Tales from SEMA: Jeep Gladiator JTe by Quadratec
In 2019, Jeep brought a truck version of the Gladiator to Moab, the J6. Based on the frame of a Wrangler Unlimited and with a 2-door cab, it was the Gladiator many would like to own. Some of us would really gladly trade a back seat if we could gain additional utility/length for the bed while having better off-road capability as the factory Gladiator.
Fast forward to 2022 and the largest retailer of Jeep aftermarket parts, Quadratec, sponsored a customized Wrangler with a stretched Gladiator bed, standard cab, and modified Gladiator roof that even maintains the Freedom Panels. This is yet another example of how good a standard cab Gladiator could look and function.
Fabricated by famed Jeep customizer Greg Henderson, the Gladiator JTe starts as a Wrangler Unlimited with the body behind the front doors cut off and a Gladiator bed stretched to fill the frame behind. Some of these parts are things you could pick up straight out of the Quadratec catalog, like a lift and 17” bronze wheels from Lynx, a front bumper from Carnivore (the rear starts as a Carnivore piece but is customized for the show truck).
Functionally, this build also features both front and rear winches, the rear tucked between the frame rails where the spare used to live. That spare is a 37” tire on a matching Lynx wheel that lives in the bed. Above that bed is a retro themed tubular roll bar that hints as Scramblers of years gone by. Quadratec’s stealth light bar lives inside the top of the windshield, their premium projector headlights replace the stock Jeep parts, and out back Oracle supplies low-profile replacement taillights.
The interior features an Alpine stereo and custom Katzkin leather seats with an electric themed pattern.
Unlike the Jeep J6, this ‘short Gladiator’ started life as a Rubicon 4xe and maintains all the factory plug-in hybrid parts. Quadratec plays up the vehicle’s eco credentials that will allow the JTe to run quiet and clean while performing trail work during the 50 for 50 initiative. That program, in partnership with TreadLightly, will perform one trail clean-up per state over the course of the next 24 months.
As a shortened Gladiator, this truck maintains the off-road credentials of its donor Wrangler Unlimited. For one, it does not sacrifice the break-over angle of Wrangler, unlike the 4-door Gladiator with almost 19” of additional wheelbase. Also, this truck benefits from all the Wrangler Unlimited’s aftermarket part support. The 37” Nitto tires on this Jeep along with the 2.5” of lift, means this truck won’t get left behind by your Jeeping buddies when the trail gets particularly gnarly. By trading the Unlimited’s rear seat for extra bed length, this Gladiator also ends up with almost an extra foot for its truck-y duties as well.
Quadratec has no plans to offer a kit to build your own JTe. So it leaves us still wanting Jeep to bring a shorter version of the truck to market and counting our pennies in case we could talk Mr Henderson to build us one of our own.