Trying to change my ride to a Gladiator, but................

[Teqsand]

I think the itch you are referring to requires penicillin...

For the enthusiast, Jeeps don't itch... they burrow deep under the skin and infect every fiber of your being, like that fungus that zombifies ants...

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[Caraholic]

There is only 1 question to ask yourself that will make the decision for you.

Do you want to take your roof and doors off and feel the wind in your hair?

If YES buy a gladiator. If NO keep or buy another Ram

What if he’s bald?

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

For example, I recently picked up some 4x8 plywood sheets (Hurricane Ian), and even though Jeep advertised that the tailgate cables are supposed to make the tailgate serve as a level surface for you to set sheets of plywood over the wheel wells, they didn't fit! I don't know if it was the bedliner, or the plywood being slightly larger than 4", or something else. But they had to sit angled in the back while also sticking up and out the back. Obviously there were no issues moving once I got them in there, but I expected a lot less resistance to plywood sheets seeing as it was a big marketing talking point Jeep brought up a lot.

Those stupid cables.

Jeep marketing peep - “How can we attempt to distract folks from the fact that the bed is marginally useful/borderline useless.”

Jeep engineer - “ I’ve got an idea. Stay with me.. Let’s put a couple cables in the bed so folks can prop up their tailgate all half-assed like to carry a few sheets of plywood.”

My take on it…if a JT is going to be an only vehicle for a household and someone is planning on hauling stuff (I.e. Building materials, mulch, etc.), a utility trailer is pretty much a necessity.

 

[bd100]

The JT can be had with two big shifters. The new Ram has a dial and some buttons?

And I want to teach my kid stick in a few years. Done.

 

[Gvsukids]

Jeep engineer - “ I’ve got an idea. Stay with me.. Let’s put a couple cables in the bed so folks can prop up their tailgate all half-assed like to carry a few sheets of plywood.”

More like 500 pounds of plywood.

 

[Green_Gladiator]

Well feel free to bring yours down to Ocala National Forest and tell me how it goes. My wife's 2-door barely makes it through some of the turns there.

I go quite often .. My JT and my buddies TRD pro we have no mercy out there and never stuck ... I have been on trails that are extra tight. However those are for ATV,s and dirt bikes and labeled as such. I also made that mistake before I was aware and was in an area I knew should not have been when the atv riders looking at me like I'm nuts lmao!!! Perhaps you took a wrong trail? ....

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

More like 500 pounds of plywood.

Yeah…having seen stuff literally fly out of truck beds because folks did a “hold my beer and watch this” level of effort for securing their payload, there’s not an amount of money that you could pay me to transport plywood like that.

Drop plywood in utility trailer and go > That silly shit.

 

[Matts4313]

Multiple F150's, and a 2021 Dodge Ram, were before the Gladiator. I will never go back to a truck that doesnt have removable doors/top again. Its a game changer. The Ram is basically a big luxury car with a bed. The Jeep is something... different. I dunno, it hits the ol' testosterone a lil different than other vehicles.

 

[cafecito]

Those stupid cables.

Jeep marketing peep - “How can we attempt to distract folks from the fact that the bed is marginally useful/borderline useless.”

Jeep engineer - “ I’ve got an idea. Stay with me.. Let’s put a couple cables in the bed so folks can prop up their tailgate all half-assed like to carry a few sheets of plywood.”

My take on it…if a JT is going to be an only vehicle for a household and someone is planning on hauling stuff (I.e. Building materials, mulch, etc.), a utility trailer is pretty much a necessity.

Yea, I'm kinda leaning that way as well. My wife and I have talked a few times about trading the JT in, and the rationalization we come to is that her JL can easily pull a small trailer in the event that we really NEED something the size of a truck.

Short of the plywood itself, everything else that I've "hauled" in my JT could fit in the trunk of a car, or in the JL (with the useless rear seats removed, obviously).

 

[Gvsukids]

Yea, I'm kinda leaning that way as well. My wife and I have talked a few times about trading the JT in, and the rationalization we come to is that her JL can easily pull a small trailer in the event that we really NEED something the size of a truck.

Short of the plywood itself, everything else that I've "hauled" in my JT could fit in the trunk of a car, or in the JL (with the useless rear seats removed, obviously).

The JT isn't for everybody. We use it to tow more than what a Wrangler can. We also use our Gladiator for the bed.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Those stupid cables.

Jeep marketing peep - “How can we attempt to distract folks from the fact that the bed is marginally useful/borderline useless.”

Jeep engineer - “ I’ve got an idea. Stay with me.. Let’s put a couple cables in the bed so folks can prop up their tailgate all half-assed like to carry a few sheets of plywood.”

My take on it…if a JT is going to be an only vehicle for a household and someone is planning on hauling stuff (I.e. Building materials, mulch, etc.), a utility trailer is pretty much a necessity.

Sorry, I just don't see where the issue is.........

This is after taking two of the rolls out of the truck -

Pole is an easy 12+ feet - and I loaded more iron in after taking this shot...

I've hauled plywood several times. I guess I don't see the problem or issue. It slides in without effort. Easy.

Over 1,000 pounds of block this load, more than that the next load -

110 year old gas engines can be hauled with ease - clear over to Fort Wayne - load that up in an SUV. Roughly 400 pounds. Maybe 450.

