New 2023 Gladiator: Road Trip to Alaska

[48to49]

Welcome back to Alaska. I pretty much agree with your observations except fuel economy. Best I have ever seen out of mine was 17.2mpg on this last weekend's trip out to Valdez and that was almost all highway driving.

Sponsored

 

[Blown32]

Driving the Gladiator up when I retire, likely 2026 or 27. Plan on pulling our small camper (~4500lbs loaded) and staying a couple months.

 

[salvino]

I wanted to introduce myself as being new to the forums. A few weeks ago I purchased a 2023 Jeep Gladiator and taking advantage of some huge discounts. The Gladiator replaces my 2019 Honda Passport, which was a fine vehicle but obviously not as off road capable as the Gladiator.

I am a full time photographer (Landscape & Wildlife), and wanted a vehicle to get me to more places with more confidence than the Passport. I don't intend to do rock crawling, or a significant number of days "off grid". Just need to get places off road, spend a night or two and get back to the road.

I will be spending the summer in Denali as a photo guide, and I just drove it close to 4K miles from Indiana to Denali. I put together a simple youtube video of how it was to drive on the trip:

In general, I"m happy with the Gladiator for my use case and it ran flawlessly on the trip. Three things I need soon:

1) A dead pedal ( the foot well is not comfortable at all).
2) A canopy camper of some kind. Still trying to decide which one. I know there are a lot of AluCabs in these forums.
3) Mud flaps (This thing flings mud all down the sides. Makes it challenging to stay clean while getting camera gear in and out of back seats or truck bed.

That's all for now, but I expect to post more as my experience with the Gladiator grows.

John
www.johnrobertsonphotography.com

Check out Go Fast or Super Pacific campers. Alucab is nice but very heavy. Payload is an issue and even with my Super Pacific I needed suspension and brake upgrades.

 

[PuddleJumper]

I have a 21 Gladiator Rubicon with the Alucab Canopy Camper last summer drove to Prudhoe Bay 17,000 miles 3 months and the camper was great I have spent a total of 200+ nights in it and it’s the greatest. I love the single full door spare mounted on the back and I custom built the interior for my needs. I will be at the Overland in FLAGSTAFF IN THE DIY sections if anyone wants to check me out

what tire carrier is that?

 

[Gee]

I have a 21 Gladiator Rubicon with the Alucab Canopy Camper last summer drove to Prudhoe Bay 17,000 miles 3 months and the camper was great I have spent a total of 200+ nights in it and it’s the greatest. I love the single full door spare mounted on the back and I custom built the interior for my needs. I will be at the Overland in FLAGSTAFF IN THE DIY sections if anyone wants to check me out

Great set up. Do you mind me asking what mattress you used on your trip?

 

[Redruby]

5”. Memory foam

 

[Redruby]

The swing away tire carriers are from a Sprinter van had to do some minor modifications to them, not so much to the rack themselves as much as to how to fabricate mounting points

 

[BunkieJeeper75]

spuddy, still going to Alaska?

We are making the trip to AK next yr, leaving 6-01. We have done the drive 2x with a trailer or MH. The upcoming trip will be in the Mojave; pulling a small lite trailer. Long drive but very much worth it. We will take 2 months. Have fun!

 

[Redruby]

Spuddy I’m also going back to Alaska leaving Arizona on or about the end of May, 2026 have not set an exact date, as of right now I have 2 confirmed friends and maybe a couple of more, maybe we could meet up somewhere, let’s stay in touch

 

[Spuddy]

spuddy, still going to Alaska?

Wife having hip replacement surgery as soon as we can get a confirmed schedule. looks like a delay until next yr. Damn.

 

[BunkieJeeper75]

Sorry to hear that .that all works out ok. And y'all can get to Alaska next year!!

Wife having hip replacement surgery as soon as we can get a confirmed schedule. looks like a delay until next yr. Damn.

 

[Spuddy]

Spuddy I’m also going back to Alaska leaving Arizona on or about the end of May, 2026 have not set an exact date, as of right now I have 2 confirmed friends and maybe a couple of more, maybe we could meet up somewhere, let’s stay in touch

2026? That may be doable

Sponsored