Our Willys build.

[staying_tuned]

Coverking Topliner installed. Awesome project and thrilled with the results. Project thread is here, pics below.

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[booneja]

I've been meaning to start logging a build thread. As winter approaches we've been spending as much time in the woods as possible. We absolutely love the truck. I've had my eyes on a Gladiator since launch. Previously we've owned a TJx2, JK and a JKU. Between the last JKU and Gladiator, we took a Jeep sabbatical with a 4Runner. We loved that truck but got a random great offer on it and haven't regretted moving it.

The Truck:

2021 Willys Diesel - Window Sticker (6% off invoice via Leon at @CriswellJeep in MD a few hours from us. I could write pages on how fantastic that whole experience was. The dealership itself was great, all staff were friendly but Leon himself is next level.)

Mods to date:

• AEV 2" Spacer Lift
• Falcon 3.1 Piggy-Back (ESS batt relo’d)
• 35"x11.5" Toyo Open Country A/T III
• 17x9 KMS Roswell (0mm offset variant w/ hub rings) - Custom powder coated
• RokBlokz LX/Long Mud Flaps
• Custom Paracord Grab Handles from @darksidedesign (epic, pics to come)
• Rival full-width front bumper
• Diode Dynamic SS3 Pro pods up front
• SuperWinch SX10-SR
• WeBoost Reach OTR (not pictured, install underway, wire caps inbound from Leitner)
• Leitner ACS Forged Rack w/ additional static load bar
• iKamper SkyCamp 2.0
• Diode Dynamics Pro Fogs in Yellow
• Raptor Lined Bed DIY
• MBRP filter back exhaust

Future plans:

We are currently focusing on extending our ability to be in the woods with our little ones. Misc. comfort & convenience things are top priority at this point. Once I wrap up the WeBoost install, we'll start planning rail storage & layout. We are enjoying the darn thing too much to free up install days/weekends. Aside from the alignment and mounting/balancing of the tires, we've done everything ourselves.

A few pics:

where did you pick up that bumper? Nice rig......never mind, found it on QT site, still nice rig and post

 

[staying_tuned]

Hey! The grab handles are still holding up like a champ btw, my youngest makes it a point to use every one he can while getting in and out of the truck : o ).

Noise was the primary reason I opted to do something with the panels, it makes a huge difference. I touch on it in the project thread here but yeah, well worth the time and cost IMO.

 

[staying_tuned]

Finally got around to pulling the spacers in favor of AEV's Dual Sport diesel springs. I'm on snows for a bit but yeah, lost over an inch up front post bumper & winch install and these got me dialed back in. Added the geo relo brackets while I was at it.

Project thread here, pic below:

 

[staying_tuned]

Been a minute since I updated my build thread, we sold our home -> moved and had a great trip to San Antonio and back. Since the move we've been buttoning up preps for our Wyoming trip, we leave Friday.

After dozens of outings and a few big road trips (26k miles on my 2021 EcoD and I work from home) we started zeroing in on a bed slide to allow easy access to our gear for the whole family. 100% of the time previously, I was the person getting X out of the bed. Super ok the first few trips but not awesome long term especially when we have bins, coolers etc. that need shuffling around.

Landed on a Slide Master AH3 based bed slide for the following features:

- Built in the USA
- Low profile
- Extends a whopping 120% while supporting 700lbs fully extended. 1200lbs if capped at 75%.
- Ability to specify custom IMS spring lock points. I have them every 25% on out to 120%.
- Built like a tank

We've put this slide to good use, leveraging it for everything from a picnic table (all the time actually) to being laden with our gear as seen in the pics.

All that said, I would never recommend this slide nor this company to anyone. I won't extensively bash the company here but it is the first time in a very long time that I firmly believe that I would have better off sacrificing a few features to go with an $800 china-made slide readily available with free shipping from any Jeep big-box store. It does precisely everything I need it to but you cannot fathom the nightmare of an install this was. So bad that Slide Master had to call the owner of the only known installed example and ask them how he achieved it after I sent them pics showing where the mounting points land (directly on the bed seams, both sides, with zero wiggle room). Odd you might say given they have a "gladiator" selection when filtering products. One of many, many issues but again, not going to rant much. Suffice to say, this is not designed for our truck beyond simply ensuring the frame and tray can theoretically fit. Avoid at all costs.

