ZCashio
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
So, as the title says I (we, wife and myself) are first time Jeep owners. I have had an itch for a Jeep for years now. I’ve always had lifted trucks. Just something in my blood. As a teenager I did stupid things in my 05 Silverado with 6” lift and 35s. Granted those stupid things came from alcohol...
Little back story for my family and I. We are vanlifers. Love it! We build vans, use them on a trip and sell them. And move on to the next. That’s our business along with wedding filmmakers. My wife says she will “never” not have a van to travel and camp in. We have friends we camp with here in Arkansas that have a Gladiator overland build (he’s got the 6.4 in it as well, what a beast it is!). I’ve tried getting her on board with the RTT. She says no way. It’ll happen soon enough!
Our favorite place to travel has been Sedona. There’s something about it that captivates my whole family. Wife and I and our 2 boys included. So naturally, on our last 3 week trip we took we ended in Sedona. With us renting a Can-Am last time we opted for a Wrangler this time. We rented from MYE and I couldn’t recommend them enough. We originally rented the Jeep for 1 day. But after that first trial, Soldiers Pass and sinkhole, we were hooked. Immediately added another day. I was hook line and sinkered. Wife and the boys were slowly catching on. We did every trail in Sedona besides Outlaw, we did that in the Can-Am last time. My wife was nervous for sure on Broken Arrow, closed eyes and hands firmly gripped. But, she loved it.
We left Sedona feeling “empty”. We told the boys once we got home we would start to look for a Wrangler. I honestly wanted a Gladiator, mainly for the towing capabilities. Well, as we got back into town it all started. My In-laws had their truck being worked on at the dealer, a Jeep-Ram dealer. Their loaner.... a 2020 JLU Rubicon with only 9,000 miles. Fully loaded and all. Spacer lift, etc. it was beautiful. The previous owner only traded it in because she wanted the diesel rubicon. She had bigger tires on it because the stock KO2s still had knobs and numbers on them. Pristine to say the least. When my FIL went to bring the Jeep back to get his truck I told him to talk with the GM about our trade in. A 2014 Ram 1500 4x4 big horn with 200,500 miles on it. New transmission at 175k replaced at said dealership. Truck was a one owner. His price for our truck we couldn’t pass up. Crazily with this market the truck GAINED $6k in a year. We were quoted 9k last year. So... we did what any normal person would do! We ran to the dealer and traded our truck in for the Wrangler. A 2020 JLU Rubicon with now 11,000 miles. We joked with my MIL that she needed to rack up some miles for us to bring that price down lol.
As a family we couldn’t be more excited for these adventures. We plan to find some trails/forest service roads this weekend in Arkansas with the weather being warmer.
And for my wife with the RTT.. well since we were all sick yesterday and being lazy, I had Expedition Overland on repeat yesterday on YouTube..her exact words “I’ll consider it if you find me a nice tent for all 5 of us!”) Wife, me, 2 boys(4&6) and our 8 month old stubborn Golden Retriever..
All that to say, I’m very happy to be on the forum as I’ve been lurking on here and the gladiator forums for months..
I haven’t done a flex pic yet, hopefully to come though. Can’t wait to post more upgrades in the future along with pics.
Little back story for my family and I. We are vanlifers. Love it! We build vans, use them on a trip and sell them. And move on to the next. That’s our business along with wedding filmmakers. My wife says she will “never” not have a van to travel and camp in. We have friends we camp with here in Arkansas that have a Gladiator overland build (he’s got the 6.4 in it as well, what a beast it is!). I’ve tried getting her on board with the RTT. She says no way. It’ll happen soon enough!
Our favorite place to travel has been Sedona. There’s something about it that captivates my whole family. Wife and I and our 2 boys included. So naturally, on our last 3 week trip we took we ended in Sedona. With us renting a Can-Am last time we opted for a Wrangler this time. We rented from MYE and I couldn’t recommend them enough. We originally rented the Jeep for 1 day. But after that first trial, Soldiers Pass and sinkhole, we were hooked. Immediately added another day. I was hook line and sinkered. Wife and the boys were slowly catching on. We did every trail in Sedona besides Outlaw, we did that in the Can-Am last time. My wife was nervous for sure on Broken Arrow, closed eyes and hands firmly gripped. But, she loved it.
We left Sedona feeling “empty”. We told the boys once we got home we would start to look for a Wrangler. I honestly wanted a Gladiator, mainly for the towing capabilities. Well, as we got back into town it all started. My In-laws had their truck being worked on at the dealer, a Jeep-Ram dealer. Their loaner.... a 2020 JLU Rubicon with only 9,000 miles. Fully loaded and all. Spacer lift, etc. it was beautiful. The previous owner only traded it in because she wanted the diesel rubicon. She had bigger tires on it because the stock KO2s still had knobs and numbers on them. Pristine to say the least. When my FIL went to bring the Jeep back to get his truck I told him to talk with the GM about our trade in. A 2014 Ram 1500 4x4 big horn with 200,500 miles on it. New transmission at 175k replaced at said dealership. Truck was a one owner. His price for our truck we couldn’t pass up. Crazily with this market the truck GAINED $6k in a year. We were quoted 9k last year. So... we did what any normal person would do! We ran to the dealer and traded our truck in for the Wrangler. A 2020 JLU Rubicon with now 11,000 miles. We joked with my MIL that she needed to rack up some miles for us to bring that price down lol.
As a family we couldn’t be more excited for these adventures. We plan to find some trails/forest service roads this weekend in Arkansas with the weather being warmer.
And for my wife with the RTT.. well since we were all sick yesterday and being lazy, I had Expedition Overland on repeat yesterday on YouTube..her exact words “I’ll consider it if you find me a nice tent for all 5 of us!”) Wife, me, 2 boys(4&6) and our 8 month old stubborn Golden Retriever..
All that to say, I’m very happy to be on the forum as I’ve been lurking on here and the gladiator forums for months..
I haven’t done a flex pic yet, hopefully to come though. Can’t wait to post more upgrades in the future along with pics.
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Looking forward to watching this progress.
