Spied Jeep Scrambler pick up. Heard a diesel under the hood.

[Jeffrey K Wilson]

Was driving around my town and spied the Jeep Gladiator testing at high altitude. I was able to hear the chugging of a diesel motor and turbo spooling up. One of the driver did say the diesel was for the JL when I questioned him about the diesel in the JT. I think he wanted me to just leave. Two of these are in my area being tested right now.

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[jeepncrowd]

OMG THat looks sexy. Crying tears of joy!. PLEASE JEEP MAKE THE ECODIESAL AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH!!!


Looking at the pictures this one seems to have the non-Rubi fenders, but the rocker panel looks a little higher than the standard JL (could just be the angle). ANyone think that the JT might come from the factory a little taller to offset the breakover/departure angle and compensate for rear sag from payload?

 

[Renegade]

On a side note, what was the camo vehicle? Looks pretty big...

 

[FrankInNordale]

OMG THat looks sexy. Crying tears of joy!. PLEASE JEEP MAKE THE ECODIESAL AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH!!!


Looking at the pictures this one seems to have the non-Rubi fenders, but the rocker panel looks a little higher than the standard JL (could just be the angle). ANyone think that the JT might come from the factory a little taller to offset the breakover/departure angle and compensate for rear sag from payload?

I feel like the JT is sitting lower than the JL. I think its more than not having the Rubi fenders. I'm not worried though, this is just a mule.

 

[Jeep383-S]

On a side note, what was the camo vehicle? Looks pretty big...

Good question

 

[2020 SCRAMBLER]

Thanks Jeff for the photos. The diesel should be "for the JL" as they've had over 9 months to release the Ecodiesel in the JL. Earlier in 2018 FCA ran into some EPA issues with an "auxiliary control module" on the diesel engine that FCA didn't notify the EPA about. Appears that by April 2018 all was good, but it had to negatively impact the development timeframe for the JL and the JT diesel.

You mentioning the turbo made me do some Ecodiesel research:
https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-tech/engine/an-inside-look-at-the-ram-1500-3-0l-ecodiesel/

 

[FallenSamurai]

Looks like there are some JL parts on that JT.

To me it appears both are the same height.

 

[camodog]

Being that I live in Colorado and will be using this vehicle primarily in the high country, I hope it won’t be a dog going up the interstate passes especially by the tunnel

 

[Vegas_Sirk]

Couple things I noticed in that first photo. (enlarge it to see them better).

1) You can see the JT's rear seats head rests up against the back window. First time I have seen any of the JT rear interior.

2) The red JL looks like it has the removable rear side windows the the power top has, but appears to be a regular hard top. Maybe they are making a (5) piece hard top for the JL?

 

[Vegas_Sirk]

On a side note, what was the camo vehicle? Looks pretty big...

Based on the size and mirrors I'm guessing the 2020 Ram 2500

 

[FrankInNordale]

Does that gap in between the hood and fender look like Gobi on the JT to anyone else?

 

[Jeep383-S]

Does that gap in between the hood and fender look like Gobi on the JT to anyone else?

That’s just camo

 

[Billy]

That swirly camo tells me the cladding is due to come off soon!

 

[jimbo92]

Looks to have alot of JK parts still. Those mirrors and doors appear to be jk. Wonder if the interior is still all JK. These things are nowhere near production

 

[2020 SCRAMBLER]

Good eye re: rear seat near rear window. In prior threads with interior views people said the rear seat looked like a parts bin bench seat... Perhaps this has a prototype rear seat which is likely just a modified JL rear seat.

Not seeing Gobi...I'm seeing either white paint or white swirl camo.

Agree there's a mix of JK and JT on this one. I keep trying to compare that windshield channel frame from JT mule to JL and they look the same.

My completely uneducated armchair QB guess is we are looking at a prototype JT body tub with a prototype JT hardtop. There's no reason at this point to spend the time mocking up a hardtop that only fits to a JK tub.

It's probably riding on a prototype JT chassis, prototype rear JT suspension (we've seen it), and standard JL front suspension.

That has to be a prototype bed as the fender flare clearly overlaps from bed to body tub. And they are doing a lot to cover it up.

And for test mule purposes they've simply tossed in a grab bag mix of JL and JK parts bin parts (i.e., mirrors, wheels, dashboard) to get it on the road and throw off people from nailing the final design elements before launch.

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I think they are further along with the JT design and testing, as well as Diesel engine, than we may have been giving them credit for so far!

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