Zonkey
New Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Loving my gladiator rubicon overland build. Having had a few jeeps before and a trail teams FJ, this is the beast for me. The perfect combination of trail prowess, family truckster and towing AC’d habitat in the hot TX summers is amazing.
I would offer an opinion on a costly journey of choosing lift kits. I wanted to keep 35s for the under bed spare tire storage with overland mpg range considerations. I choose the ready lift 4” lift kit with falcon shocks, after buying/installing nitto ridge grappler 35s and new wheels. This kit (for me) would not align the cosmos. The geometry was tight, it was racked full of noise, and the ride was stiff up front and weak in the rear due to stock springs. Having to buy an additional new adjustable rear track bar and a few too many alignments. It simply wouldn’t settle down and relax quietly. A major disappointment considering the cost of the truck, cost of the kit, extra gear/alignments and this led me to pull it all off in favor of the metal cloak ultimate 3.5. Great ride, great geometry, no bizarre noises and top notch fit and finish.
I kept the falcons (stashed the relocation shock brackets for now) and it’s excellent on and off road. Choose wisely and stretch your gear. Love my gladiator.
Build:
3.5 metal cloak
35 nitto ridge grapplers
KMC XD 17 wheels
JCR full rack
Smitty winch
JCR front bumper
Traction boards / rotopax
Molle bags/shovel on JCR headache rack
Internal JCR molle mounts and bags
I would offer an opinion on a costly journey of choosing lift kits. I wanted to keep 35s for the under bed spare tire storage with overland mpg range considerations. I choose the ready lift 4” lift kit with falcon shocks, after buying/installing nitto ridge grappler 35s and new wheels. This kit (for me) would not align the cosmos. The geometry was tight, it was racked full of noise, and the ride was stiff up front and weak in the rear due to stock springs. Having to buy an additional new adjustable rear track bar and a few too many alignments. It simply wouldn’t settle down and relax quietly. A major disappointment considering the cost of the truck, cost of the kit, extra gear/alignments and this led me to pull it all off in favor of the metal cloak ultimate 3.5. Great ride, great geometry, no bizarre noises and top notch fit and finish.
I kept the falcons (stashed the relocation shock brackets for now) and it’s excellent on and off road. Choose wisely and stretch your gear. Love my gladiator.
Build:
3.5 metal cloak
35 nitto ridge grapplers
KMC XD 17 wheels
JCR full rack
Smitty winch
JCR front bumper
Traction boards / rotopax
Molle bags/shovel on JCR headache rack
Internal JCR molle mounts and bags
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