OMTBiker
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Background:
Currently have a 2020 Rubicon, Mopar lift and 35's. I have never owned a diesel vehicle before.
Happy with the Gladiator but not overly impressed with towing especially considering our trailer is only 2800 lbs dry, ~3100 lbs loaded (3500 gross). On our trip out west I averaged 10.28 MPG, the Gladiator did not like going above 60-62 MPH across South Dakota on the flat to rolling terrain and I was only averaging 7-9 MPG. While in Wyoming and Utah I had several tanks in the 7MPG range and the truck felt like it was struggling in the mountains, stayed in 3rd gear the majority of the time at 4500-5000 RPMs and no more that 45 MPH.
Have taken the trailer on a couple other trips and have seen as low as 6.6 MPG keeping the speed at 62. This does not seem right as others are getting twice that with heavier trailers. The other half's Wrangler Sahara will pull the same trailer at 11-12 MPG doing 70 and 14-15 MPG at 60-62.
I have been looking at the diesel Gladiator in hope to have a better experience in towing, yes I now there are limitations but I am not looking to purchase a dedicated tow rig. If that was the case I would order the Wrangler Rubicon 392 and buy a full size truck. We are destination campers and choose to explore the areas we go to, including off-roading.
On to the questions:
I test drove a Rubicon diesel yesterday and noticed a few things, mostly good but a couple that I am not sure should be happening. I left the dealership and hopped on the expressway, about 10 miles in I started noticing a diesel exhaust fume smell in the cabin (the climate control was not turned on). I turned the climate control on which dissipated the smell, note to self, keep the climate control on. Later on the test drive I noticed a couple times there was an odor, not exactly sure how to describe it but not very pleasant.
Is smelling diesel exhaust and potentially DEF fumes normal?
The other thing I noticed is that it felt like the computer was pulling power and short shifting the transmission on an aggressive take off, the truck would start to accelerate quickly then back off. This is concerning especially if you need to pull out quickly into traffic.
Is the pulling of power expected to not strain the rest of the drivetrain, the transmission should have no issue with the torque.
Overall, you can definitely notice the torque and power increase. The truck had much more power on the expressway when trying to pass than my current one. Even with aggressive driving, trying to simulate stop and go traffic, etc. the gas miles never dropped below 20 MPG and was almost 24 MPG when I returned it.
My other concern is payload capacity, payload on a loaded Rubicon is ~900 lbs, current is ~1100 lbs. How are others handling the payload limitation. We travel very light; for our 2 week trip out west the trailer was ~3200 lbs with the tongue weight ~340 lbs. I had a generator (86 lbs), 5 gallon of gas for the generator, 55qt cooler filled with bottles of water/ice, tool bag, etc. Total in bed was probably 300 lbs. It is just the two of us in the cab at ~340 lbs. We did not take the bikes this trip, the bikes would add: 50 lbs for the rack and 40-50 lbs for the bikes themselves.
We are looking at a slightly bigger trailer, the weight of the new trailer would be ~3300 (3900 gross) dry with a tongue weight of ~500.
With just ourselves, trailer and gear (no bikes), we are over the payload by about 60 lbs. Add the bikes and we would be over by almost 200. How are people towing some the trailers they show in their posts?
Thanks in advance.
Currently have a 2020 Rubicon, Mopar lift and 35's. I have never owned a diesel vehicle before.
Happy with the Gladiator but not overly impressed with towing especially considering our trailer is only 2800 lbs dry, ~3100 lbs loaded (3500 gross). On our trip out west I averaged 10.28 MPG, the Gladiator did not like going above 60-62 MPH across South Dakota on the flat to rolling terrain and I was only averaging 7-9 MPG. While in Wyoming and Utah I had several tanks in the 7MPG range and the truck felt like it was struggling in the mountains, stayed in 3rd gear the majority of the time at 4500-5000 RPMs and no more that 45 MPH.
Have taken the trailer on a couple other trips and have seen as low as 6.6 MPG keeping the speed at 62. This does not seem right as others are getting twice that with heavier trailers. The other half's Wrangler Sahara will pull the same trailer at 11-12 MPG doing 70 and 14-15 MPG at 60-62.
I have been looking at the diesel Gladiator in hope to have a better experience in towing, yes I now there are limitations but I am not looking to purchase a dedicated tow rig. If that was the case I would order the Wrangler Rubicon 392 and buy a full size truck. We are destination campers and choose to explore the areas we go to, including off-roading.
On to the questions:
I test drove a Rubicon diesel yesterday and noticed a few things, mostly good but a couple that I am not sure should be happening. I left the dealership and hopped on the expressway, about 10 miles in I started noticing a diesel exhaust fume smell in the cabin (the climate control was not turned on). I turned the climate control on which dissipated the smell, note to self, keep the climate control on. Later on the test drive I noticed a couple times there was an odor, not exactly sure how to describe it but not very pleasant.
Is smelling diesel exhaust and potentially DEF fumes normal?
The other thing I noticed is that it felt like the computer was pulling power and short shifting the transmission on an aggressive take off, the truck would start to accelerate quickly then back off. This is concerning especially if you need to pull out quickly into traffic.
Is the pulling of power expected to not strain the rest of the drivetrain, the transmission should have no issue with the torque.
Overall, you can definitely notice the torque and power increase. The truck had much more power on the expressway when trying to pass than my current one. Even with aggressive driving, trying to simulate stop and go traffic, etc. the gas miles never dropped below 20 MPG and was almost 24 MPG when I returned it.
My other concern is payload capacity, payload on a loaded Rubicon is ~900 lbs, current is ~1100 lbs. How are others handling the payload limitation. We travel very light; for our 2 week trip out west the trailer was ~3200 lbs with the tongue weight ~340 lbs. I had a generator (86 lbs), 5 gallon of gas for the generator, 55qt cooler filled with bottles of water/ice, tool bag, etc. Total in bed was probably 300 lbs. It is just the two of us in the cab at ~340 lbs. We did not take the bikes this trip, the bikes would add: 50 lbs for the rack and 40-50 lbs for the bikes themselves.
We are looking at a slightly bigger trailer, the weight of the new trailer would be ~3300 (3900 gross) dry with a tongue weight of ~500.
With just ourselves, trailer and gear (no bikes), we are over the payload by about 60 lbs. Add the bikes and we would be over by almost 200. How are people towing some the trailers they show in their posts?
Thanks in advance.
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