New Gladiator: Best Advice?

[Gvsukids]

After a a recent fight with death wobble, I wished I would have spent my first bit of mod money on replacing track bar, drag link, and tie rod with beefy aftermarket. Not only has this solved my death wobble but the steering has gotten much “tighter”. Lift or no lift I would swap these out for a better driving experience. All bolt on items and total cost is really not much compared to a lot of the mods people are installing.

Not everyone has had that problem. Most have no issues with death wobble, stock or lifted.
With my experience with the Pentastar tick, I would advise that you will have that happen. But not everybody has had that with their vehicle. So, my problem isn't everyone's problem.

Does this include some major road trips? That’s basically two years worth of mileage for the average driver.

Not really. You'll find excuses to drive it. The long wheelbase makes for a nice ride. Also, driving to trails and around on them eats up miles. We have 98000 on a 4.75 year old Gladiator.

A thoroughly wash the undercarriage and fluid film it. A good starter for you and won't empty your wallet to much.

Or a car wash in the wintertime.

I played around with this feature a couple times and didn’t discover the purpose….. shift points? Higher rpm’s? From what I experienced - you could do the same thing by putting the tranny in manual mode and shifting yourself. If you’re in 4lo - I’d never (or rarely) shift out of 1st gear anyway.

What am I missing?

Manual mode won't shift as quickly as the automatic will. Having the higher RPM helps a lot on sand.

Sponsored

 

[professorkx]

When my rear locker broke early in ownership and both the dealer and the inspector sent by Jeep tried to deny the warranty because the for some reason the oil was milky (no idea why)…and kept my Jeep for almost 6 months…I knew I had wasted my money on the warranty. they even grilled me on taking my Jeep to Moab, claiming this might be the reason the locker broke…as if Jeeps shouldn’t be taken to Moab…

I finally got a new rear axle, but it took a lot of calls and threatening legal action…and I was without my Jeep for half a year. After that experience, I started modifying my Jeep so it could handle any trail I wanted to run.

nope, my new gladiator does not have an extended warranty…nor does my wife’s 2023 Rubicon. I’ll just fix them myself…

 

[Volt0]

A whole lot more people need to do 13 and 14.

Yeah, I was completely blown away while learning how capable these are in stock form. Early on, there were obstacles that would give the wife and I enough concern to pause and think about what we were doing. Many of those things, now, I don’t even consider as an obstacle. We would have missed out on many of those experiences, had we made a bunch of mods early on, and frankly they would have been unnecessary expenses.

 

[NC_Overland]

Yeah, I was completely blown away while learning how capable these are in stock form. Early on, there were obstacles that would give the wife and enough concern to pause and think about what we were doing. Many of those things, now, I don’t even consider as an obstacle. We would have missed out on many of those experiences, had we made a bunch of mods early on, and frankly they would have been unnecessary expenses.

Don’t get me wrong. The rear departure angle is terrible, but I figured out quickly when exploring around on our family farms, forest service road etc, that it’s way more capable than I thought it was and I really didn’t need a lift. I just needed bigger, better tires. I walked a fine line and was able to maintain good handling in the same MPG as stock, but it looks a hell of a lot better and performs as good as all I ever needed to.

 

[Gvsukids]

nope, my new gladiator does not have an extended warranty…nor does my wife’s 2023 Rubicon. I’ll just fix them myself…

Because my Jeep has been in the shop so many times, the extended warranty through a third party has definitely paid off. Other people I know haven't had the vehicle in the shop as much and so it probably would not have been worthwhile. However, we purchased an extended warranty for my wife's broncosport and haven't had to use it yet and she has over 20,000 miles on it.

Yeah, I was completely blown away while learning how capable these are in stock form. Early on, there were obstacles that would give the wife and enough concern to pause and think about what we were doing. Many of those things, now, I don’t even consider as an obstacle. We would have missed out on many of those experiences, had we made a bunch of mods early on, and frankly they would have been unnecessary expenses.

I'm able to keep up with someone on 37 because of the line I take.

 

[dfurgeson]

Carefully I have had mine for 11 months bought it with 22 miles it hit 31,998 today!!

Beats me. I have had mine 7 months, purchased with 11 miles and am at 15k now.

 

[Koolcarguy]

When you first got your Gladiator, what was the best advice you wish you had of known at the time?