If you want a big truck then bloody well buy a big truck.
But don't gripe and complain about what a pissy-poor truck the JT is when everyone knew going into it what size the bed was.

There's zero issues hauling 4x8 sheet goods. I've hauled plywood with my JTs at least 3 times and never had a single issue loading, unloading, or driving with it in there. There are so many examples of JT owners hauling plywood and other stuff with great ease. It's really zero issue.

Maybe it's a non-issue for me because as a former farmer, I know how to load things creatively and do without when necessary.
There's been three times I've used my car hauler to haul stuff instead of in the bed of this truck, and the third time, the company said "bring a trailer, it won't fit in a truck" and they'd never even seen my truck. The first time was for very long, very FRAGILE, very rare AMC dealership signs that were 12' long and absolutely had to lay totally flat. (the second time was for safety - 14' 2x8s and other long big stuff it was just easier to use my car hauler)

My utility trailer has sat so long it's full of leaves and debris. I need to clean it out. It's been unused for almost a year now - last time it was used was to help a neighbor by loading up a bunch of ash logs from a tree he cut down until another guy could come and get them. He needed the logs off his yard, so I took the trailer over there and loaded it up and moved it to my place where it could sit for a couple of weeks.

 

[cafecito]

Sorry, I just don't see where the issue is.........

On one of the few occasions that I used the bed of mine, those cables proved to not be all that reliable.

My wife and I had loaded up a few long boxes from Ikea, and we put the tailgate propped up with the cables. We ratchet strapped the entire load to both of the tie down points in the front and back of the bed. It was as tight as we could get it without risking breaking whatever cheap composite shit Ikea makes their furniture out of.

On the way home, a car behind me starts honking like crazy and motioning for me to pull over. Apparently one little bump in the road was enough to dislodge both of the cables. The tailgate was all the way down, and the furniture boxes were a few inches from spilling out onto the road.

Did I fuck up somewhere? Possibly, but I have no idea what I should have done differently. I'll be damned if I ever use those cables again though.

(Again, this is my experience. I know you love your truck, and that's awesome.)

 

[Matts4313]

I dont get the gripe? I have used the JT several times to move stuff I would never want to put in the "trunk of a car" or where my "useless back seats" are. Just yesterday I had a 100 gallon cooler, a tool box, a bunch of other boxes of stuff and a butt in every seat. You cant do that in Wrangler. You could do it in a normal truck, but you cant do it without the doors and top off, which is how I drive 95% of the time.

 

[Dryfly24]

Yea, I'm kinda leaning that way as well. My wife and I have talked a few times about trading the JT in, and the rationalization we come to is that her JL can easily pull a small trailer in the event that we really NEED something the size of a truck.

Short of the plywood itself, everything else that I've "hauled" in my JT could fit in the trunk of a car, or in the JL (with the useless rear seats removed, obviously).

I don’t know what kind of car you have man, but I’m not aware of any with a trunk big enough to haul the crap I’ve hauled in my JT.

So far I’ve hauled dishwashers, a fridge, a recliner, enough pavers and cement block to build my wife’s pizza oven - not to mention the firewood she need for it afterward, all manner of assorted camping gear for long trips, and a bunch of other similar crap I can’t even remember right now.

I’m not pointing a finger at you with this. This is a general observation I’ve made on multiple forums dealing with multiple items. I think people are weird and just seem to think they need to justify whatever purchases they‘re currently wanting to make by minimizing or demonizing whatever purchases they’ve made before in favor of the new one they want to make. Goes for cars, trucks, guns, you name it. It’s human nature.

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

Sorry, I just don't see where the issue is.........

This is after taking two of the rolls out of the truck -

Pole is an easy 12+ feet - and I loaded more iron in after taking this shot...

I've hauled plywood several times. I guess I don't see the problem or issue. It slides in without effort. Easy.

Over 1,000 pounds of block this load, more than that the next load -

110 year old gas engines can be hauled with ease - clear over to Fort Wayne - load that up in an SUV. Roughly 400 pounds. Maybe 450.

If you want a big truck then bloody well buy a big truck.
But don't gripe and complain about what a pissy-poor truck the JT is when everyone knew going into it what size the bed was.

There's zero issues hauling 4x8 sheet goods. I've hauled plywood with my JTs at least 3 times and never had a single issue loading, unloading, or driving with it in there. There are so many examples of JT owners hauling plywood and other stuff with great ease. It's really zero issue.

Maybe it's a non-issue for me because as a former farmer, I know how to load things creatively and do without when necessary.
There's been three times I've used my car hauler to haul stuff instead of in the bed of this truck, and the third time, the company said "bring a trailer, it won't fit in a truck" and they'd never even seen my truck. The first time was for very long, very FRAGILE, very rare AMC dealership signs that were 12' long and absolutely had to lay totally flat. (the second time was for safety - 14' 2x8s and other long big stuff it was just easier to use my car hauler)

My utility trailer has sat so long it's full of leaves and debris. I need to clean it out. It's been unused for almost a year now - last time it was used was to help a neighbor by loading up a bunch of ash logs from a tree he cut down until another guy could come and get them. He needed the logs off his yard, so I took the trailer over there and loaded it up and moved it to my place where it could sit for a couple of weeks.

Well…I’d start with the stuff hanging 6’+ out of the bed, but you do you.

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