They have been very good to me so far. I had another lock that I bent by my fault. I pulled into my garage with the door open and the open lock hit the door frame. I asked to buy one and they just sent it to me. I don’t imagine I’d be met with with any issues.
Great to hear. Thank you.
We ship them out as fast as we can get them in. We've even shipped some Gladiator caps out in the last 30 days. But yes, we still have open orders for them.
The entire automotive supply chain is definitely a challenge right now. While we can certainly appreciate yours or anyone's desire to receive products quickly, there are no shortages of delays and backlogs right now. Smartcap is building and importing these caps as quickly as possible. And we certainly help to get them shipped out as fast as we receive them in.
The two main Smartcap models are the Evo Sport and the Evo Adventure. The Sport features large side panels which are predominatly glass that gullwing open and also feature a small integrated slider window on each side. The Adventure features solid side panels that gullwing open and feature interior mounted molle panels. Install is relatively straight forward with most folks installing these in a few hours with basic handtools. All of the accessories can be purchased with the cap or purchased/installed down the road.
I have a SmartCap with the RSI Roof Rack. I assembled the cap, rolled it over, and then installed the rack. I used the rack as the attachment point to lift the cap. I used a engine hoist with a piece of unistrut to make a lift so I could install it alone.
| BDS 3" Ram 1500 Rear Spring Mod |
| SUMO SPRING SSR-407-47 1800lb Gladiator |
| the SUMO SPRING is a bump stop basically. It's not a super expensive fix but it's not exactly cheap either. I figured I'd mention it on the forum since it's something most won't consider as a potential cost of adding a smart cap or another cap to their Gladiator since the gladiator isn't really designed to be a "truck" it's a Wrangler with a truck bed attached & the stock springs wont take the additional weight. Mine are actually JKS 3" springs they are replacing on the rear since I have a lift. It would eventually sag & bottom out as well. |
I'll just say that I'm not seeing the additional sag that they are describing. My cap has been on about a year. I have the roof rack and the table in the ceiling carrier. That adds about 250 pounds plus what I'm carrying around in the bed. I have an Overland, which is supposed to provide a softer ride with springs that are not as stiff.
@OffroadAlliance.com Thanks this is helpful...I will go with an EVO Sport, I want the windows. Have to decide between the load bars and the rack, knowing I want a 270 as well. Looks like I will be calling to get final questions answered and order.
No this is not true, the gladiator is not a wrangler with the bed attached. The Gladiator is a real mid-sized truck (if you doubt this look at the bed load capacity and the tow ratings… all much higher than a Wrangler). This has been hashed out on here for… well since the beginning. The JT front suspension is like the wranglers but the rear of the JT is set up on the dodge 1/2 ton pickup truck platform. No, the JT is NOT a wrangler with a bed.
Thanks for the explanation, I wouldn’t have thought a lift kit springs etc. would be inferior to stock. I figured the stock springs wouldn’t handle it either. I had installed the JKS venture 3-3.5 lift kit with fox performance shocks a few months back. It’s a fairly level kit from front to back when it was first installed. Today there was an inch difference on mine. So sounds like they may have caught it in time before the bad things you had mentioned occurred. It sounds like installing the Ram 1500 springs will return it to factory specs for the rear, matching to the new lift height, now I think I understand why they recommend it.No this is not true, the gladiator is not a wrangler with the bed attached. The Gladiator is a real mid-sized truck (if you doubt this look at the bed load capacity and the tow ratings… all much higher than a Wrangler). This has been hashed out here for… well since the beginning. The JT front suspension is like the wranglers, the rear is set up on the dodge 1/2 ton pickup truck platform. No, the JT is NOT a wrangler with a bed.
The issue you are having is caused by lift manufacturers using a leveling approach to the gladiator. This should not be done IMOP because tha gladiator is not a wrangler and has the rake due to heavier duty rear springs on the JT truck… because it is a truck meant to haul things.
So, taking those stock JT springs out meant for the load rating for the JT. Then adding a “leveling lift kit” (whether they say the are doing that or not, most aftermarket lift kits do). Will leave you with springs not rated for the trucks factory load rating in most cases.
I have the Max Tow, and never had issue with loads and even towing up to 6500lbs (with 500lbs in the bed).
Now with the 3.5” Rubicon Express lift, it has literally become a negative rear lift from stock height, now 1” below stock(originally the RE lift had an incredibly smooth ride for the first 2 months and it was level… I told the shop that recommended the lift and ordered it, that I specifically did not want a leveling lift. I wanted to maintain the JTs rear rake with HD springs for load, as the stock springs had. Well guess what, that nice ride initially was due to soft rated lift springs.
So, you may ask, how can a lift of 3.5”go negative? Just as was mentioned previously, the rear springs on my JT started to sag and then the cheap shocks blew. Mine is only staying maybe an inch higher than stock because of the bump stop extensions that came with the lift. The ride is so bad and unstable that I have to get it fixed asap.
I made the mistake of driving away with the JT not set up for its truck purpose. So now I’ll replace the rear springs and better shocks on all 4 corners… maybe replace a 5 month old lift. The pictures are with 250lbs in bed, a 180lb XXL James Baroud RTT on the rack,, bed rack and a hard bed cover made from 3/4 marine plywood. No where near the stock bed capacity of 1600lbs.
