The off-roading community should thoroughly enjoy the current craze of factory products like the Ford F-150 Raptor, the revived Bronco, and the hemi-powered Ram TRX and Wrangler 392 seriously upping the ante on all-out power, long-travel suspension systems, and big, knobby tires. But amid all the hype, everyone easily forgets that all of these trucks can easily cost north of $60,000—and most people then go straight out and install mods to further prep their rigs for four-wheeling.
Personally, I'm going to stick with my 1998 Mitsubishi Montero, which recently did just great on a three-day trip across the Mojave Road and then surprised the living daylights out of me with how well it performed on a much more challenging adventure up and past the Manson Family's hideout at Barker Ranch, near Death Valley. And my Montero has 229,000 miles on the clock and costs a fraction as much as today's factory-new products!
But to be fair, just over a year ago, my dad made the leap and bought a Jeep Gladiator Rubicon just before his local dealership shuttered due to the pandemic. At first, I gave him a hard time for buying essentially a $64,000 Fiat product built for off-roading but about six months later, the Gladiator arguably saved our homes and quite possibly our lives when the Bobcat Fire rolled through and decimated the rural community he calls home.
Before we took the Monteros out on the Mojave Road, we did a quicker two-day blast across the route in the Gladiator, which didn't break a sweat the whole time, to say the least. But after descending Mengel Pass down into Death Valley in the Monteros, we both came away convinced the Gladiator probably wouldn't have made it, largely due to its long wheelbase, lack of skid plates, and relatively unimpressive ground clearance.
And so, I shouldn't have been surprised when dad announced he planned to buy a lift kit for the truck and after a period of deliberation, splurged on the two-inch Jeep Performance Parts setup from his local dealer. Of course, to satisfy my own curiosity (and because it's kind of my job to do so), I immediately had to test the newly lifted Gladiator on some familiar trails to see whether the lift makes enough of a difference to justify the $2,242 expenditure.
The Full Gladiator Kit From Mopar
The highlight of the kit comes in the form of longer and wider Fox monotube shocks, which measure 2.5 inches in diameter and which Mopar's literature claims allow for cooler operation. Longer sway bar end links and lower front control arms complement the beefier springs and revised bump stops, too, allowing for proper caster correction to keep the Gladiator's original steering geometry intact despite the lift.
Any lift kit offers multiple potential advantages, including more ground clearance straight away and more fender clearance to allow for larger tires (and thereby even more ground clearance). Better damping and increased articulation also fit into the mix. But the main reason to go for the Jeep Performance Parts kit, installed by the Jeep dealer, is to avoid any potential warranty issues—this is, after all, essentially a $60,000-plus Fiat pickup built to go off-roading (and dad accordingly purchased the extended warranty when the truck was new, to help his peace of mind).
The Gladiator Rubicon From The Factory
From the factory, the Gladiator Rubicon looks much more hardcore than its lower-spec siblings—because it is. It gets a full additional inch of ground clearance compared to the Sport and Overland trim packages, and this one came shod in 33-inch Falken WildPeak tires that ride pretty well on and off asphalt while offering excellent traction on both. That additional inch of ground clearance become especially important when you remember that the four-door Wrangler's wheelbase is fully 30.6 inches shorter than the pickup variant.
Dana 44 axles with lockers front and rear, an electronic sway bar disconnect function, and a five-link rear suspension design cribbed from Ram also make the Gladiator Rubicon about as ready for the trail as a truck gets right off the dealer floor.
Not Quite Perfect From The Factory, Actually
But after two days on the Mojave Road, of which I drove the vast majority, the Gladiator's Wrangler-style upright seating position and stiff suspension actually becomes pretty uncomfortable—and after a particularly long washboard descent, we checked the front shocks and found they'd become extremely hot, likely due to damping the large solid front axle (and partially because of their proximity to the Pentastar V6).
