Things I don’t like about my new Gladiator

[Elwood Hydro Blues]

I love my JTM, can't say anything bad ... not yet. I do miss the tighter turning circle of the JKU and JLU I had, but I knew that when I did the flip. Gladiators are awesome.

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[j.o.y.ride]

Im sure that I’m not the only person who dislikes a few things about my new Gladiator and heres my list so far. Overall I’m really liking it but there are things I wish were different about it, how about you?

#1. Its flighty at 55 mph and up. Much more so than my JKUR on 35’s. I dropped psi to 35 then 32 but its still the same, just drifts alot and requires constant focus to keep in the lane. New 35” Goodyear Duratracs on AEV wheels made no difference either.

Test drive the vehicles you are going purchase on the highway for some distance.

#2. No tow mode or brake controller from the factory. Im sorry but both of these should be standard for a 60k truck that claims best in class towing. Tow mode really helps in my other vehicles when going downhill to keep from riding the brakes.

Research the vehicle you are going purchase.

#3. Spongy ride. Overall it rides good, but its spongy in a way I cannot explain other than its what I would expect it to feel like if the frame were flexing although Im sure its not the case. I’m hoping an aftermarket 2.5” lift will help this but I also know it might just take some getting used to.

Test drive the vehicles you are going purchase.

#4. No switch in the bed for the bed lights. Its annoying to have to go to the cab to turn them on when needed.

Research the vehicle you are going purchase.

#5. Manual sliding back glass. This should be standard at this trim level, I could see it being manual in a sport but at 60k entry fee it sucks to have to lay the seat back to reach the back glass. And I’m 6’5”, you shorties will have to get out to open/close it.

Research the vehicle you are going purchase.

#6. Side mirrors could stand to be a bit bigger, the visibility is not optimal but they are ok. Towing with them pretty much sucks.

Test drive the vehicles you are going purchase.

#7. The 8.4 radio is glitchy. It has shut down and rebooted itself 3x in 500 miles. It will be going in for service next time it happens.

That is unfortunate, have dealer look at it.

#8. I wish cooled seats were an option as I sit here in the carpool lane to pick up kids with the freedom panels and doors off. Leather feels like vinyl when you’re stuck to it. I absolutely love them in my F150 and prefer to use them with the windows down vs having the AC on.

Research the vehicle you are going purchase.

Thats it, for now at least..

Can't wait. Everything you listed other than glitchy radio is something you should have test driven or researched.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Very odd because if I hit the brakes just right when going down a good hill, it will downshift and apply engine braking to some extent.
Otherwise, smack the shifter to the left, and push it forward. There ya go - instead fake stick to give you engine braking.
(hmmm, looks like that all circles b ack to "Research the vehicle you are going to purchase".

I just towed a big car on a trailer through the up and down hills around here and never felt the truck was a "Spongy ride". Actually it behaved quite well, I felt the wake of all of the semis all around me but that's typical of any high, flat-sided vehicle.

 

[kb5zcr]

I don't like these sway bar links. How does this even work?

What the heck, someone left a ratchet under there, and it stayed put?

 

[legacy_etu]

Not much to complain about yet. Ido wish the transmission shifter was tilted a bit towards the driver. It feels ike it is pointing at the passenger seat. Not a big deal though in the grand scheme of things. Also, auto up windows (at least in front) would be appreciated, again not a huge deal.

 

[ATL_Rubi]

Very odd because if I hit the brakes just right when going down a good hill, it will downshift and apply engine braking to some extent.
Otherwise, smack the shifter to the left, and push it forward. There ya go - instead fake stick to give you engine braking.
(hmmm, looks like that all circles b ack to "Research the vehicle you are going to purchase".

I just towed a big car on a trailer through the up and down hills around here and never felt the truck was a "Spongy ride". Actually it behaved quite well, I felt the wake of all of the semis all around me but that's typical of any high, flat-sided vehicle.

Learned something new about the manual mode the other day. If you hold it in the downshift position, it'll downshift for as many gears as it can without you giving it more input. It's nice on hills to just tap it over to manual, hold the lever to the downshift position, and it let go down instead of having to "click" each downshift I want. Lamborghini's also have this feature on their paddles. Fun fact of the day for ya.

 

[BearFootSam]

Very odd because if I hit the brakes just right when going down a good hill, it will downshift and apply engine braking to some extent.
Otherwise, smack the shifter to the left, and push it forward. There ya go - instead fake stick to give you engine braking.
(hmmm, looks like that all circles b ack to "Research the vehicle you are going to purchase".

I just towed a big car on a trailer through the up and down hills around here and never felt the truck was a "Spongy ride". Actually it behaved quite well, I felt the wake of all of the semis all around me but that's typical of any high, flat-sided vehicle.

There has to be a 'smart' hill descent program in the transmission. Going over a bunch of passes I have observed that if I coast off the crest of the pass the truck will take on as much speed as gravity and air resistance permit, whereas if I hold the brakes at say 55mph and the truck downshifts to 4/5, when I release the brake, the tranny holds the gear and I have and provides pretty decent engine braking.

The engine mapping seems to change as well in conjunction with the transmission 'shift hold'. I was quite pleasantly surprised when I first noticed it and it is quite discernable if you pay attention.

