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new Jeep Pickup


Kenbob
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I was at the corner of Englwood and North Oak in KC today and at Gladstone Dodge Jeep,elevated for all to see, is a black new jeep pickup (Wrangler based). I didn't know it was in production--at least not for sale. Jeep site doesnt mention it. I am sure of what I saw. KC club members if you go by there take a look and tell me I am not crazy.

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There is a supposed Jeep "Gladiator",a small pickup with the front end of a Wrangler, scheduled to debut to the public this year; however, all of the pictures and articles mentioned a green exterior..

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There is a supposed Jeep "Gladiator",a small pickup with the front end of a Wrangler, scheduled to debut to the public this year; however, all of the pictures and articles mentioned a green exterior..

 

Sure about that? I keep up on all the Jeep news pretty good, and I had never heard that the Gladiator was going to make it to production. They did however hint that a truck would be released, but didn't say what. The only thing everyone kept referencing was the Gladiator concept, from the early 2000's. It is green, but it has only been a concept.

 

What did we get when Jeep said they were going to have a truck? A kit that costs thousands of dollars to put on your tens of thousands of dollars JK, and it's still not a real truck. Should have expected some of this nonsense. Turned out that they weren't planning on a full truck in the first place. A rep was talking about how they were too late into the JK's body cycle to rework it into a pickup (Even though the J8 is in current use).

 

From the sound of it, we will have to wait until the next Wrangler refresh to see a from the factory pickup. Which will still be a CJ-8 in my book, rather than a truck.

 

Rob

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That's it. Glad I wasnt seeing things. I just got an email from Gladstone dodge that they will have an unveiling of the new Dodge Dart this weekend. So if this is the production model, I wonder if it is also a preview....

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That's it. Glad I wasnt seeing things. I just got an email from Gladstone dodge that they will have an unveiling of the new Dodge Dart this weekend. So if this is the production model, I wonder if it is also a preview....

 

I have been excited to see Dodge's new contribution to the market. The Neon left quite the gap. They need a mileage contender again to be viable. This could be it. The Alfa Romeo it's based on has been getting great press in Europe. The leaked shots and renderings make it look like a sharp car, although I would have preferred it's original name plate they discussed, Hornet.

 

Rob

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comparing that to a real truck is fairly pointless, look at the size of the bed. is it $55k cool, ya but i don't have quite that much laying around. i think AEV sells the kit or similar for 8k or so. I'm sure everybody knows this is a badass toy, not a functional "truck"

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i like the look of the TJ's more than the JK's but that 3-4" lip on the door sill of the TJ would get old fast, espically once its lifted. jumped in a tj with 4" lift and 33" and boy did that suck. hey, atleast for 55k it comes with a warranty :D maybe tomorrow ill go down and take some better pics

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They call it the JK-8 Independence and it nothing more than a big cop-out of actually producing a legitimate pickup. Jeep has been telling the public that they know we want a Jeep pickup. We were told they were going to announce it to their dealers and we assumed it was going to somewhat resemble the Jeep Gladiator. Makes sense since that seemed to be built on the JK platform and it was likely just a matter of stamping out new sheet metal and bolting it to their already existing frame.

 

So, instead of getting an extended cab pickup (with rear doors) with a separate bed, we have an expensive sheet metal kit that turns a JK into an expensive toy that looks like it was built in someone's garage. If $55K is a ballpark price for these (it's the first price I've heard, but could be the dealership), that just makes me LOL even more. At $55K, do they include all of the stuff they took out of the original JK Wrangler to make these?

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What would fit the bill perfectly is a re-bodied Power Wagon. Purist will poo-pah but it is probably the most capable out of the box 4x4 pick-up ever. Definitely superior to the M715. They don't want to hear that the Dana 60/70 axle set under the M715 is not desirable unless for resto as they are way weaker than the later versions. And there is a reason closed knuckle axles were left in the ice age where they belong. T-case & tranny were early versions that didn't make the cut for long. (Super) Crappy brakes, steering, tires...Carbs sucked and power on a modern rating scale would probably be pathetic. It was like 130 under the old scale and would be lucky to break 100 hp on the modern system. And if you ever needed to drive on the road? Fugitaboutit. Power Wagon all of the way.

 

A jeep version of the Power Wagon would be a true pick-up for about what that kit-car thing costs. And with selectable lockers, factory winch, 33" tires, disconnecting sway bars and modern power/reliability/braking plus something like a "factory leveling kit" and 35's/36's for the Jeep version would make it even awesome-er. :D

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the one in tacoma was gone but they told me there was another in bremerton. so i did a little road trip to encourage the bi**ching and moaning of the $$ :yes: Mopar kit was $5500 then they added horrible Toyo's. this is the base model without lockers etc. poking around it i noticed it has "T -tops" which is pretty cool. i wouldnt mind finding a damaged jk for fairly cheap and making one of these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

horrible job on the wheel well seems

 

 

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There is a supposed Jeep "Gladiator",a small pickup with the front end of a Wrangler, scheduled to debut to the public this year; however, all of the pictures and articles mentioned a green exterior..

 

Sure about that? I keep up on all the Jeep news pretty good, and I had never heard that the Gladiator was going to make it to production. They did however hint that a truck would be released, but didn't say what. The only thing everyone kept referencing was the Gladiator concept, from the early 2000's. It is green, but it has only been a concept.

 

What did we get when Jeep said they were going to have a truck? A kit that costs thousands of dollars to put on your tens of thousands of dollars JK, and it's still not a real truck. Should have expected some of this nonsense. Turned out that they weren't planning on a full truck in the first place. A rep was talking about how they were too late into the JK's body cycle to rework it into a pickup (Even though the J8 is in current use).

 

From the sound of it, we will have to wait until the next Wrangler refresh to see a from the factory pickup. Which will still be a CJ-8 in my book, rather than a truck.

 

Rob

 

I stand corrected. Jeep's official website lists it as concept with no mention of release date.

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The export version is called Just J8. They were going to make a no weld bolt in version, but it never happened. I got to see the Gladiator in person and it was awesome. I believe it was actually based on a HD Ram chassis. They toted it around for a while and made everyone think they were going to make a production version (even repainted it yellow), but the likelihood of actually seeing one in this generation is slim to none. From what I've heard, they are filling capacity with the Wrangler as it is now, so it doesn't make much sense to develop another vehicle without capacity to build it.

 

yellow-jeep-gladiator.jpg?w=460&h=290

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