Way back in December, which seems like eons from where we are at today, I had a little bit of an incident returning to work from my hunting trip. A semi struck my Jeep and put it on it’s side on an otherwise empty road, spinning it, rolling it, and ultimately totaling it. While I had been still tracking down the other guy’s insurance and my deductible I’d already replaced my truck with a new one. I put a lot of thought into building the Jeeps I own, my adventure rig is my secondary office for much of the year.
The trucks I’ve owned are more than just drive time commuters. They’re my dining hall, my dog and baby chauffeur mobile, my sometimes sleeping quarters, and my mobile sporting goods store. There’s more Mepps spinners in the carpet under my passenger seat in my Jeep than in some guys’ tackle boxes. While I can probably make anything work, I spend a lot of time agonizing over what gets put into and on my trucks.
Solid Bones
With my new truck I took the plunge on a 2020 Jeep Gladiator. A stretched Wrangler Unlimited with a pickup bed I’d been eyeing it since it was announced. I’ve seen Jeep J8’s overseas and had hoped it would basically be that, but produced in Toledo. While I figured I wouldn’t be able to get the jump seats that the Egyptian and Israeli Military get in their versions, I figured It would be not at all dissimilar to the Jeeps bouncing around the Middle East.
The engine has more pep in it’s step than my original Wrangler Unlimited, but since I tend to keep my vehicles for longer than most it’s hard to tell. I no longer feel like I’ll be ran over at highway speeds coming off the shortest of on ramps. The truck is geared for towing, and I recognize that with a growing family I might not be tent camping as much as I’d like in the near term. So looking into a trailer option to serve as a mobile headquarters for the outdoor experience seemed like a good way to go.
The 3.6L V6 Engine and 8 speed transmission mated to axles with 3.73 gearing make taking that hill a breeze even at altitude. It’s so much nicer to have something that doesn’t heave as much as I do when climbing the side of a mountain.
Purpose Built
A good adventure rig gets you where you need to go without breaking down. A great one will be an extension of both you and your hobbies. It’s a second home, a comfortable camp, and a large toolbox with a customized load out. I like to do a lot of things outdoors, heading out on Forest Service roads in PA to fish skinny water, and exploring new ground here in Colorado. These trails are why I tend to own a Jeep, and drive smaller vehicles in general. Trails grow up and I’m not super into the custom pin-striping you see on some rigs. Sometimes trees seem to just try and reach out and get you.
I traded the smaller wheelbase and easier maneuverability of my Jeep Wrangler for the Gladiator to get a petite yet functional 5 foot bed out of the deal. Somehow the rear doors seem more easy to get into and out of than my Wrangler so it gets the thumbs up from friends who ride back there.
Let’s dive into some modifications I’ve made and some decisions for gear storage. Shall we?
Head to Tail
One of the first additions to the truck was a new bumper and winch. After doing a fair amount of off-road and forest road driving last season it became pretty clear that bigger tires and some way to appropriately self-recover if I needed it. A winch bumper provided some extra armor for when an errant elk or pronghorn decides it’s simply had enough of the good life. The winch serves as a way to recover buddies or yourself, or remove logs from the trail.
After much research I went for the ARB Bondi Deluxe bumper and the Warn Zeon 10S Winch with a synthetic winch rope. Everything forward of the front seats on the Gladiator and the Wrangler are the same truck, so with little to no modification I knew it would fit.
Being as the Gladiator is a new platform, and that I’m coming from a lifetime of full and midsize SUVs to a pickup there are things I’d naturally like to change. On the tail end of the truck the spare tire is mounted in the same way it is on practically every other production pickup truck on the market today — under the bed. Some pickups have a pivot arm, the Gladiator takes a note from RAM pickups and uses a winch system with a through-bumper access port. After looking at my fair share of Grand Wagoneers, Jeep Pickups, and other trucks of that vintage I knew what kind of moisture can get trapped under there. I wanted to get a rear tire carrier for the pickup. Not only would it have a cool Land Rover esque look, but I’d get that moisture generator away from the bed.
Unfortunately there’s currently no rear tire carrier bumper on the market that retains the backup camera mounted to the tailgate. The options were initially to design my own or to wait. I continued my research and found a third option. The Treck rack by RoadArmor has a tire winch relocation kit that suspends the tire from the rack in the back.
