeping it stock is a great idea. The only things I may do will be subtle. I found a guy locally selling overland wheels for cheap that I might switch to for the time being.

I test drove a few gladiators before picking this one, this one somehow had the best ride quality around town and on the highway. The other models I drove were an overland and a Willy’s. This gladiator somehow felt like it had more power, especially at lower speeds? I’m wondering if it is from the 410 gearing. It also seems like it sat a tiny bit higher than the other 2. Either way I am happy for the time being with how it drives so I am going to be cautious for a bit before I throw big knobby tires or a lift at it.

First step, and quite frankly the only one that really counts, is for YOU to decide what you expect out of your vehicle. Be realistic with what you want vs. what you actually need. Way too many monster mall crawlers out there that look awesome and get a lot of ducks, but will never see dirt. Nothing wrong to having a good looking Jeep if it makes you smile, just makes a difference in the level of equipment you'll need so it delivers what you want.

You'll have a big difference in your personal game plan if your looking for a mainly true off-road capable vehicle (and WHAT kind of off-road) or something that will be seeing 99% street and highway miles and only an occasional run down a country dirt road.

I bought my Gladiator Overland '22 brand new and spent a year driving it stock so I could understand capabilities and limitations. I live in the Southwest and desert trails driving is my main use with occasional medium challenging off-road on "unimproved" or no-maintenance dirt trails. I'm not a rock crawler and will never be. I just want a vehicle to carry all my essential crap from one campsite to another while getting me far away from other people by getting me to places they won't be able to go to. And while my Gladiator sees some street use I do not commute to work but I will leave my home office frequently for a quick 2 hour drive down some fun local trails.

First, I need maximum reliability because in the real desert folks DIE 1/2 mile from a highway. Just this summer a dude dropped dead walking from his stalled SUV to a road from dehydration and heat exhaustion. He was on a trail I was just on a few days before that is less than 3 miles from my house. So anything too fancy that will likely break under hard use is out. My decision was to keep the mods light for reliability and use as opposed to just throwing money at stuff I don't really need.

My first upgrade from factory equipment was tires. My Overland came from the factory with the same LT tires your vehicle has and they just suck off-road. They have next to no traction on slick rocks and any moisture on sandstone is terminal as far as traction. Also, and the kiss of death for the Bridgestone Duelers, was cut resistance. I don't know what that are made out of but it's absolute crap. Here is a picture of my tires after about a year of LIGHT off-road use on easy desert trails.

Some of those cuts went all the way to the belts!!!!! Tire failure is not in my list of desirable occurrences when I'm 20 miles away from help with no cell phone signal.

So after a lot of research I upgraded to Falken Wildpeak A/T4W 34" tires and never looked back. After about 5,000 miles of true off-road use there is not ONE cut or chunk of rubber missing and the have proven to be excellent in sand, dirt, rocks, snow and yes even the occasional rain we get in the desert.

The next upgrade was a 2" leveling kit in the front because I HATE the factory rake and while clearance in the back with 34s was fine, the front was too close for comfort. They never rubbed but I was way too cautious approaching road obstacles because I never trusted the setup.

The rest of the mods have been more convenience than anything else. Light bar and floods for moving around in the desert at night or lighting up a campsite while setting up in the dark, and metal racks inside the cabin with mole attachment points to hold gear handy. GOOD holders for my phone and a iPad mini Pro to run OnX-Offroad that will stand up to actual off-road use are really handy too.

So here is my rig under current configuration.

So far I have not really wanted for anything and my Gladiator has taken me to places most won't get to because of vehicle limitations. The tent setup is a cheap one just to make sure it's what I want to use my vehicle for and so far it's a winner.

BUT, I'm finding that as my confidence off-road grows I might be looking for more capabilities so by next summer I'll be deciding if I want to continue modifying and upgrading this Gladiator to what I want which is a true Overland rig with metal rack and tent, or move this one along and get a Mojave and use THAT as my my platform for further upgrades.

In any case the joy is in the journey and discovering what you really want!!! Have fun...

Oh Ps. The factory batteries are CRAP and just died on me after less than 3 years of use, and the dealer wants over $800 to replace with the same junk they put in when they build the vehicle. So I just bought a dual purpose Optima H7 Yellow top ($359 on Amazon) and I'm doing the auxiliary battery delete. I'm doing this upgrade this weekend.

 

[NC_Overland]

Congrats! I agree that changing out the wheels would make a big difference. I’d just get some nice take offs from a Rubicon or Moab. It would completely change the look and you have 4.10s so it wouldn’t even effect performance.

 

[Squashead]

An idea on the wheels and tires - I have a max tow and I bought 5 brand new mohave wheels and tires off marketplace for $1000. I turned around and sold my stock wheels and tires for $600. It was a great deal, but I probably could not duplicate it since it depends on what deals are available when you look and the condition of the current tires. The only thing I would do differently is maybe look for wrangler takeoffs so the spare isn't steel so I could rotate all 5 tires.

Looks great by the way.

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