Would Jeep ever off a 3/4 Ton Gladiator?

[ScottBeach]

@BlackRuby23. The value would be load for overlanding. Heck if I put 4 men (including me) in my mojave I am over the load limit. Payload to have 4.people. some gear, a tent. Food, etc doesn't seem crazy but one a few trims it.cant be done. I also don't care much about towing. I just would like enough capacity to use the truck a bit more that current ratings allow.

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[BlackRuby23]

@BlackRuby23. The value would be load for overlanding. Heck if I put 4 men (including me) in my mojave I am over the load limit. Payload to have 4.people. some gear, a tent. Food, etc doesn't seem crazy but one a few trims it.cant be done. I also don't care much about towing. I just would like enough capacity to use the truck a bit more that current ratings allow.

Overlanding to me is living out of a vehicle while camping and traveling, taking the off-road route as much as possible. I cannot imagine doing that with 4 people in one vehicle, let alone a Gladiator. That's a HARD PASS from me.

Insofar as the payload goes, you can beef up your suspension to fix that, within reason. My gf and I total about 300 lbs in body weight. She's about 115 and I'm the rest. That leaves us 900 lbs for gear and stuff. It's plenty.

 

[Gvsukids]

My gf and I total about 300 lbs in body weight. She's about 115 and I'm the rest. That leaves us 900 lbs for gear and stuff.

Could've let us guess her weight from your total.

 

[ScottBeach]

My weight is 191 now. Son in law is about the same. 2 grand kids are about 110 each today but will be near my weight in next 4 years. Mojave load weight is just 915 lbs. A day of fishing can be iffy after I already added 80 lbs for the winch.

 

[El-Jefes-Gray-Ghost]

Never. With Ram bringing back the 5.7 hemi and a midsize truck”Dakota?”, which will share the JT frame, that’s where the next capable truck will emerge if you don’t want full size.

 

[Rusty PW]

An angle grinder will take care of that in no time.

Sawzall.

 

[MudderNuker]

Sawzall.

Probably faster.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

As you move into 2500/3500/4500/5500 series trucks, the off-road prowess and comfort gets worse and worse. When you are adding GVWR, you are adding stiffness to the suspension, and weight to the overall vehicle. This is moving in the exact opposite direction of off-road utility/capability.

Exactly! Back in 1999 we bought a Ford F450 Super Duty to haul our fifth wheel. We went with the F450 over the F350 because of the heavier frame, dirvetrain, larger brakes, etc. With a minimal utility body it tipped the scales at 8750 lbs before putting ANYTHING in the bed! The F350s at that time were sitting at about 7500 lbs empty. Using it as a daily driver it rode pretty stiff unless I threw about 2000 lbs of ballast in the bed.

 

[montechie]

An angle grinder will take care of that in no time.

An ex-inlaw had a V8 swapped Chevy Luv with a removable hardtop, he chopped it off and added seals, buckles etc so it could be added/removed. The lid actually looked pretty clean. When there's a saw there's a way.

 

[40x40]

Sawzall.

nah, a low bridge and a high rate of speed.

 

[Sweetums]

The main issue with the Gladiator platform is the packaging limitations associated with sharing the front sheet metal from the JL Wrangler.

The team responsible for the JL/JT cooling package was able to get clearance to extend and raise the hood which helped but there still just isn't enough airflow allowable with the current design language. Without this constraint, the current Gladiator would be able to tow more as is even with the current payload capacity available. This is why you see the 3.0L diesel, a more power dense engine, being limited to just 6,500lbs while the 3.6L is able to run at a maximum of 7700lbs.

If only Jeep had some other heritage to draw from aside from the MB/CJ vehicles.

Alas, we will never know since Jeep has only ever made MB/CJ type vehicles and their derivatives. Nope, nothing at all in the history of the company to tap for inspiration.

It's not like they made a compact tough truck for military use that's about the same size as a present-day Gladiator with a backbone so tough it was called the Five-Quarter-Ton.

Too bad nothing like that exists for inspiration...

 

[BlackRuby23]

It's not like they made a compact tough truck for military use that's about the same size as a present-day Gladiator with a backbone so tough it was called the Five-Quarter-Ton.

That M-175 looks cool (not as cool as the current Gladiator, IMO), but it's a pile of shit. And it rides like an old hay wagon.

Let's pretend for a minute that Stellantis has decided to go that route and produce a retro style M-175 but for civilian use. The first thing they would do is completely abandon the suspension system in favor of something that people would actually buy that didn't break their ribs over railroad tracks. Guess what? You've just lost payload. You're not a 5/4 ton anymore.

Go ride in a brand new Ram 3500, then ask yourself if that's what you want your off-road Jeep Gladiator to ride like. The answer for most people would be f*** no. There is no such thing as having your cake and eating it, too. The current Jeep Gladiator is about as perfect an off-road truck as has ever been domestically produced.

 

[GROGG]

As a pickup. With some overlanding focus. Could Jeep offer a heavy duty Gladiator?

Not a full size truck. A midsized truck with a slightly beefier frame/ axles to support a lot more load. So a camper and gear and people could be in the truck legally.

HD Gladiator with dana 60/80 axles. A high tq v8. And a 3000 lbs load rating i think would be a seller

I dont think trailering would help a lot but maybe get to 9500 lbs so a full sized travel.trailer or a car hauler could be pulled easy

Also would avoid cafe fuel targets.

They might and should! I bought a Jeep J-20 Gladiator new in 1980. Made by American Motors then. Loved it but 2 things. The body rusted apart real fast and the engine and transmission were a mixup of many different North American auto manufacturers parts. Transmission was a Chrysler, engineblock was Dodge, carb was Ford ect. ect.

 

[biodiesel]

Go ride in a brand new Ram 3500, then ask yourself if that's what you want your off-road Jeep Gladiator to ride like. The answer for most people would be f*** no. There is no such thing as having your cake and eating it, too. The current Jeep Gladiator is about as perfect an off-road truck as has ever been domestically produced.

The Gladiator in its current form is perfect as a midsize truck. I think some of us would also like to own a larger and more capable Jeep truck (maybe Nissan Titan/Toyota Tundra size?). It would have good towing and payload capacity without sacrificing too much off-road capability. Yes, we could buy a Ram Power Wagon, Ram Rebel, or Ram RHO, but some of us want more of a utilitarian equivalent with Jeep styling.

If done correctly, I think Jeep could differentiate itself enough from Ram that they wouldn't directly compete against each other.

This was jeep's concept in 2019:

 

[BearFootSam]

The main issue with the Gladiator platform is the packaging limitations associated with sharing the front sheet metal from the JL Wrangler.

The team responsible for the JL/JT cooling package was able to get clearance to extend and raise the hood which helped but there still just isn't enough airflow allowable with the current design language. Without this constraint, the current Gladiator would be able to tow more as is even with the current payload capacity available. This is why you see the 3.0L diesel, a more power dense engine, being limited to just 6,500lbs while the 3.6L is able to run at a maximum of 7700lbs.

If only @JeepCares would upsize the front and by 30% and lean towards the old wagoneer and pickup front ends.

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