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MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi

MrFahrenheit

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Mike
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2020 FC Red Gladiator Rubicon
Build Thread
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For as long s I can remember, I've loved Jeeps but always wanted a truck. I had been planning to buy a used JK but after much deliberation, I finally got over the sticker shock of the JT and bought a Fire Cracker Red JT Rubicon on 5/1/2020:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_4987_wide


Specs:
JEEP GLADIATOR RUBICON 4X4
Firecracker Red Clear–Coat Exterior Paint
Black Interior Color Interior: Leather–Trimmed Bucket Seats
Trailer–Tow Package
Cold Weather Group
Premium LED Lighting Group
8.4–Inch Radio and Premium Audio Group
Jeep® Active Safety Group
Auxiliary Switch Group
Remote Proximity Keyless Entry
Black Freedom Top® 3–Piece Hard Top
Body–Color Fender Flares
Forward–Facing TrailCam

This thread will serve as a bit of a personal tracker for the progress of my JT. I've had two previous Jeeps, both 1995 Jeep YJ's. I bought the first one when I was 19 maybe? That one had the typical lift and tires and I had replaced the 4 cylinder and manual trans with a 305 and auto trans from my buddies 90's Camaro. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture on my computer of this Jeep.

The 2nd one I said I was going to do 'right' and built it up with a lot more function than the first had. I had a smaller lift to keep it lower with TJ flares to make some room for the same size tires (33"). I swapped to 4:10 gears, put in a Ford 8.8 rear, added a locker to the front plus numerous other upgrades. It was fun to drive, but in the end, we had moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota and my 50 mile round trip commute justified needing something with a bit more comfort and it ended up sitting most of the time. and I sold it about about 3 years ago.

Obligatory picture of prior Jeep YJ:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_1580


Fast forward to May of 2020 and I brought home my new Red JT Rubicon! I hadn't originally been looking for Red, in fact I had my heart set on Hydro Blue. I had put out some feelers to various dealers to get some pricing on a factory order but I hadn't actually driven one yet. I decided to go look at a local dealer that had just gotten a blue one in and had this red one. I actually surprised myself how much I liked the red in person versus pictures of them. The price ended up being right and I went back the next day and bought it.

Like the rest of us with our Jeeps, we quickly make plans for modifications, many times before we even have them! My build will be slow and steady and I'm not sure when i'll do some of the more major changes like lift and tires as we still plan on moving, but below is a bit of my wish list. I'm including prices (including tax/shipping) to remind myself how much I've Just Emptied Every Pocket as I go along.

Planned:
Fox TS steering stabilizer
Synergy sector shaft brace
Some Lift.... haven't decided. Leaning toward Clayton 2.5"
37" Milestar Patagonia Tires
4.88 gears?
upgraded Skid plates
Besttop Sunrider?
Bedliner
67 Designs Phone mount
Jtops Jeep Gladiator Full Sun Shade

Installed:
Welt between fenders and body - (installed 5/19/2020- $17.54)
Hotheads headliner - (Installed 5/27/2020 - $345.56)
Black Antenna - (Installed 6/1/2020 - $28.91)
Hawk Gladiator tailgate badging - (Installed 6/19/2020 - $91.90)
MaxMate Tonneau cover - (installed 6/24/2020 - $166.75)
Mopar Shlush Mats - (Installed 8/1/2020 - $131.10)
Rugged Ridge Entry Guards - (Installed 8/8/2020 - $49.99)
Rugged Ridge Tire Deflators - (Installed 8/8/2020 - $43.99)
Rugged Ridge Arcus Front Bumper - (Installed 9/19/2020 - $450.72)
Badlands Apex 12000 Winch - (Installed 9/19/2020 - $504.00)
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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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As many others have noted, my JT came stock with little rocks and pebbles integrated between the flares and body. Following in the footsteps of those before me I installed some rubber welting between the flares and body. No more rocks!

It's tough to see in the pictures, which i think is a good thing, but the dark line you see between the fender and body is the rubber welting. I stopped the welting at the bottom of the side vents on the each front fender and brought it all the way around on the rears. This is the product I used:

Trim-Lok Rubber Tubing Seal – .276” Outside Diameter, .206” Inside Diameter, 25’ Length – Closed Cell EPDM Foam Tubing: Link

Front at the hood:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5017


Stopping hte welting at the end of the side vent on the front flares:
Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5018


Rear welting goes all the way from front to back. It's a little more visible here what I did.
Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5015
 
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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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The latest addition to the JT was the Hotheads Hardtop headliner kit. I took advantage of the Memorial day sale they had and installed these on 5/27. I took my hardtop off to do the install on a blanket in the yard and it was super simple. I added the sound assassin strips and got the small side panels for the top. There's plenty of videos out there showing the install process and JK Gears and Gadgets on YouTube (Linky!) has a great video about the heat benefits and Gator_Overland on YouTube (LINKY!) has another great video about the sound reduction benefits.

