Thinking About Buying A Jeep Gladiator

[HopSlammer]

Do not buy one unless you’re cool with having a shit eating grin on ya fatch 24/7/365.

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[Mike-len]

Title says it all.
I’m married, 52 years old with 2 kids ages 21 and 23.
I drive 10 miles round trip to work and my hunting lease is about 15 miles round trip.
I currently have a 2008 Tundra.
Your thoughts?
Is the Gladiator Rubicon the smoothest rides out of the Gladiators? I’m leaning towards that one for the little bit of towing I do.

I’d keep the Tundra so you’ll have a reliable vehicle to drive when the Jeep breaks down or is the shop for weeks or months at a time.

 

[Gvsukids]

I owned 2 of them never had EGR issues and as I discovered early on run the guts out of em and pull with them tow it keeps that EGR burnt out and the map sensor needed a spray off every 20-30k . Had a water pump go out but was easily fixed by dealer at the time .

If that's the case then, I should go back to using my banks throttle monster. because I felt that is what killed my EGR and my cams.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I’d keep the Tundra so you’ll have a reliable vehicle to drive when the Jeep breaks down or is the shop for weeks or months at a time.

Since 2019 we've owned 2 JLs and a JT, all lifted and wheeled hard. Roadtrips all over the country. 160k miles between the 3. 0 days in the shop. The only time we were stuck without 1 was when the 2019 JLUR was stolen. Replaced with the 2022 inside of 2 months. Half the shop horror stories on here are people waiting for dumb shit like a battery replacement or a new sun visor. If you can't so much as change a battery you NEED a backup vehicle...or 2.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Since 2019 we've owned 2 JLs and a JT, all lifted and wheeled hard. Roadtrips all over the country. 160k miles between the 3. 0 days in the shop. The only time we were stuck without 1 was when the 2019 JLUR was stolen. Replaced with the 2022 inside of 2 months. Half the shop horror stories on here are people waiting for dumb shit like a battery replacement or a new sun visor. If you can't so much as change a battery you NEED a backup vehicle...or 2.

Seriously.

 

[Gvsukids]

Half the shop horror stories on here are people waiting for dumb shit like a battery replacement or a new sun visor.

Except the thousands waiting foot cams.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Except the thousands waiting foot cams.

Is it really thousands? I've been told for the last 6 years the sun visor is a ticking time bomb and they all break eventually. The wife has daily driven a Jeep that entire time east in the am and west in the pm. Visor used pretty much every day multiple times... and no failures? Don't do pull ups on it and it's fine. We have 2 3.6Ls in the driveway with ~75k miles between them... and 0 ticks. They get driven hard, which some theorize helps. I'm not saying you're guaranteed to never have problems, but I'm pretty sure Toyota has swapped more engines in new tundras than 3.6s that needed cams. If course anything can fall.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Is it really thousands? I've been told for the last 6 years the sun visor is a ticking time bomb and they all break eventually. The wife has daily driven a Jeep that entire time east in the am and west in the pm. Visor used pretty much every day multiple times... and no failures? Don't do pull ups on it and it's fine. We have 2 3.6Ls in the driveway with ~75k miles between them... and 0 ticks. They get driven hard, which some theorize helps. I'm not saying you're guaranteed to never have problems, but I'm pretty sure Toyota has swapped more engines in new tundras than 3.6s that needed cams. If course anything can fall.

I wonder the same, but who knows. One of my visors did fail, but who cares. Like $20 on Amazon and one fixed, the other reinforced. My engine runs great at over 75k.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I wonder the same, but who knows. One of my visors did fail, but who cares. Like $20 on Amazon and one fixed, the other reinforced. My engine runs great at over 75k.

It's just another example of the information age. Go on any forum for anything and you'll hear all the horror stories. Those will always be the loudest voices. For me personal experience is number 1. We've owned over a dozen Jeeps over the years. Aside from the JLUR that got stolen at 63k miles all of them went past 200k pretty trouble free. But the internet says Jeeps are unreliable? Outside of my own experience I'll put some weight into verifiable, statistically significant, information. But there I'll need real numbers. 1 off failures mean nothing. A few dozen on the forums? Yeah it sucks and I'll keep an eye out (or ear for the tick), but it's certainly not going to make me keep a whole other vehicle in standby just in case. We are fortunate enough to have 2 Jeeps and I drive a company car to work. Even if 1 went down the wife could drive mine. But we don't own them both for that reason. Her JLUR is not only her daily it's our crawler. Full skids, 39s, much better breakover and departure than the JT, and more maneuverable. My JT is used for truck duties, towing, hauling, etc and it's our desert rig. 37s, mojave shocks and bump stops, metalcloak 3.5" springs, rock crawler triangulated 4 link, front geometry correction brackets. No upgraded skids because it doesn't need them. I've had it a foot in the air at 100mph. But they're unreliable right? I literally bet my life on the things.