On a brighter note, the Dometic CFX3 75DZ along with its' slide has been fantastic. To date I haven't seen it pull more than 49 watts. We've got a Delta EcoFlow for when we are static so I installed Cascadia's VSS panel kit w/ controller to trickle charge the primary battery while allowing an additional 12v out to charge the EcoFlow when we are posted at camp for extended periods.

My wavian can mounts got back from powder in time for me to get them mounted. Motobilt's quality is fantastic and Bonehead performance coatings once again did a great job. You can't see it in the pics but I've got a safe jack kit in a 50 cal. can next to the wavians just before the tool kit you see strapped to the mounts.

No issues to report with the truck outside of the leaking rear axle which is slotted for repair July 7th. I've been topping off the fluid every 1,500 or so miles with about a teaspoon of axle oil. The Toyo Open Country AT III tires have held up extremely well. I'd estimate I've gotten about 20k on them with plenty of tread left, likely another 10k left easily.

Ok onto the pics!

 

[staying_tuned]

After roughly 40k of great riding on the Toyo O/C 3s I opted for something more aggressive this round. We moved from PA to KY so my need for something manageable on ice in a pinch reduced to near zero. I opted for the Yokohama Geolander X-MT and couldn't be happier. Review to come but love them so far. I'm genuinely astonished at their road manners. Side note, if you're looking for a RTT we've listed our flawless iKamper for a great deal.

The truck has been running great, just shy of 50k miles.

 

[staying_tuned]

Finally : )

 

[staying_tuned]

Post tune and weight loss this beast feels like an entirely different truck. The tune is rated at 80HP & 140WTQ and despite it being so heavy it feels extremely light from a dig and picks up speed effortlessly from a roll uphill.

It's sounding like it should too.

 

[JurassicKP]

What exhaust kit and tune is that ?

 

[bakobobby]

How have the falcons held up over all the miles? They say they need rebuilds around 50k miles but I reckon that is a conservative estimate.

 

[staying_tuned]

What exhaust kit and tune is that ?

EOC tuned with T&S Speed shop covering the exhaust. Both great shops but overall timeframe can be fairly lengthy. That said, no surprises or delays, I was made aware of the 8 to 10 week turnaround on the exhaust when I ordered. Essentially when I got shipping notification on the exhaust I immediately sent out my PCM. By the time the exhaust got here the PCM was only a few days behind it.

 

[staying_tuned]

How have the falcons held up over all the miles? They say they need rebuilds around 50k miles but I reckon that is a conservative estimate.

They've held up great both functionally and from a materials & finish standpoint and pair up nicely with the AEV DualSport springs. No complaints so far and yeah, I'm hoping they are conservative regarding the rebuild timeframe.

 

[staying_tuned]

I had held off on the trans tune for roughly 2k miles for no particular reason other than feeling it wasn't necessary given I haven't been displeased with the shift points and general behavior to date.

The engine tuning has been incredible, transformational really. It was this newfound power that better revealed areas where the stock trans tuning fell short. Without the trans tune it was very evident that I've got a gob of additional power on tap BUT it seemed as though the trans was only able to actually leverage it efficiently about 75% of the time. Still this was such an improvement that I held off on the trans tune until recently.

I ordered it along with ECRI's security bypass module. I opted for this far cheaper alternative to a Tazer. It came recommended by my tuner and couldn't have been easier. Pre tune you simply pull the bypass wires and plug the dongle in and forget about it. Post tune you remove it and done... no menu, buttons nothing. It just sits there enabling bypass until you remove it.

The powergate module itself was about the most straight forward handheld process I've experienced. I work on a mac but have a 10 year old all in one PC that collects dust. You just need a windows device with a USB port. Essentially you use the Powergate to pull your existing tune, email that to your tuner and then apply the updated tune you receive back. I had mine back within 2 hours of emailing the stock trans tune out.

I've worked with handhelds from Cobb, EkuTek, jb4 and SCT. While the interface on the powergate itself isn't all that pretty like something you'd see on a Cobb unit, I experienced no glitches or breaks in the tuning flow and the device itself was very responsive unlike the lag you'd see on other devices. Start to finish I'd say the process consumed about 45 minutes and that includes me fat fingering the security dongle, its hard to reach and takes a little patience.

The result is amazing. It doesn't hunt, the shifts occur faster and somehow I haven't taken a hit on MPG. At any point if the throttle is dropped the truck instantly feels weightless and moves out.

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