A Jeep Gladiator as a TV for a TaB400...

Denny16

Why did I choose a Jeep Gladiator to tow our TaB400? Was a question asked by @Skadi on Dreaming of New Models... discussion and in response to what Doug posted there about the Jeep Gladiator’s reliability, or lack thereof.

To start Skadi, some background, I have wanted a Jeep Truck for many years, and when they were in production in the late 20th century, was not a practical option for me at the time.  I really liked the look of the original 1950s Jeep truck, but was driving my grandfather’s Studi Sky Light Coupe, a very classic car, and did not need to tow anything.  My brother and I had a CJ2A for off road driving and used his 1952 Chevy truck for towing it and my Kenskill Vacation Mobil Home trailer.  My daily driver was a Ford Maverick, and later a Saab Sonnet sports car.  

When I retired and moved back to NorCal, I needed a truck, and got a Nissan Frontier PU, which suited my needs working in boats, and towing a small rowboat around the Bay Area.  It got good mileage, but was limited in cargo capacity and towing capacity, but suited my needs at the time.  When I moved further north to the Lost Coast  (north of San Francisco), as far as Highway 1 went before going back inland to 101, I found I needed a bigger and more comfortable truck, as I was still driving back to SF area to finish several boat projects there, and needed to haul my tools and a larger 21-foot sail boat.  

So I went looking for that Jeep Truck, only to find they were no longer made, the Comanche (last Jeep mid size truck made 1986-1992) and discovered it had been replaced by the Dodge Dakota after Chrysler consolidated its tuck lines under the Ram Division.  So a slightly used (500 miles on the odometer) Dodge Dakota it was, with max tow, and a posi-tract rear end instead of 4WD.  The Dakota had the V6 (which was an earlier design tthe new V6 Penstar being used today by Doge and Jeep), auto trans for max towing, which was 5500/550 lbs rated.  It had the extended Club Cab, and 6.5-foot bed, so was on the same long frame as the quad cab version.  The Dakota came in a 4WD version and was basically the Jeep Comanche with a Dodge body on it.  I got 18-20 mpg on the highway (freeways) ND 12-14 mpg driving around the coast, and 10-12mpg when towing a load about the same size as the TaB 400.

After driving it for almost 20 years, it was reliable, never broke down in the road, had minor issues, which were easy to correct, until a 900K miles it started leaking oil out the top of the engine block.  Then the Jeep Gladiator pick up truck was finally released after 10-years of possible prototypes being shown every Easter by Jeep, but none ever made it into production, until late last year when the Gladiator was released.  I leaned what I did not like about my Dakota, only 4-speed tranny, with the max tow low gear rear end gave me lower gas mileage than the standard 4.10 rear end would have.

So, it was time to trade in the Dakota, and I got a Jeep Gladiator Sport S, which is an upgraded from the Dakota.  The quad cab was lager, and more comfortable than the Dakota, wind noise whilst driving is about the same (I got the hard top version with removable front Freedom panels, Imtotmthe factor tow package, but not the Max Tow low rear end, and position-tract rear end, 4WD (manual transfer case) and 8-speed auto tranny.  

To me the Gladiator is a step up from the Dakota because:
   * It is more comfortable (Dakota was good Jeep better).  Gone is the noisy, windy jeep ride from my youth, allowing the Gladiator to be a practical vehicle to drive daily.  I can shift the tranny like a manual or go with full auto, much smoother shifting over the Dakota.  

  * It has 6500/650 tow capacity, up by 150lbs over the Dakota, a better tranny, and drives better, adding 4WD for my planned trips up into the Lost Coast area and old lost logging sites from the 19th century where roads are few and not maintained (4WD is required to go up into this area).
  * I get 22-24mpg driving on the highway/freeway, 16-18mpg driving around the slower coast roads where I live, so mileage is better than the Dakota.  Towing the TaB400 up to Clear Lake and back last week, I got 17.5 mpg average going east to Clear Lake, and 16.5 average coming back home to the coast.

I did not want a big full size truck, the Dakota was now out of production, and the Gladiator is the only midi size truck offering from Chrysler.  The Chevy Colorado is nice, but no Chevy dealers close by, and not a fan of Diesel engines, all the ones I drove (I used to drive 5.5 ton trucks, and had a class B commercial license), they are louder than a comparable gas engine, but do have more torque for heavy loads.  I like the narrowish look of the Jeep truck, at a little more than 6-feet with a 64-inch track, but it has a nice long wheelbase at 137-inches, a couple of inches longer than my Dakota, so it rides nicely, and tows quite well controlled.  I also like the very keep like look, close to my favorite 1950s Jeep Truck:

Cheers

Denny16

Doug, first off, the Gladiator has not been out long enough (1-year) to access its reliability.  Overall, any truck is going to be overall, good performance, compared Overall, any truck is going to be overall, good performance, compared to a non truck vehicle, including reliability.  Jeeps are just as reliable as most vehicles, I have a 70 + year old 1948 jeep itting in my yard, that still saw active use 50 years after being built.  

The front end of the Gladiator is a beefed up version (next size larger Dana axle) of the Jeep Wrangler JL, same V6 Pentastar engine, which is based on the industrial grade V6 used in the Dakota, timing chains, and well built design that has very good reliability in the other Chrysler products this engine is used in.  I prefer it over the Ford turbo charged 4 cyl engine used in the Ranger.  

The rear end shares frame and suspension components with a Ram 1500 truck, adding in the heavy duty Dana Jeep axles, and should give good solid service.  I added the max tow package rear springs and shocks, and the TaB400 only drops my rear end 2-inches, bringing the truck to almost level, the rear is still 1-inch higher.

The diesel version of the Gladiator will add better torque at lower rpm’s over the V6 gas engine, but does not increase its payload or towing capacity.  The diesel will tow a grade at lower RPMs, than the V6 Pentastar, and thus get better mileage doing so.  But the difference is not that great, and where I live diesel fuel costs more than regular gas.

Both versions of the Gladiator should be a very capable tow vehicle for small trailers like the existing TaBs and the maybe future TaB5XX version.  Would I use the Gladiator to pull the Avia, while it is within towing specs, I think a 1/2 ton full size truck would be a better choice here.
cheers

DougH

I'm usually a solo camper; the Avia seems too big.  So it sounds like the Gladiator will tow anything I'll likely pull for the next few years...