My NOS '22 JT Overland

[hepcat]

I am an old guy. This is my second post here. My first Jeep was a new '79 CJ-7 Golden Eagle in 1979. My second was an '81 Scrambler I also bought new, and I had that for seven or eight years. I've had either a Jeep or Land Cruiser almost continuously since those days. Having had one of the very first Scramblers in San Diego County, I was thrilled to see the introduction of the Gladiator.

I was the first to test drive this truck in '22 at my local dealership. The current Jeep I had was a '16 Wrangler Rubicon I bought new from them with the FCA Lifetime warranty. I really had no plans to trade it off, but I wanted to drive a Gladiator. This one is an "old man's Jeep," with all the bells and whistles, brown leather interior and better mannered tires than the gravediggers that came stock on my Wrangler. Anyway, it stickered at slightly over $60k and I decided my lifetime warranty was too valuable to trade off. Fast forward nearly two years, and the Overland remained on the lot as Overland trim isn't particularly popular here. When I bought it with a $14k discount from sticker, it had been on the lot for 611 days. That's a LOT of flooring the dealership paid. Anyway, ended up trading in the Wrangler Rubicon after having it eight years, and I drove the Gladiator Overland home three weeks ago. I ordered a color matched ARE topper for it as it's main use is going to be for towing my Sanibel 18 sailboat and my Airstream Globetrotter 23FB, and I had the dealership install the FCA factory trailer brake. Here's photos of the truck with the new topper and the Airstream. The truck is otherwise box-stock, and will likely remain that way.

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[MightyMike]

That's a sharp looking truck and trailer.

 

[Stuntman Mike]

That looks great. Congratulations and regards from another old man.

 

[sapientiam]

Beautiful truck.
Not gonna lie. I opened this thread excited to see where you placed the blue bottle(s).

 

[hepcat]

Ha ha!!! Sorry 'bout that. I'll include a section on the Nitrous tank install when I document the switch from the 3.6L to the 6.2L Hellcat V8 next month. *grin*

 

[EXXXchef]

I'm an older guy as well. You wouldn't think it by my jeep. Young at heart....attack?

 

[hepcat]

I'm an older guy as well. You wouldn't think it by my jeep. Young at heart....attack?

Gorgeous JT!

 

[EXXXchef]

Gorgeous JT!

Hey thanks. I love her more than my wife????

 

[hepcat]

Hey thanks. I love her more than my wife????

It sounds like your wife must be VERY accommodating and understanding! BUT these JTs ARE pretty seductive...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I am an old guy. This is my second post here. My first Jeep was a new '79 CJ-7 Golden Eagle in 1979. My second was an '81 Scrambler I also bought new, and I had that for seven or eight years. I've had either a Jeep or Land Cruiser almost continuously since those days. Having had one of the very first Scramblers in San Diego County, I was thrilled to see the introduction of the Gladiator.

I was the first to test drive this truck in '22 at my local dealership. The current Jeep I had was a '16 Wrangler Rubicon I bought new from them with the FCA Lifetime warranty. I really had no plans to trade it off, but I wanted to drive a Gladiator. This one is an "old man's Jeep," with all the bells and whistles, brown leather interior and better mannered tires than the gravediggers that came stock on my Wrangler. Anyway, it stickered at slightly over $60k and I decided my lifetime warranty was too valuable to trade off. Fast forward nearly two years, and the Overland remained on the lot as Overland trim isn't particularly popular here. When I bought it with a $14k discount from sticker, it had been on the lot for 611 days. That's a LOT of flooring the dealership paid. Anyway, ended up trading in the Wrangler Rubicon after having it eight years, and I drove the Gladiator Overland home three weeks ago. I ordered a color matched ARE topper for it as it's main use is going to be for towing my Sanibel 18 sailboat and my Airstream Globetrotter 23FB, and I had the dealership install the FCA factory trailer brake. Here's photos of the truck with the new topper and the Airstream. The truck is otherwise box-stock, and will likely remain that way.

Interesting as when I traded my 2020 Overland for my 22 - the dealer didn't have my used Overland on the lot even a month. It sold fast.

We wanted what the Overland had, and the ride, without the extra expenses of the higher levels we didn't need.

I tow and haul with it, and it's my daily driver.

Anyway, very nice setup! Looks like it sits quite nicely with that trailer.

 

[hepcat]

Thank you! I think the truck and trailer make a nicely matched pair. As I didn't have the Blue Ox SwayPro hitch set up quite right when I towed the trailer the 500 miles home, it was a white knuckle ride. After your timely advice on revising the setup, it tows much better, but I was able to find a lightly used ProPride 3P hitch in Iowa City. As the trailer weight will be at the rated capacity of the Gladiator, and the tongue weight on the Airstream is on the light side anyway, I decided that the ProPride would be worth the money and effort. I've ordered some parts for it I needed, and I'll have it installed in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we're looking at a LOT of carefree towing miles with the combo in the future.

Brown's Jeep in West Branch, IA has sold at least a half-dozen JTs since mine delivered to them. They're quite popular, just not the luxury version, apparently. The youngsters like the Mojave and Rubicon equipment. I never once disconnected the sway bar on my '16 JKU Rubicon, but I wanted the Dana 44s and the heavier transfer case along with the tow package, and those were only available on the Rubicon JKU in '16.

They still have my JKU Rubicon which is a little surprising as it was a six speed manual trans. I'm sure it'll sell quickly though. There just aren't many of those around.

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