 

[Stan H]

It's just another example of the information age. Go on any forum for anything and you'll hear all the horror stories. Those will always be the loudest voices. For me personal experience is number 1. We've owned over a dozen Jeeps over the years. Aside from the JLUR that got stolen at 63k miles all of them went past 200k pretty trouble free. But the internet says Jeeps are unreliable? Outside of my own experience I'll put some weight into verifiable, statistically significant, information. But there I'll need real numbers. 1 off failures mean nothing. A few dozen on the forums? Yeah it sucks and I'll keep an eye out (or ear for the tick), but it's certainly not going to make me keep a whole other vehicle in standby just in case. We are fortunate enough to have 2 Jeeps and I drive a company car to work. Even if 1 went down the wife could drive mine. But we don't own them both for that reason. Her JLUR is not only her daily it's our crawler. Full skids, 39s, much better breakover and departure than the JT, and more maneuverable. My JT is used for truck duties, towing, hauling, etc and it's our desert rig. 37s, mojave shocks and bump stops, metalcloak 3.5" springs, rock crawler triangulated 4 link, front geometry correction brackets. No upgraded skids because it doesn't need them. I've had it a foot in the air at 100mph. But they're unreliable right? I literally bet my life on the things.

Aside from my transmission woes which I trust will soon be corrected. I have 129474k in mine and still cranking out every day. I love my Jeep and if there is one thing I think will take me there and back its this Jeep.

 

[Bigcatfish]

Title says it all.
I’m married, 52 years old with 2 kids ages 21 and 23.
I drive 10 miles round trip to work and my hunting lease is about 15 miles round trip.
I currently have a 2008 Tundra.
Your thoughts?
Is the Gladiator Rubicon the smoothest rides out of the Gladiators? I’m leaning towards that one for the little bit of towing I do.

I’m at the point in my life where I do not have little kids, I do not drive long distances and I think I would enjoy it. Might have grandchildren in a few years but not now. I live in south Louisiana so I do not know how much time I will have with doors or roof off. One question, what happens if it rains with the doors or roof off? Are the electronics equipped for that?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I’d keep the Tundra so you’ll have a reliable vehicle to drive when the Jeep breaks down or is the shop for weeks or months at a time.

I have Jeeps for when other stuff breaks.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I’m at the point in my life where I do not have little kids, I do not drive long distances and I think I would enjoy it. Might have grandchildren in a few years but not now. I live in south Louisiana so I do not know how much time I will have with doors or roof off. One question, what happens if it rains with the doors or roof off? Are the electronics equipped for that?

Rain isn't an issue unless YOU would melt. The Jeep is ok in rain.

 

[WILDHOBO]

It's just another example of the information age. Go on any forum for anything and you'll hear all the horror stories. Those will always be the loudest voices. For me personal experience is number 1. We've owned over a dozen Jeeps over the years. Aside from the JLUR that got stolen at 63k miles all of them went past 200k pretty trouble free. But the internet says Jeeps are unreliable? Outside of my own experience I'll put some weight into verifiable, statistically significant, information. But there I'll need real numbers. 1 off failures mean nothing. A few dozen on the forums? Yeah it sucks and I'll keep an eye out (or ear for the tick), but it's certainly not going to make me keep a whole other vehicle in standby just in case. We are fortunate enough to have 2 Jeeps and I drive a company car to work. Even if 1 went down the wife could drive mine. But we don't own them both for that reason. Her JLUR is not only her daily it's our crawler. Full skids, 39s, much better breakover and departure than the JT, and more maneuverable. My JT is used for truck duties, towing, hauling, etc and it's our desert rig. 37s, mojave shocks and bump stops, metalcloak 3.5" springs, rock crawler triangulated 4 link, front geometry correction brackets. No upgraded skids because it doesn't need them. I've had it a foot in the air at 100mph. But they're unreliable right? I literally bet my life on the things.

I couldn’t agree more. Maybe they work so well because we maintain them like a member of the family. If something even smells off, I replace that part with a better one. Because as you said, I want it to depend on it.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I’m at the point in my life where I do not have little kids, I do not drive long distances and I think I would enjoy it. Might have grandchildren in a few years but not now. I live in south Louisiana so I do not know how much time I will have with doors or roof off. One question, what happens if it rains with the doors or roof off? Are the electronics equipped for that?

You’ll have a blast. And it’s not a house in Tuscany. If you surprisingly don’t like it as much as you thought you would. Sell it. Just a car. But I doubt that will happen.

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