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MilSpec Gobi Sport MaxTow Spring Swap

AJMoto

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Hey everyone! Been lurking on this site for awhile and finally joined up. I used to be in the offroad business (AJ's Offroad Armor) and now am the sales manager at a multi-brand dealership, including Jeep. Love my work as I still get to be hands on building up Jeeps including my own. So fast forward to recent...I spend most of my time on motorcycles so a Gladiator for me needed to be basic and able to go topless at a moment's notice-hence the soft top. Ordered a base Sport with 6 speed manual, tinted windows, aux switches and trailer tow. Basic.:) Leasing this with the idea of buying it at the end or going to the Eco-Diesel or if they offer it by then, a straight 6 turbo.
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And a glory shot. :CWL:
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AJMoto

AJMoto

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It's incredible to me the changes Jeep has made over the years with stronger axles, better transmissions/engines but also the wheel openings. Used to be 32's were a squeeze. Keeping things basic, practical, utilitarian as the military would be. Went with 17" Black Rhino Armory wheels as they seem made for this setup and Kenda Klever RT 35x10.50 tires. Really impressed with them for the money and there's not a lot of offerings for skinnies in a 35" tire.
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Yanked those awful filler panels between the front bumper and flare....that is one thing I saw on the first JL and instantly thought it made the front end look like a Patriot or something. FUGLY. But you can see with all the tires in back it dropped the rear a bit so it doesn't appear raked. This solidified my need for better springs since I'll be throwing a motorcycle back there at times.
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Here's a side shot with the bed empty...
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AJMoto

AJMoto

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My past experience with aftermarket springs that provide lift is that they obviously don't offer the same ride as factory but often will settle. So it can be difficult to predict final lift height and load carrying as you add gear, bumpers, winch...Don't get me wrong, there are some great manufacturers of springs but for now I want to run stock and then figure out what I need from there. So for the front I'm just using a 2.5" leveling kit from Superlift and the rear...well that's where things get tricky as I don't want the vehicle to be level than sag with a load. So I got a set of MaxTow coils from another Gladiator build that replaced them with Mopar lifted coils.

Some interesting observations.... stock sport coil on the left, MaxTow on the right. Right away I could see the diameter of the coil itself was slightly thicker, didn't have my calipers to check exact difference.
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The other interesting thing was that the stock Sport coil was actually taller, about 1". But that definitely doesn't provide any lift over the MaxTow as you can clearly see the coils spaced further apart than the MaxTow. There was a noticeable feel in pushing on them which is to be expected. The swap is so easy. I've heard of people fighting with coils in various years of Jeeps and the best advice I have is loosen the control arm bolts, they'll drop right in. I added a Daystar 3/4" spacer as well. Pics to come...
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jalbrecht55

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Very nice setup! I’m really thinking about the same config, + maybe add the LS diff.

Do you have before and after height measurements between the stock springs and the max tow?

Did you notice much change in the ride quality?

Also, kinda unrelated but curious if yours has the defrost button on the right HVAC knob. And also, does yours have the hardtop electrical connector behind the driver side B pillar? I’ve been trying to figure out if the base model soft top will easily allow for hooking up the hard top defroster.

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https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/rear-defroster-hard-top-conversion.28000/

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Br4hm4

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How do you like those tires? I have been thinking of getting them. I have had some really good luck with Kenda's over the years.
 

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PapaChop83

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Looks nice!

Just keep in mind if you're going to build it to MILSPEC, you're going to need it to break frequently, and be quite difficult to fix. For example, you'll have to remove the engine to change the front brakes, etc... ;)
 

Slapping_Rabbits

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where's the milspec on these? I cant find it.
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