Daddy Needs a New Pair of Shoes
It seems ridiculous that an off-road adventure rig such as a Wrangler or Gladiator would ever be sold with street tires, but here we are. The good news is that since the Wrangler platform, and thus the Gladiator are so open to modification that take off wheels are available. I picked up Rubicon take off wheels for under $1000 with brand new rims. In turn I sold my brand new rims and tires for $800. I took a loss of $200 but got 35″ tires that will go basically anywhere compared to road tires. I also was able to pick up a full size spare with wheel as opposed to a steel spare. Who really lost?
Getting a full size spare, essentially for $200 means that I won’t be crippled on the road or on the trail if anything happens. If I do need to patch the tire I have an ARB patch kit underneath the rear seat. The added lift provided by the 35″ tires is minimal, but gives me a little extra ground clearance. That will come in handy when I need it on the Forest Service roads.
Wagging Tails
Going for the Gladiator over another Wrangler Unlimited was a tough choice. I wanted the truck to be able to handle at least two concurrent car seats for a growing family, but our two setters are already a part of the family and I didn’t want them displaced! My Gordon Setter, Abbey, normally rides shotgun in her harness when it’s just us trucking between hunting locations in Colorado or Pennsylvania.
Even though I spend a lot of time with my bird dogs in my truck I also carry human passengers, so none of the canine accouterments are permanent in the Jeep. I use a Mud River Shotgun Single seat cover to protect my seats from the encroachment of dog hair, or rather limit it’s onslaught. If I was a single man I might consider what a user of GladiatorForums has done and do a rear seat delete that has been turned into a production mod! The idea is that you can put a platform in your adventure rig for your pooches. The seats in the Gladiator already fold flat, but it’s generally not enough space for a large kennel.
I’m still working out what will happen when child #2 comes along, but as of right now the dogs are still in the cab with us. We’re investigating toppers such as the Softtopper that would allow some kennels in the back.
Water in the Desert
One of the key considerations I had to make when building the Jeep into my adventure rig was the space between gas stations when I’m where I like to hunt and fish. When I first moved to the Denver Metro my wife and I went out for a day trip and hike out in the Jefferson area. We drove in up and over Kenosha Pass and headed up a creek to another mountain pass over washboarded roads.
When we came out of four wheel drive and hit pavement I’d assumed that the gas station and general store in town would have gas. Apparently the gas pumps were derelict for years and were merely decorative, a vestigial reminder of industry past.
The closest gas was Fairplay, though not that far off my gas light was nearly on. There’s two types of folks who drive around, those who like the power to weight ratio of running on E all the time, and those who want to fuel up when you’re down a third of a tank. I’m the latter, my wife is the former — I’m pretty sure she loves the pep her Subaru picks up when the yellow light comes on. We made it to Fairplay no problem, but I was nervous in a new place where things are spread much farther apart that I’d have to walk an awful long way to find gas, like water in the desert.
If you’re already hauling tools, recovery gear, and yourself why not also haul a couple of gallons of gas to keep the truck running while you adventure on. After adding the BuiltRight Industries trail rail and a front rack I’ve got two 2.5 Gallon Rotopax gas cans hanging from mounts. They tuck nicely and don’t take up a lot of valuable cargo space.
Raise the Roof!
One of the key considerations in the build has been how do we carry our kayaks and other oversized kit? Coming from a world of SUVs it seemed obvious to put it on the roof. But now my wife and I have kayaks north of 14 feet. I’ve also got some fairly substantial fishing rods that need toted around. For fishing rods I’m eyeballing the River Quiver or the Rod Vault. Hard sided rod cases are pricey but they keep gear protected and out of the way of passengers. They also allow the rods to be toted fully assembled if you’re hole hopping by way of your adventure rig.
For the kayaks I did an agonizing amount of research on bed racks. I’ve got a Google Sheets that lays out every big rack manufacturer I could find and details whether the rack is flush to the roofline and how it mounts. Why? If you want to mount a 14′ boat, do you only want 5′ of platform to mount it on? I’m looking at running three crossbars at least for stability’s sake. Call me paranoid but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Turning my boat into a small rotomolded cruise missile on I-70 is not my idea of a good time.
After much agonizing and wringing of hands I put in an order for a rack. We chose to support RoadArmor by way of their Treck rack system. It mounts to the bed rails I’ve installed and is easily removable. It also fits the Toyota Tacoma so they’ve had some time to work out kinks. One of the most important things to me is that it’s made in the US.
For Crossbars I’m looking at Rhino-Racks. They have a dealer local to Aurora, CO and they need a Gladiator do to a test fit of their racks on. Hopefully they get back to me soon!
