Episode 583 – Concept Jeeps For Easter Jeep Safari
This Week In Jeep
What Concepts Will Jeep Bring To Easter Jeep Safari…?
The 56th annual Easter Jeep Safari is right around the corner. The world-renowned event is scheduled for April 9-17, 2022, and is hosted by (as always) Moab’s Red Rock 4-Wheelers club. For decades The Easter Jeep Safari (or EJS for short) has attracted thousands of Jeep enthusiasts and off-roaders from all over the nation, and even from around the world. During EJS, Moab Utah, home of some of the most amazing world-class off-roading and rock crawling in the world, becomes a beacon, a destination, a mecca if you will for Jeepers of all kinds. For many years Jeep, and its performance division JPP have been a big part of the action. 
Showing up to show off not only the brand’s capabilities but to whet the appetites of all of us “what-if” junkies. Crazy moon buggy-like concepts, retro mash-ups like the forward cab reimagined, or the Keizer-like beach Jeep. Over the years Jeep has brought some pretty crazy ideas to play, so it begs the question… What does Jeep have planned for 2022…? In true Jeep style… now… we don’t get much if any details at all. Instead, we’re gifted with an offering of teaser photos, most of which are usually doctored up to reveal next to nothing. What Jeep has given us this year, is a confirmation that ((QUOTE)) they’ll attend the event with concepts promised to be “bigger, better, greener, faster, and ultra-capable.” Interesting. To go along with that we have received four cryptic photos that we will now try to interpret.
The first is what is being called a QR Gladiator, and as the name would suggest, it’s the rough shape of a Gladiator, but sketched out of parts and pieces of QR Code. The blazing red Jeep Performance Parts gear logo is contrasted at the bottom center of this otherwise somewhat blurred black and white image of a gladiator. The take-away from this I think is twofold. One could be a new line of JPP (Jeep Performance Parts) for the Gladiators, or two… We could be looking at the possibility of a pre-order 392 Gladiator Variant. A Gladiator with V8 power? Yes please. …Should have been standard from the start if you ask me, but they didn’t, and here we are. I suppose there’s a third option, but it may leave a bitter taste in my mouth, and that’s that this is a “digital” Gladiator. Or electric if you will. Could this be the teasings for an electric or 4xe version of the Gladiator? We shall see…
The next image is a little on the nose I think, and the electric-blue theme is what stands out most, next to the recognizable Grand Cherokee front end of course. We also see glimpses of vertically mounted blue tow hooks, a fog light opening, and a charge port on the fender. This is a 4xe Grand. And since we’ve already reported on the known coming of the Grand Cherokee 4xe, “that” is what this is trying to convey. Or maybe there will soon be a Grand L 4xe? Who knows. There is a blue highlighted ring around the fog light opening indicating a possible LED lighting option that will be coming soon. And the cutoff faces, and blocky structuring of the body lines of this Grand makes it seem very wanting of a large off-road build, and if you look close, it appears as if this blue grand is riding on tires with large side lugs. We may be seeing a new line of off JPP Trail-Rated parts and accessories coming for the Grand Cherokees too.
With the third pic, Jeep asks us to imagine what the blending of two mighty off-roaders like the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator might look like. What we see is a Rubicon model of a Jeep, out of focus of course. You’re looking down the driver’s side front fender and we can see the back end of the Jeep even more blurred out and partly hidden by the edge of the pic and red flash, but we can see it ends in a truck bed. But there’s only one large door opening on this Jeep, but two rows of seats. The wheelbase is more Jeep-like, and the bed overhang (like the Gladiator has) is gone too. There’s also a big ass cowell on the hood indicating there is a much larger engine in this Jeep than what one might expect.
The last image is negative. Not as in I dislike it, which I do, but it’s a negative of a photo meaning the colors are all reversed. Regardless we can clearly see it’s a Rubicon Wrangler, but the badging has the number 20 added to it. Since the first year of the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon was 2003, that would make the 2023 model year the big two-zero anniversary. And we know how much Jeep likes anniversaries. With the unique badging, and a different hood profile, I think we can safely guess this will be a 20th Anniversary Edition of The Wrangler Rubicon, possibly based on the 392 platform.
