tjZ06
Active Member
- First Name
- TJ
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2021
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 47
- Location
- Palo Alto, CA
- Vehicle(s)
- '03 JGC Overland 4.7 HO, '18 JGC Trackhawk 6.2 SC
- Occupation
- Tech
- Thread starter
- #1
Hi all, I'm new here and doing some research on potentially switching to a diesel Gladiator (Rubicon) from my current '03 Grand. I'd be keeping the WJ, just too much time and money in it, with very little potential return on investment selling it. My use case is towing a small off-road camping trailer mostly in the Sierras. The WJ does a pretty good job (fresh rebuilt 4.7 HO, upgraded cooling system, and a mod list longer than my right arm) but gets warm on long grades (even with all I've done for cooling). I figured a diesel Gladiator would be the *perfect* solution. Having the bed to carry additional gear, fuel, firewood etc. will be super handy, and on trips where I take the trailer I'm not doing anything super-technical where the long wheelbase and long rear overhang of the JT will be a problem (again, I'll keep the WJ for that stuff).
Here's the trailer setup, and the WJ:
(never mind my buddy "modeling" on my tire)
As you can see one of my friends brought a Gladiator on the last trip, and I really fell in love with the thing. His is a 3.6L gas Sport with a lot of Rubicon take-off parts and leveling kit and 35"s. It was so handy camping when we went out and collected firewood, went shooting, etc. As I mentioned, I am looking at the diesel because I tow. The trailer fully loaded for a camping trip with firewood in the front basket (no wood in it in these pics, but I generally fill it) and a full load of water (30 gallons) is ~2,800 lbs (and my Jeep is ~5300 lbs). In fact here's the actual weights as it sat in this pic:
Hitched up:
Unhitched, weighed separately (the entire Jeep is on the "steer" pad and the entire trailer is on the "drive" pad):
For its size, it's relatively heavy... but nothing crazy either. Overall the WJ does well, as I mentioned. You'd think it'd have a good amount of sway or wandering being as tall and softly sprung as it is, but really there's none. You can feel the Jeep itself lean a bit before the Anti-Rock sways sort of load up, but it does that with or without the trailer. Power is adequate (not great) and it stops well with new Powerstop Z36 rotors/pads on the JK brakes (it has JK Rubicon Recon axles) and good trailer brakes.
The biggest issue I have is coolant temps. It gets hotter than I'd like on long grades, especially if it's hot out. I already upgraded to an all-Aluminum radiator with a much thicker core and it has a very nice dual e-fan and shroud setup. I guess the Jeep engineers put hydraulic engine fans on these things for a reason.
The stock fan moves a ton of air... but it's a 20 year old complex system with a million places to leak, and mine did leak. Also, the way it ran the control solenoid in the stock configuration it actually lets the ECTs get very high before kicking the fan on, pulls the temp down pretty low, then repeats (vs. sustaining a more consistent temp). I use a TrailDash2 to monitor true ECT, and towing over Donner Summit or in the high desert when it was 95-100 out I was getting into the upper two-twenties (like 226, 228) and even hit 230 once or twice, at which point I pulled over and let it idle and cool (it cools back down very quickly leaving it running stopped).
Anyway, it gets old and stressful keeping one eye on the temp gauge, having to slow way down on grades etc. so I had thought a diesel Gladi would be perfect. I'm sure the torque and the amazing 8 speed will make towing my trailer a breeze. I have a diesel pickup for my bigger trailers (I've had as much as 17k lbs 5th wheels, so I'm very familiar with towing) and love it. Well, I sign up over here and see lots of Gladiators towing, which is encouraging. Then I stumble across some of the temp threads, and begin to have doubts. I see posts about 248 degrees ECT being somewhat common and the ECU de-rating until it cools back down. That sounds like exactly the nightmare I'm trying to avoid.
So what's the truth? If I got a JTR I'd be putting it on at least 35"s (like my WJ has) but probably 37"s. I don't mind re-gearing if needed (I geared my WJ to 4.88). Is a diesel JTR on 37"s going to tow this ~2800lbs trailer alright going up into the Sierras or the high desert in Oregon and NV?
-TJ
Here's the trailer setup, and the WJ:
(never mind my buddy "modeling" on my tire)
As you can see one of my friends brought a Gladiator on the last trip, and I really fell in love with the thing. His is a 3.6L gas Sport with a lot of Rubicon take-off parts and leveling kit and 35"s. It was so handy camping when we went out and collected firewood, went shooting, etc. As I mentioned, I am looking at the diesel because I tow. The trailer fully loaded for a camping trip with firewood in the front basket (no wood in it in these pics, but I generally fill it) and a full load of water (30 gallons) is ~2,800 lbs (and my Jeep is ~5300 lbs). In fact here's the actual weights as it sat in this pic:
Hitched up:
Unhitched, weighed separately (the entire Jeep is on the "steer" pad and the entire trailer is on the "drive" pad):
For its size, it's relatively heavy... but nothing crazy either. Overall the WJ does well, as I mentioned. You'd think it'd have a good amount of sway or wandering being as tall and softly sprung as it is, but really there's none. You can feel the Jeep itself lean a bit before the Anti-Rock sways sort of load up, but it does that with or without the trailer. Power is adequate (not great) and it stops well with new Powerstop Z36 rotors/pads on the JK brakes (it has JK Rubicon Recon axles) and good trailer brakes.
The biggest issue I have is coolant temps. It gets hotter than I'd like on long grades, especially if it's hot out. I already upgraded to an all-Aluminum radiator with a much thicker core and it has a very nice dual e-fan and shroud setup. I guess the Jeep engineers put hydraulic engine fans on these things for a reason.
The stock fan moves a ton of air... but it's a 20 year old complex system with a million places to leak, and mine did leak. Also, the way it ran the control solenoid in the stock configuration it actually lets the ECTs get very high before kicking the fan on, pulls the temp down pretty low, then repeats (vs. sustaining a more consistent temp). I use a TrailDash2 to monitor true ECT, and towing over Donner Summit or in the high desert when it was 95-100 out I was getting into the upper two-twenties (like 226, 228) and even hit 230 once or twice, at which point I pulled over and let it idle and cool (it cools back down very quickly leaving it running stopped). Anyway, it gets old and stressful keeping one eye on the temp gauge, having to slow way down on grades etc. so I had thought a diesel Gladi would be perfect. I'm sure the torque and the amazing 8 speed will make towing my trailer a breeze. I have a diesel pickup for my bigger trailers (I've had as much as 17k lbs 5th wheels, so I'm very familiar with towing) and love it. Well, I sign up over here and see lots of Gladiators towing, which is encouraging. Then I stumble across some of the temp threads, and begin to have doubts. I see posts about 248 degrees ECT being somewhat common and the ECU de-rating until it cools back down. That sounds like exactly the nightmare I'm trying to avoid.
So what's the truth? If I got a JTR I'd be putting it on at least 35"s (like my WJ has) but probably 37"s. I don't mind re-gearing if needed (I geared my WJ to 4.88). Is a diesel JTR on 37"s going to tow this ~2800lbs trailer alright going up into the Sierras or the high desert in Oregon and NV?
-TJ
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