Hardware Store on Wheels
Part of running around forest roads or the middle of nowhere involves expecting the unexpected. Get stuck? Hopefully you have a shovel, come-along, or winch. Tree in the middle of the road? Hopefully you have an axe or chain saw. At the PA Jeeps All Breeds Jeep Show in York, PA there used to be a category for “Most Prepared”. The guy that won always seemed to go a little too overboard, but I get where his head was at. I try to be prepared for everything I think that might pop up for the trip I’m currently on. Meaning when I return to being an office dweller I go back to my standard load, and when I go out for a trip I consider what I’ll be getting into.
With QuickFist connectors that I can mount on the rack or trail rails I can affix all manner of tools. At the risk of looking like every other fauxverlanding mall crawler out there I’m not going to keep my kit strapped to my truck when going out for groceries.
Is if the most efficient approach? Well, probably not. However it’s the approach that I like the best. So does my wallet not hauling all that crap burning gas all the time. The RoadArmor Treck rack also allows me to mount my traction pads and land anchor, er, Hi-Lift.
Interior Creature Comforts
For right now the interior hasn’t been modded much at all. There are two things I wanted to take care of fairly quickly. One was radio comms, and I’m waiting to take my HAM test to have something like that available inside. I do have a CB but I wanted something a little more mountain friendly, so HAM and GMRS are likely choices. Many trail riding groups still use CB which is why I have one. However CBs are range deficient in the mountains. Having a handheld unit and being able to hop in and out of the truck is a positive in my mind.
Another item to address was being able to have my phone in a safe secure location. I went with the Rugged Ridge Dash Multimount kit. It replaces the storage pocket in the dash and adds a mount in the center for cell phones and GoPros or dash cams. That will not only aid in future recordings but also will help connecting my phone to Android Auto. I guess someone took me kicking and screaming from the early 2000’s. I live in the future now with a connected car.
A Work in Progress
If you’ve ever worked on a car in the past you’ll know that a project is never truly done. There’s always something that needs tweaked, or a parts catalog sitting in the garage with a dogeared page. I used to maintain spreadsheets of parts I wanted and had purchased, what deals I got, and some other statistics. Used to. I found that having proof of what I told my wife I paid for something and what I actually paid for something would cause inevitable strife.
That said I’m sure there are things that I can come up with after a couple of seasons of use with the truck. I’m already contemplating a lift kit, something like the Mopar 2″ lift with Fox Shocks and potentially a snorkel. The snorkel doesn’t make a whole lot of sense where I roam back in my home state of Pennsylvania but it may be practical in Colorado. Blown out streams, river crossings, 4×4 only trailheads to popular hikes that shave miles off. These are all things that matter more here than they did back home.
A Love of Orphans
I have this problem, I somehow adopt automotive orphans at every chance I get. I’ve owned a Jeep Cherokee and currently own a Jeep Grand Wagoneer. The aftermarket for these trucks was, is, and continues to be tepid at best. Parts can be hard to come by despite heavy production numbers. I suspect that the Gladiator may eventually fall into this category. Despite hardcore fans clamoring for a Jeep pickup practically immediately after the Jeep Comanche was discontinued in 1992.
The current production Gladiator is more akin to the Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler. Which you guessed it, is another orphan with limited production years from ’81-’86. When Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand from American Motors certain models were phased out with a quickness. When Renault was largely driving production in 1986 things were already changing. Ever wonder why you see so many AMC trucks in movies? They’re plentiful, and the movie companies don’t have to pay royalties to a company that doesn’t exist anymore.
Will the Gladiator turn into an orphan like it’s namesake, or it’s first cousin the Scrambler? Time will tell. If it survives it’s first several model years it may become entrenched, at least until ownership of Jeep changes again.
Rig Stats
2020 Jeep Gladiator Overland in Punk’n Orange
Wheels/Tires: 35″ on stock silver rims
Front Bumper: ARB Bondi Deluxe
Winch: Warn Zeon 10-S
Rear Bumper: Stock, for now.
Back Rack: RoadArmor Treck
Spare Tire Carrier: RoadArmor Winch Relocation Kit for Treck Rack
Tonneau Cover: Agricovers Lorado Roll Up Tonneau
We’re not turning into an automotive blog by any stretch of the imagination. I’ll continue to post updates about my Jeep Build here as well as JeepGladiatorForum. Different mods and tweaks I do to my truck will ultimately help me get to the trailhead in comfort. I hope my cursing, bruised ego and hands will help others.