I'm really impressed with the quality and fit of them. I've only had them on a few days but I'm loving it so far!

Front Freedom Panels:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5049


Above rear seats:
Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5050


Passenger rear:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5052


Driver's Rear:
Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5054
 
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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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Another small mod installed today, a black antenna! The entire Jeep is red and black so having a chorme-ish antenna just didn't look right. I don't like the look of the stubby antenna's and didn't want to sacrifice much in the way of reception so I bought a 31" black antenna from AntennaMastsRus. The stock antenna is 35" so it's not a lot shorter but I think it really looks like it should have come this way from the factory.

Product: AntennaMastsRus - 31 Inch Black Antenna is Compatible with Jeep Wrangler JK - JL | Gladiator: Link

New Antenna:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5065


It sticks about an inch or so above the roof line:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5080
 

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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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While I had the top off today I decided to tackle taking out the rear passenger headrests so my kid's car seats could finally sit flush against the rear seat's. I'm 100% positive the passenger rear headrests were made not easily removable as a safety feature with the rear glass right there but man, it really it a pain in the ass for people with car seats as they interfere with their installation..

I followed the PDF's in this link: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...adrest-removal-process-from-fca-manual.22237/

The only difference is that I didn't take the hard board backing off the seat like they mention. As other photos show in that link, there are two cutouts that give access to the tabs that must be pushed in. These tabs were a real pain, they cannot be pressed in my mere mortal's hands. I used a pair of channel locks and squeezed them a bunch. Once they seemed kind of 'flat', I squeezed them with the channel locks and pulled out on that side of the headrest with the seat back folded down. There is enough play that the tabs can move into the outer sleeve and stay there while you rinse and repeat on the other side. These tabs hold in the inner sleeve, which goes all the way up and out of the top of the seat ending with the rectangles on the outer top of the seat that the headrest slides into. There are clips near the top of these sleeves that clip into a notch in the headrest poles keeping them in place. The second headrest went much faster than the first.

Headrests out!

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5114


Before, the tops of the the car seats would be pushed up against the headrest keeping the back of the carseat from sitting flush against the rear seat.

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5115
 
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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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Got my Hauk Tailgate badging in the mail today and went right to work putting it on! It was much simpler than I imagined.

Ever since I first saw this I knew I wanted it! In my opinion, Jeep missed the mark on the tailgate badging. They needed to either make the Jeep logo MUCH bigger or do what Hauk provides us.

Let em know what your driving!

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5149
 

avlamonte

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Got my Hauk Tailgate badging in the mail today and went right to work putting it on! It was much simpler than I imagined.

Ever since I first saw this I knew I wanted it! In my opinion, Jeep missed the mark on the tailgate badging. They needed to either make the Jeep logo MUCH bigger or do what Hauk provides us.

Let em know what your driving!

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5149
That looks sweet. I just got mine. Can’t wait to install it. Rig is looking awesome!
 

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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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That looks sweet. I just got mine. Can’t wait to install it. Rig is looking awesome!
Thanks! I took my time with removing the old Jeep badge. I had some pretty light pound fishing line that would break pretty easy so I just applied a little more heat each time I needed to get more line.

I think I’m going to mount the old jeep Lettering on some nice looking piece of wood and hang it up in the garage. I really want a crate that the jeep lift comes in so I can make a walLin the garage like seen in the quadratec YouTube videos
 
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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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So this is the first truck I've owned and I wanted something to provide some security to the items in the bed. I've never had a tonneau cover before so I didn't want to jump right in and drop $900 bucks on the Ace Upper Decker until I knew it was going to be a worthwhile investment. Because of this, I decided to pick up the MaxMate tonneau cover on Amazon. There's a big thread about the Tyger/MaxMate covers HERE. I figured for a cheap price I could get one, try it out, and determine if/when I need to upgrade to the Ace Upper Decker.

The install was pretty straight forward but the brackets really are too deep for the Gladiator bed. They work, but they install at an angle instead of being straight up and down like it looks like they should be. I feel like this caused a bit of an issue with the rails sitting perfectly flat against the top of the bed rail and made them want to angle in towards the inside of the bed. The fact that the JT bed sides are not as wide as the Colorado's may be the bigger contributor however as the side rails of the tonneau cover overhang the inside of the bed slightly. Regardless, for the money it fits pretty darn well and keeps things mostly dry. I ran it through a power car wash and there was a very small amount of water spray on the front bed panel and a little bit more that actually made it to the bed floor on the tailgate side.

In the end, I'm happy with it.

