When the first spy shots of the production Gladiator started circling the interweb, I had very mixed emotions. The looks turned me off immediately, but having spent some significant seat time in our '18 JLU-R, the draw to platform was still strong. Over time the hatred for the overall look of the stock Gladiator has not waned, but neither has the joy of the driving experience. Now, I've always, always, had a dedicated tow vehicle for getting my (and other's...) junk to and from the hills. And since buying my first Ford Super Duty in the fall of 1999, said tow vehicle has been a full-size pickup of some fashion. Prior to that, I did haul my flatty around with a couple of different Ford Rangers throughout the 90's, but I digress... The purchase of this Gladiator represents a seismic shift in my modus operandi, and trust me when I say that this decision did not come without significant apprehension. I have been known to swap out vehicles more or less on a whim, but this time it honestly seemed like one of the more difficult decisions I've ever made... I absolutely love the driving experience of the smaller, more nimble platform but let's be honest, I'm a big fat hairy guy and the notion of entry/egress of the aforementioned smaller platform on a daily basis is a little unsettling. Not to mention the fact that I'm now faced with having to drive my junk to the hills, wheel it all day, and then drive it back home. Something I've only done rarely over the past 10 years or so since we started dabbling in more street friendly rigs like the JKU... Anyhow, after much deliberation and many, many, test drives, we pulled the trigger last Friday and brought home this 2021 JT-R that we have named Gladys:
She's fully loaded with every option you can get except for a factory bed cover, which I didn't want, and it has the 3.6L gas engine. I did drive a couple of the diesel models and I just didn't get the same fun, spunky, overall joyful experience out of it so the gasser got the nod. The plan will be for a relatively basic "build" because this is now my daily driver, and while many of the cool kids seem to make it look easy, daily driving on 40's just doesn't seem all that enticing.
First up was some 3" spot mirrors to help with blind spots and trailering. Honestly the best $5 you can spend if your rig doesn't have legit tow mirrors...
Next was a little pizzaz in the form of a hood blackout and Rubicon Red pinstripe, because I liked how it turned out on the JLU-R:
And the last thing thus far is a winch. I went with a Warn EVO 10-S on a Warn mounting plate for the factory "winch ready" front bumper... Unlike on our JLU-R, I did opt for the factory steel bumper this time because I'm not trying to stuff the massive Warn Powerplant winch in there, and in my opinion these factory steel bumpers do have very nice lines:
Current market conditions are making the procurement process for build parts difficult, to say the least, but I've got a general plan in mind and will execute as parts availability allows
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)