MotorTrend 2021 Gladiator Review - Terrifying Towing?

[joegrasse]

Here is a second opinion on towing with the gladiator diesel.

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[DanW]

If I had, I would not have bought it. Glad I did not, glad I did, respectively.

Yep, and Consumer Reports used to and probably still does bash the hell out of any domestic automaker's cars. But I never had a bad GM, Ford, or Chrysler product. And I've had MANY.

 

[BrentThomas]

"That's the story of the Gladiator," senior features editor Jonny Lieberman said. "It's good but flawed. I took it through a car wash, and water leaked in. That's just totally inexcusable."

 

[ShadowsPapa]

"That's the story of the Gladiator," senior features editor Jonny Lieberman said. "It's good but flawed. I took it through a car wash, and water leaked in. That's just totally inexcusable."

It's inexcusable for the sunroof to fly off of a million Mercedes cars while they drive on the highway, too......... it's also inexcusable for an airbag to kill people with shrapnel. It's inexcusable for a Toyota electronic throttle control to wind the thing up uncontrollably.
Gee, guys, stuff happens!

 

[MrJeep]

I'd never dream of towing a rig like that with a stock Overland.

It can and it does. See my thread in towing, or 100 other ones in the towing section that agree. Towed more weight than that or MT did in a stock Overland no diesel. I had zero issues except that it wasn't a Ferrari up hills.
This article has an overall "a hole" tone to it, even by the syntax and vocabulary.
"Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate"

 

[Sespe]

Next month in Motor Trend... We take a Peterbuilt CabOver off-road and it sucks!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Next month in Motor Trend... We take a Peterbuilt CabOver off-road and it sucks!

Yeah, but you could sure see what's out front!

 

[wvyankee2]

I have to agree with them. I towed my Travel trailer (4500#/600# tongue weight) about 10 miles on the Interstate with no sway/WD bars attached. Front end was walking all over the place. Now with the WDH in place, pulled great. Front end was extremely light without it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It can and it does. See my thread in towing, or 100 other ones in the towing section that agree. Towed more weight than that or MT did in a stock Overland no diesel. I had zero issues except that it wasn't a Ferrari up hills.
This article has an overall "a hole" tone to it, even by the syntax and vocabulary.
"Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate"

Did you see my report on how mine did towing my EMPTY 18' Aluma tilt bed car hauler? It was gutless and the transmission didn't hold a gear more than a few seconds at a time. Hunted and hunted. MPG went down the toilet, odd for towing a low, light empty trailer weighing a whopping 1600 pounds.
I'm hoping with the PCM update they did it would do better - transmission acts a ton different and my mpg dropped a lot as if it's now programmed for power and performance, not mileage.
I had trouble maintaining the speed limit on I80 - empty, 1600 pounds.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have to agree with them. I towed my Travel trailer (4500#/600# tongue weight) about 10 miles on the Interstate with no sway/WD bars attached. Front end was walking all over the place. Now with the WDH in place, pulled great. Front end was extremely light without it.

Why would any auto or truck rag even think about towing a big camper with no weight distributing hitch or external sway control or brake controller? Those fools were asking for it.
Is that how they normally tow? Thank goodness they don't live in Iowa - I don't want to be on the same road with those MT drivers if that's how they test.
Even with a 4x4 F250 with V8 I used a weight distributing hitch with sway control to tow my little camper and that was a far far larger, longer, and heavier truck.

 

[wvyankee2]

Why would any auto or truck rag even think about towing a big camper with no weight distributing hitch or external sway control or brake controller? Those fools were asking for it.

Yep. Guess they didn't read the manual. Unfortunately Jeep forgot to add the same warning without a WDH.

 

[Uparms]

What is Frontal Area??

My manual is out in the truck.

Thanks.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Frontage or square feet of the front of the trailer/camper.

 

[2010JK]

Here is a second opinion on towing with the gladiator diesel.

Always smart to trust Andre and Mr. Truck

 

[Gvsukids]

That's towing from the bumper and not the frame.

Did you see my report on how mine did towing my EMPTY 18' Aluma tilt bed car hauler? It was gutless and the transmission didn't hold a gear more than a few seconds at a time. Hunted and hunted. MPG went down the toilet, odd for towing a low, light empty trailer weighing a whopping 1600 pounds.
I'm hoping with the PCM update they did it would do better - transmission acts a ton different and my mpg dropped a lot as if it's now programmed for power and performance, not mileage.
I had trouble maintaining the speed limit on I80 - empty, 1600 pounds.

To keep the truck from shifting use the auto-stick.
Manual states, "When frequent transmission shifting occurs (such as when operating the vehicle under heavy loading conditions, in hilly terrain, traveling into strong head winds, or while towing"

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