Ultimately if it is a steep enough grade or I am heavily loaded it's best I bump over to manual mode and manage it that way. Compared to other automatics I've driven the jeep configuration is a big improvement and doesn't want to 'run away' down the hill as much in turn saving your brakes from fighting the powertrain and overheating. Again, manual mode is the safest bet and I strongly advocate folks use it in the mountains, but the powertrain programming/design is excellent.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Learned something new about the manual mode the other day. If you hold it in the downshift position, it'll downshift for as many gears as it can without you giving it more input. It's nice on hills to just tap it over to manual, hold the lever to the downshift position, and it let go down instead of having to "click" each downshift I want. Lamborghini's also have this feature on their paddles. Fun fact of the day for ya.

Yup. Tap forward and release for a single gear change, push forward and hold for multiples.
It's sort of like cruise control - press the button once for a single mph change, hold it a bit longer for multiples of 5 in that case.

There has to be a 'smart' hill descent program in the transmission. Going over a bunch of passes I have observed that if I coast off the crest of the pass the truck will take on as much speed as gravity and air resistance permit, whereas if I hold the brakes at say 55mph and the truck downshifts to 4/5, when I release the brake, the tranny holds the gear and I have and provides pretty decent engine braking.

The engine mapping seems to change as well in conjunction with the transmission 'shift hold'. I was quite pleasantly surprised when I first noticed it and it is quite discernable if you pay attention.

Ultimately if it is a steep enough grade or I am heavily loaded it's best I bump over to manual mode and manage it that way. Compared to other automatics I've driven the jeep configuration is a big improvement and doesn't want to 'run away' down the hill as much in turn saving your brakes from fighting the powertrain and overheating. Again, manual mode is the safest bet and I strongly advocate folks use it in the mountains, but the powertrain programming/design is excellent.

Once I learned it (that that was really quickly on the hilly, winding roads), I thought it pretty cool and now know just how to hit the brake pedal to get it to activate. No more picking up speeds on the downhill side of things.
All prior automatics, even with the converter locked up, they'd gain speed on the downhill side of things.

 

[Jaybre007]

I had read that the computer will adjust for a trailer when one is plugged in. This takes away the need to a tow/haul button.

It actually does. I tow with mine often and found that after I tried to manually shift mine with the autoshift to keep the rpm's down and thinking I was saving the motor from shifting at high rpm's was a big mistake. It was a thread on here somewhere about towing and basically the transmission has a smart computer that senses when the 7 way plug is engaged and will adjust itself accordingly. Also, the Jeep learns the trailer and takes about 15-20 minutes of what seems like a lot of high rpm's but it adjust itself and shift smoothly. The higher rpm's actually help cool the engine from what one engineer said. The Jeep does senses the load and does assist in downshifting. I tow around 5k pounds and no issues. I get varied mpg's but the best is around 16 and worst around 11. Not bad for towing a brick not to include the Jeep being a brick.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It actually does. I tow with mine often and found that after I tried to manually shift mine with the autoshift to keep the rpm's down and thinking I was saving the motor from shifting at high rpm's was a big mistake. It was a thread on here somewhere about towing and basically the transmission has a smart computer that senses when the 7 way plug is engaged and will adjust itself accordingly. Also, the Jeep learns the trailer and takes about 15-20 minutes of what seems like a lot of high rpm's but it adjust itself and shift smoothly. The higher rpm's actually help cool the engine from what one engineer said. The Jeep does senses the load and does assist in downshifting. I tow around 5k pounds and no issues. I get varied mpg's but the best is around 16 and worst around 11. Not bad for towing a brick not to include the Jeep being a brick.

If you have an app like JSCAN, you can actually see it calculate the gas pedal position and the engine torque at that time.

Heat rejection............. if your RPM is low for moving the same load at the same rate of speed, there's more heat than it you move that load at that speed at a higher RPM. Engine load.

I towed roughly 5,000 pounds this weekend and got 12 going over (was sort of surprised it was that low, really) and got 14.1 coming back.
Last time my average was 13.9 so my trip back this time was a close match to that.

 

[Gizmo]

Hate having nice loaded interior and end up with a Base instrument cluster...... It should be mentioned when you add the 8.4 radio and other bells and whistles you just deleted the better instrument cluster

 

[Gvsukids]

Hate having nice loaded interior and end up with a Base instrument cluster...... It should be mentioned when you add the 8.4 radio and other bells and whistles you just deleted the better instrument cluster

You have to have the technology package for the digital dash between the gauges.

 

[Gizmo]

if you add the technology pkg and go on to add the 8.4 from what I have read on this forum that cancels out the dash and in the end you have to add it again. Why ...you added it once already . It should be brought to the persons attention that this happend so you dont get educated on it when you take delivery

 

[ATL_Rubi]

Yup. Tap forward and release for a single gear change, push forward and hold for multiples.
It's sort of like cruise control - press the button once for a single mph change, hold it a bit longer for multiples of 5 in that case.



Once I learned it (that that was really quickly on the hilly, winding roads), I thought it pretty cool and now know just how to hit the brake pedal to get it to activate. No more picking up speeds on the downhill side of things.
All prior automatics, even with the converter locked up, they'd gain speed on the downhill side of things.

Yep! Didnt realize it could do it until just being lazy going into a corner and the force held my arm in place and it kicked down an additional gear. It's a nice feature.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

if you add the technology pkg and go on to add the 8.4 from what I have read on this forum that cancels out the dash and in the end you have to add it again. Why ...you added it once already . It should be brought to the persons attention that this happend so you dont get educated on it when you take delivery

Ya got me confused on that one......... are you talking "when you add" as in when you ORDER it, or "when you add" meaning you later add the 8.4 physically yourself?

How did you "add" - via online stuff, or through a dealer?

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