Meanwhile, the long wheelbase creates concerns about bottoming out or high-centering—the lack of skid plates doesn't help—while making rollercoaster segments almost sickening, not to mention slow. Plus, the stiff shock-and-spring combo, which helps the Gladiator tackle any terrain with ease, results in plenty of rocking side-to-side and a fair amount of shoulders smacking up against the Spartan interior.
Two More Inches Is Not A Huge Lift, In Reality
But really, how much can a two-inch lift kit improve upon such a hardcore design from the factory? I wondered the same, doubting whether what seemed like a surprisingly low price for anything installed at any (commonly recognized price-gouging) dealership's service bay. The whole kit claims to be bolt-on but the labor still must have been four or five hours for the install, plus an alignment, I figured.
Well, from about 50 feet away, it's pretty hard to notice the Gladiator's new ride height. Up closer, the additional space between the fenders and wheels, plus a bit more ground clearance on the rocker panels, quickly becomes apparent. And then, climbing up into the driver's seat, the increased height becomes immediately noticeable—not to mention looking out from a higher angle through the small, upright windshield.
But Those Two Inches Make A Huge Difference
After only twenty feet, I already knew the lift kit had made a huge difference—and not just because I felt taller, which is something of a tradeoff due to the Wrangler design's lack of visibility. A quick 20-minute trip around some familiar dirt roads confirmed the initial impression, as the suspension felt much softer and more compliant, absorbing bumps large and small much more effectively.
Then, taking the newly lifted truck up some steeper sections of a rutted, washed out road, the additional articulation came through (especially with the sway bar disconnected) and the improvement in ride comfort became all the more apparent.
In some ways, the lift kit helps the Gladiator's ride feel more like the Montero's, with its independent front suspension, but throw in the capability and power of a much more potent, modern product. And the steering hasn't changed at all—it was never great, as no electric-hydraulic steering I've ever driven can compare to the feel of fully hydraulic systems, but it hasn't been ruined.
Is It Worth Going One Step Further?
After such a marked improvement, of course the slippery slope approaches. Is it worth going another step? Could 35-inch tires do even better? And some skid plates would still be pretty awesome to protect this now-a-bit-more-expensive truck, right?
As it sits, the Gladiator feels ready to hit Mengel Pass and maybe some more aggressive rock-crawling. And I'd argue that this kit should have come standard on the Rubicon from the factory—but I'm almost glad it didn't, because then I wouldn't have gotten the chance to experience what a difference some minor upgrades can make. Plus, apparently Mopar's original lift kit for the Gladiator, with "AB" at the end of the part number, raised some red flags about spring quality issues that were remedied for this, the suffix "AC" kit.
Showing Off Those Jeep Performance Parts
Most importantly, this lift kit keeps that eight-year warranty intact. Least importantly, the techs at Jeep also pasted the Jeep Performance Parts badge seen above onto the driver's side front quarter panel and did so out of alignment with the original "Trail Rated 4x4" badge.
All in all, thinking about the full price of the Gladiator Rubicon plus the extended warranty and the lift kit, the parts and labor comes out to almost exactly a 3.5% bump up. That seems minimal in my mind, especially for anyone who can include the lift kit in their financing deal (which makes it more attractive to buy new, as well).
The Gladiator now feels fully ready to go off-roading, with the suspension setup it deserved from the factory. The only lingering question in my mind, still, is just how much better could an even more expensive aftermarket setup perform? But the ICON Vehicle Dynamics Stage 8 kit for a 2.5-inch lift with remote reservoir shocks and billet control arms costs a whopping $6,009.25 plus installation—and Jeep might give owners who shell out that much cash some flack about their warranty, which could lead to even more spending in the near future since that kind of a setup just begs to be pushed to its full potential.
So for now, I'll call the Jeep Performance Parts two-inch lift kit money well spent and highly recommend it for anyone already in the market to drop gobs of money on their off-roader, but who still wants to do so somewhat reasonably.
Sources: mopar.com, jeep.com, jeepgladiatorforum.com, and quadratec.com.