Hoping to learn some tips or tricks that will help with longevity and reliability.

So, what is the best advice you would recommend for a new Gladiator?

Any suggestions for preventative maintenance or common issues to keep an eye on would be much appreciated.

Always cash in on the smile per mile factor if you like it do it. Don't follow the trends build it your way and enjoy everyday!!!

 

[Mr Miami]

change oil at 500, 1500, 2500 and then do it every 3-5k miles beyond that. Your first several changes are free anyways. Early often changes will allow those break in miles to be on clean oil. change diffs and transfer case around 20k. Some will say its excessive. It is cheap insurance.
rotate and balance tires every other oil change.

if you live in a winter salt state get it undercoated with a LANOLIN based system. re do that every couple years.

for mods. look at everything, take your time to decide what you want and seek alternatives. I bookmarked some 200+ websites/ pages before i started modding.

its a fun truck, and this forum is an AMAZING resource. Though the search function is wonky, I just google "________ Jeep gladiator forum" and easily get results.

I changed mine at 1500 and will do it again when it reaches 3000 miles in a month or so. Then put it into the schedule I use: change and tire rotation every 6000 miles. I just bought the oil (Pennzoil 0w20) and the Mopar OEM 349 filter for about $40 and doing the first two changes myself. Since the free ones include a tire rotation, I didn't want to waste (at least in my mind) a couple of tire rotations at 1500 and 3000 miles.

In any case good luck with your JT.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

7> Have your tires spin balanced and rotated every 10K miles or less. In my experience with solid front axles; 90% of death wobble is caused by unbalanced and / or over sized tires. And THAT, prematurely wears out your bushings. So they say the bushing went bad or bla bla and now one has death wobble. No! You didn't spin balance and rotate the tires regularly which caused your bushings to go bad.
The other 10% cause is low-tech lift kits, and steering kits. Do yourself a favor, leave it stock get your tires spin balanced and rotated regularly.

^ This 100%

 

[Lunentucker]

Drive it for a few weeks without making any upgrades or modifications.
Learn how it handles on road and off-road.
Learn its capabilities, nuances, and limitations.
A stock Gladiator, even in Sport trim with street tires, is a very capable off-road machine.

After you've had it a few weeks, learn the various steering and suspension components, what they are and what they do. How they work together.
Get under the vehicle and put your hands on things.
Shake them, or try to, back and forth, up and down, front to back.
Learn what's OK to have movement in it and what isn't.

Invest in a good torque wrench, and powerful cordless impact wrench, and a decent pair of work gloves. Not rubber mechanic gloves. Leather knuckle protecting close fitting grippy work gloves.

Browse the forums in each key mechanical section and read pinned posts with care.
Go back and look at the things talked about on your vehicle and read them again.

If I bought again, based on current offerings, I'd do the Mojave again.
The benefits in ride quality and suspension and frame upgrades far outweigh the benefits of having an easy to disconnect swaybar and front lockers, and you can always add those if you really feel that you need them later.

I'd also almost instantly replace the stock front control arms with the cheap, but effective, longer control arms from Mopar. The ones that come with their 2" factory lift kit. They're very very worth the small amount of money.

I'd also immediately replace the steering dampener (stabilizer) with a quality adjustable aftermarket one.

The hard top is a bit heavy and awkward to handle by yourself. It's nice in winter though.
Still, if you have the vehicle garaged most of the time, a soft top may be a better choice for quicker and easier changes.

Understand that these are unique and purpose-built vehicles. Some of the things that make them that way may be found to be unsavory on the road.
Interior and wind noise, wind drift from side gusts, a tendency to drift when encountering uneven pavement, a little bit more attention-demanding on the driver's part. They're not hot rods. They're Tonka trucks.

Oh yeah, just for my old fans, whom I adore, I'd take the auxiliary battery out of the game on day one.

,

 

[xch47cpt]

avoid going to Amazon and typing in "Gladiator aftermarket"

 

[10ecHarry]

When you first got your Gladiator, what was the best advice you wish you had of known at the time?

Hoping to learn some tips or tricks that will help with longevity and reliability.

So, what is the best advice you would recommend for a new Gladiator?

Any suggestions for preventative maintenance or common issues to keep an eye on would be much appreciated.

Delete the aux battery.

Sponsored