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5173


Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5175


FWIW, It looks like the MaxMate branded cover has no branding on the outside of the cover, where the Tyger branded cover has the Tyger logo on the back edge:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5177
 
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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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Today I made my outboard headrests quickly removable. In an earlier post I discussed how the rear headrests interfered with my kids car seats and that they were kind of a pain to remove. Yesterday I finally received my order for the non locking style center headrest sleeves and installed them today! This is PN: 6KJ73TX7AB

Here is a link to the write up on the process: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...se-rear-outboard-headrests.32445/#post-526227

Some obligatory pictures:

Old on left vs new on right:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5203


Installed:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5211


Position of headrest when it 'locks' into the existing headrest post slots:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5206


From there, I can push the buttons and remove the headrest completely or push the buttons and slide the headrest to the bottom of the seat back like so:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5207
 
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MrFahrenheit

MrFahrenheit

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Not much to report as of late. Just been enjoying the Gladiator! Over the last week or so I got some Personal Protective Equipment for the Gladiator:

Mopar Slush Mats:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5233


Rugged Ridge Entry Guards (Front and Rear):

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5232


Also picked up some Rigged Ridge Tire Deflators. Set them for 16 PSI for the gladiator's maiden offroad adventure this week.

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5230
 

Murgatroid

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For as long s I can remember, I've loved Jeeps but always wanted a truck. I had been planning to buy a used JK but after much deliberation, I finally got over the sticker shock of the JT and bought a Fire Cracker Red JT Rubicon on 5/1/2020:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5230


Specs:
JEEP GLADIATOR RUBICON 4X4
Firecracker Red Clear–Coat Exterior Paint
Black Interior Color Interior: Leather–Trimmed Bucket Seats
Trailer–Tow Package
Cold Weather Group
Premium LED Lighting Group
8.4–Inch Radio and Premium Audio Group
Jeep® Active Safety Group
Auxiliary Switch Group
Remote Proximity Keyless Entry
Black Freedom Top® 3–Piece Hard Top
Body–Color Fender Flares
Forward–Facing TrailCam

This thread will serve as a bit of a personal tracker for the progress of my JT. I've had two previous Jeeps, both 1995 Jeep YJ's. I bought the first one when I was 19 maybe? That one had the typical lift and tires and I had replaced the 4 cylinder and manual trans with a 305 and auto trans from my buddies 90's Camaro. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture on my computer of this Jeep.

The 2nd one I said I was going to do 'right' and built it up with a lot more function than the first had. I had a smaller lift to keep it lower with TJ flares to make some room for the same size tires (33"). I swapped to 4:10 gears, put in a Ford 8.8 rear, added a locker to the front plus numerous other upgrades. It was fun to drive, but in the end, we had moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota and my 50 mile round trip commute justified needing something with a bit more comfort and it ended up sitting most of the time. and I sold it about about 3 years ago.

Obligatory picture of prior Jeep YJ:

Jeep Gladiator MrFahrenheit's Red Rubi IMG_5230


Fast forward to May of 2020 and I brought home my new Red JT Rubicon! I hadn't originally been looking for Red, in fact I had my heart set on Hydro Blue. I had put out some feelers to various dealers to get some pricing on a factory order but I hadn't actually driven one yet. I decided to go look at a local dealer that had just gotten a blue one in and had this red one. I actually surprised myself how much I liked the red in person versus pictures of them. The price ended up being right and I went back the next day and bought it.

Like the rest of us with our Jeeps, we quickly make plans for modifications, many times before we even have them! My build will be slow and steady and I'm not sure when i'll do some of the more major changes like lift and tires as we still plan on moving, but below is a bit of my wish list. I'm including prices (including tax/shipping) to remind myself how much I've Just Emptied Every Pocket as I go along.

Fox TS steering stabilizer
Synergy sector shaft brace
RockKrawler 3" Pro-X No Limits Stage 1 lift
37" Milestar Patagonia Tires
4.88 gears?
ACE JT Expedition Series Stubby Bumper
Winch
upgraded Skid plates
Hotheads headliner (Installed 5/27/2020 - $345.56)
Welt between fenders and body (installed 5/19/2020- $17.54)
Besttop Sunrider?
Bedliner
MaxMate Tonneau cover (Still thnking getting ACE Upper Decker) - (installed 6/24/2020 - $166.75)
Mopar Shlush Mats
Hawk Gladiator tailgate badging (Installed 6/19/2020 - $91.90)
67 Designs Phone mount
Black Antenna (Installed 6/1/2020 - $28.91)
Jtops Jeep Gladiator Full Sun Shade
If I had YJ, it would be painted like Jurassic Park's in a minute. I'm also a Fire Cracker Red owner.
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