What did you do WITH your Gladiator today?

[Supazuk]

ordered 35's at the tire shop, lift goes on tomorrow!

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[WILDHOBO]

Yes! Tires are very expensive in that range but the wheels, gearing, axles, and steering components needed to truly run them are expensive too.
I do like the look of 37s for sure. But It would basically be a mall crawl move for me to go to 37s as I don’t do any trails requiring them. I could certainly put a hurt on some curbs with 37s though. Lol

If I didn’t want to do the rubicon, holy cross, and much worse, I’d have gone with 35’s. Way less cost to strengthen everything for 37’s and bigger.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If I didn’t want to do the rubicon, holy cross, and much worse, I’d have gone with 35’s. Way less cost to strengthen everything for 37’s and bigger.

Awe, come on, be honest with us - really, seriously now - you LOVED doing it, you enjoyed the challenge, the fun of the hunt, the fabrication and more.
Tell us the truth now - it was truly a labor of love, right?

 

[WILDHOBO]

Awe, come on, be honest with us - really, seriously now - you LOVED doing it, you enjoyed the challenge, the fun of the hunt, the fabrication and more.
Tell us the truth now - it was truly a labor of love, right?

Absolutely. . But when I started the process and was deciding between 35’s and 37’s, that was the differentiator. 35’s wouldn’t get me through some of the trails I wanted to do. It wasn’t an easy decision at the time, because that for me meant adding a regear and RCVs, which wasn’t cheap.

 

[drewcnit]

I finally got to take it out and play with it.

Coalmont OHV Park for SFWDA's Trailfest 2025

Interesting trail group, the GMC was my tail gunner for the ride.

 

[Anchovypizza]

First time hitting a trail with the Gladiator. Was a very easy one, but enjoyable for a family outing on a Sunday. Looking forward to taking it out on more adventures!

 

[Supazuk]

Left it at home to rest before the 35's go on this afternoon

 

[GlennBeck]

Just bought a JKS JSPEC 3” progressive spring lift kit with Fox 2.5s that will be installed next week. JT lost some height with all the goodies onboard. White knuckle sliders, Quadratec skid set, WARN winch, RSI Smartcap, 35”s on KMC WHEELS, Metalcloak diff skids, etc, etc…. Pics to follow.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Just bought a JKS JSPEC 3” progressive spring lift kit with Fox 2.5s that will be installed next week. JT lost some height with all the goodies onboard. White knuckle sliders, Quadratec skid set, WARN winch, RSI Smartcap, 35”s on KMC WHEELS, Metalcloak diff skids, etc, etc…. Pics to follow.

Just beware of jks control arms. Their bushings fail. Really fast. And they won’t stand behind their product when they do. I have removed every single jks part . They all sucked. If you can swap the vendor, you might consider it. I don’t say this lightly. I have several thousand dollars worth of jks on my garage floor that failed in less than 6 weeks.

 

[GlennBeck]

Just beware of jks control arms. Their bushings fail. Really fast. And they won’t stand behind their product when they do. I have removed every single jks part . They all sucked. If you can swap the vendor, you might consider it. I don’t say this lightly. I have several thousand dollars worth of jks on my garage floor that failed in less than 6 weeks.

Well, my buddy shop is the installer and stand behind their work. Hoping yours isn’t the norm. Ugh!

 

[WILDHOBO]

Well, my buddy shop is the installer and stand behind their work. Hoping yours isn’t the norm. Ugh!

I just sent you a pm. I hate to say it, but I’m not an anomaly. It was a bit ago, but I documented my bad experience relatively well. I just don’t remember in what thread. I’ve got 8 virtually brand new adjustable control arms from them in the garage that I can’t even give away. They’d be fine with someone else’s bushings. Meaning they’re strong structurally. But you don’t want the hassle. Ask @Mightytalldude, @Offroadnewbie, @darksidedesign, and others about my fun time pressing bushings back in during the hole in the rock trail. Those control arms were all of 6 weeks old. I’d have rather been sitting by the fire.

 

[GlennBeck]

I just sent you a pm. I hate to say it, but I’m not an anomaly. It was a bit ago, but I documented my bad experience relatively well. I just don’t remember in what thread. I’ve got 8 virtually brand new adjustable control arms from them in the garage that I can’t even give away. They’d be fine with someone else’s bushings. Meaning they’re strong structurally. But you don’t want the hassle. Ask @Mightytalldude, @Offroadnewbie, @darksidedesign, and others about my fun time pressing bushings back in during the hole in the rock trail. Those control arms were all of 6 weeks old. I’d have rather been sitting by the fire.

I appreciate your concern and respect your opinion since you are intimately familiar with this product and your experiences that have formed your review of JKS. I’ve sat down with my guy and relayed your comments asking more questions about JSPEC and customer concerns, complaints and satisfaction. He’s a small business and has been here for many years and would suffer badly by bad faith if he pushed a product that got bad reviews impacting his shops livelihood. He’s sold many of these kits and swears he hasn’t seen what you have experienced. I trust he will stand behind the things he sells. Fingers and toes crossed.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I appreciate your concern and respect your opinion since you are intimately familiar with this product and your experiences that have formed your review of JKS. I’ve sat down with my guy and relayed your comments asking more questions about JSPEC and customer concerns, complaints and satisfaction. He’s a small business and has been here for many years and would suffer badly by bad faith if he pushed a product that got bad reviews impacting his shops livelihood. He’s sold many of these kits and swears he hasn’t seen what you have experienced. I trust he will stand behind the things he sells. Fingers and toes crossed.

I think they’ll survive lifted daily driving fine. But moderate off-roading with articulation and the bushings will slide out sideways. Then it’s metal on metal.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I appreciate your concern and respect your opinion since you are intimately familiar with this product and your experiences that have formed your review of JKS. I’ve sat down with my guy and relayed your comments asking more questions about JSPEC and customer concerns, complaints and satisfaction. He’s a small business and has been here for many years and would suffer badly by bad faith if he pushed a product that got bad reviews impacting his shops livelihood. He’s sold many of these kits and swears he hasn’t seen what you have experienced. I trust he will stand behind the things he sells. Fingers and toes crossed.

And I’m not just talking about the adjustable arms. The fixed length LCAs had the identical bushing failures. Not just a bad batch. They replaced them once. All 8 failed again in 6 weeks. Then they ghosted me.

 

[Mightytalldude]

And I’m not just talking about the adjustable arms. The fixed length LCAs had the identical bushing failures. Not just a bad batch. They replaced them once. All 8 failed again in 6 weeks. Then they ghosted me.

I believe that was right as you were starting to fix them.

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