Need advice from veteran Gladiator owners - thanks for your help

[FoxtrotJulietBravo]

Yes, I'd buy a wrangler now. They've priced me out of a new gladiator. Actually, my wife is looking at a new wrangler, and we're stuck getting a two door. The four doors have also priced us out. So I'm gonna have my children kicking the back of the seat for the next several years whenever we drive that.

That wheel base will more than make up for the front seats getting kicked lol
Breaking even or making out with a little extra in the bank?

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[NachoRuby]

That wheel base will more than make up for the front seats getting kicked lol
Breaking even or making out with a little extra in the bank?

Well, we should break even, but the build takes 3 months+, and in the meantime, her current 2016 will continue to depreciate due to a ridiculous commute and lots of excessive miles. So I don't know for sure yet exactly where we'll be, until it gets here. In the meantime, she's driving her beater whenever it's not too hot out to keep miles off the current JKU. The beater is a 97 Jetta with no AC, so on the 95+ degree days, she takes her Jeep. 90 miles a day on the commute. I'm in pa, and summer is almost over, so we shouldn't have too many more hot days left.
I tell her she's spoiled now. Just 5 years ago, I dailied a 73 VW, and she dailied a 97 Wrangler sport with no AC.

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

Yes, I'd buy a wrangler now. They've priced me out of a new gladiator. Actually, my wife is looking at a new wrangler, and we're stuck getting a two door. The four doors have also priced us out. So I'm gonna have my children kicking the back of the seat for the next several years whenever we drive that.

I would love to have a 2 door Wrangler. The short wheelbase is such a blast to drive. Someday I’ll have another.

 

[Geoff Massa]

I will literally give you my stock rubicon shocks, coils, and basically everything that I took off when I upgraded my lift and shocks and also a spare driveline cuz why not ??‍
I live in the Sacramento region, and this stuff is literally collecting dust.

Hey,

If your serious PM me and I will give you my cell #. BTW, I grew up in Lake of the Pines between Auburn and Grass Valley.

Geoff

 

[FoxtrotJulietBravo]

Hey,

If your serious PM me and I will give you my cell #. BTW, I grew up in Lake of the Pines between Auburn and Grass Valley.

Geoff

Oh yeah, I know that area well. I keep grinding out asphalt all over that region.
And yup, pretty serious. I’d feel better about them being put to good use.

 

[cb4017]

OP, your plan is what I did and it works fine for me.
I don't crawl but I do explore the high desert. I bought a Sport Max Tow for $39K OTD. Options it had were the hard top, aux switches, deep tint and mud floor mats. Take-off Rubicon wheels & tires were $1k. Mopar lift was $1.3K installed by me. Rubi steel front bumper $1k. Added side steps for the wife and to protect the sides and door hinges from gravel roads. Overall I've probably got around $44k in this thing and it will take me anywhere I'm brave enough to go.

 

[MemphisMississipp]

Hey Everyone,

This is my first post. I posted this on another website before I found this site which specializes in Gladiators. I would really apricate your input.

I am trying to save money on a Gladiator purchase so I can properly outfit the Jeep for Overlanding/Camping.

I am thinking about buying a Gladiator Sport with the Max Tow Package in lieu of the Rubicon because you get the most heavy duty Dana 44 axles front and back and 4.10 gears. This saves about 16K over the Rubicon

If I add front and back air lockers, a manual sway bar disconnect, 33” KO 2 tires and steel front bumper ready for a winch I believe it will cost about $7,000. So, I am ahead about $9K and can use the rest of the funds to outfit this vehicle with other overlanding equipment.

Does this make sense to you? Am I missing something? Is the Sport with Max Tow Package suspension system going to be a problem off roading?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks,

Geoff

I’ve got A Max Tow Sport and I couldn’t be happier. I mainly bought to tow my Nucamp teardrop around the country.

 

[MemphisMississipp]

On the B&P the sport s max tow is 45k, the rubicon 49k. The price delta has gotten so close that there is little reason to go max tow at this point imo unless you absolutely need the couple hundred pounds higher tow rating.

Maybe the OP is buying used though?

Edit: I take that back, its 52K to 45K to have an auto with tow package rubi vs the auto max tow. Still dont think the 6-7K (which could be shrunk to be closer to 5K through gupton for example) is worth it if you are still adding a locker, tires, and swaybar disconnect

Paid 34500 for my 2020 Max Tow Sport new

 

[bleda2002]

Paid 34500 for my 2020 Max Tow Sport new

I paid less than 50 for a fully loaded rubicon before prices went nuts too, but at this point, you cant get a used 2020 for under 40 unless its crazy miles.

 

[Sparty97]

If I had it to do all over again, I think I would have started with the Rubicon or maybe a Mojave (I do a lot of sand dunes in the summer).

I think at the time I bought it, there was about a $13k difference between my Sport S Max tow and a loaded Rubicon on the same lot. I've likely spent $3k less on mine vs what I would have had to spend on initial cost plus upgrading the Rubicon when you consider what came stock plus upgrades and the ability to resell Rubicon parts when the Sports stuff you almost will have to give away. Since it is my daily driver, there are still some upgrades I will likely make, wish I had or would have been nice to have (extra safety features). Things like upgraded radio, trail cam, leather seats, steel rear bumper, rear power, locked storage under rear seat, etc. are things I still want to do and are on the short list after I pay the loan off.

Plus, if you sell it later, you likely will recoup a lot of the difference in initial cost.
.

 

[jeventures]

When I bought our gently used 2020 the options seemed to be a sport max tow with minimal options for around 46 or a very loaded rubicon for 51. We’ve used the slower low gear ratio a ton and the lockers some. Do a good bit of looking at the options and be honest about what you will do with the truck. 16k spread between the two doesn’t sound very realistic from my experience.

 

[jeventures]

One more note…on resale instead of performance, my opinion is that a fairly stock rubicon will retain value better than a sport s with a bunch of mods. It’s hard to get your money back on mods when selling. Okay one last performance thing, the sway bar disconnect makes rough trails a good deal more comfortable for passengers. That’s something I didn’t anticipate but love.

 

[XJADDICTION]

I’ve have close to 90,000 miles on my JT Max Tow. 3.5” lift with 37” BFG ATKOs. I’ve owned many Jeeps with lockers including a JKU Rubicon 2016.
Honestly, unless you are doing some serious rock crawling you don’t need lockers on the JT. Long wheel base, limited slip in rear axle, traction control mitigate the need for lockers IMOP. I climbed and crawled some serious stuff recently that would have stopped a normal Jeep without lockers, but I ran o
All of it in 2 wheel drive. Didn’t use 4x4 except going down steep loose grades, and then I would put it in 4 low, manual shift mode.
I am completely surprised how capable the JT is without lockers.

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