There’s actually a high likelihood of this making it to production, and you’re almost guaranteed to see these Jeeps out on the trail showing off their goods too.
To be honest, I’m a little disappointed in Jeep. Not mad, just disappointed. I think that they are playing it safe here and that there’s nothing here to really get excited about or to gawk at even. Jeep has done better in years past and has really knocked it out of the park on many occasions. But the last few years have really sucked. You hear me Jeep? Not Impressed this year so far. Do you know what I want? I want my eyeballs to be electrocuted to the point of combustion with a visual stimulus overload of vehicular engineering and body sculpting the likes of which mankind has never fathomed. I want that married so intricately and seamlessly with never before seen technology and capabilities sending my imagination into a tail spinning epic level overdrive by witnessing what Mother-Effing Jeep brings to the 2022 Easter Eff-ing Jeep Safari. Can I get a hell-yeah up in here?
Newbie Nuggets with Wendy
Springtime? Time for a check-up
Are you excited to get wheeling again now that Spring is officially here? I know lots of jeepers are still wheeling through winter, some of us through snow and cold while others have a drier climate and can wheel all year long. Well, whether you wheel part-time or all the time, it’s a great time to do a thorough inspection of all your gear and supplies to make sure you aren’t missing anything. Things get used or borrowed from time to time and it’s a good time to check everything. Kind of like your smoke detectors in your house – change the batteries each time the time changes to make sure they work when you need them.
This is no different. I covered this topic in episode 475 and it’s worth repeating. Here are some things to check and make sure you have your tools, gear, supplies, and items you may need for the trail BEFORE you get out there. Checking to make sure all your gear is in your jeep and hasn’t walked away, or were used on your buddy’s vehicle and didn’t get replaced or returned to your toolbox, like that 10mm socket, just makes good sense.
Double-check your recovery gear bag. Do you have your soft shackles or d-rings, tow straps, snatch block & gloves? Did your Kinetic rope get used way too much and need replacing? How is your winch line? Have you inspected it for frays and tears? How-a- bout a wrench or pliers to get the D-ring apart and off your bumper? And is the bag easily accessible? It may have gotten thrown to the back or under lots of other stuff. It happens when you wheel, stuff gets used and misplaced all the time.
Is your tool kit complete? Did you replace those nuts or bolts you used on your buddy’s jeep? Did you hear about a “Must Have” item on one of our segments and you need to add it to your jeep? Or maybe you need to refill on zip ties, wire, or that 10mm socket –are you sure you have it on board?
Make sure your first aid kit & trauma kit are fully stocked. Maybe the kids took some Band-Aids or played doctor with the gauze and tape. Double-check you have everything in your kits and check the expiration dates on ointments and bandages. YES they do expire
Do you check your fire extinguisher once a year to make sure it’s fully charged? And how about checking the batteries in that flashlight? Don’t forget to add spare batteries too. And for those 4xe drivers out there, what service or maintenance do the batteries require? Look at your owner’s manual for that answer. We wouldn’t want you to get out in the deep woods and have your battery fail because you needed a charge or whatever?
Check your tire pressure. Altitude, weather, and sitting around can change the pressures. You may need to air up a bit before hitting the road.
How about water & toilet paper (mountain money to us in the mountains) along with other necessities. Double-check the maps you have on board. Did the kids get bored while you made a repair and used the maps for a fun crayon fest or did you run out of mountain money and…the maps were handy? Before you go out, make sure you have the maps OR GPS tools you need should you find yourself wandering aimlessly and need a little guidance. And don’t forget chargers for your electronic devices too.
No matter where your wheeling takes you this year, make sure you do some “checking” to verify the equipment you had last year is still there this year OR take some time to add things you may have needed before and didn’t have. And as always, wheel with a buddy or two, between all of you; I’m sure someone has the tool you need. (Hopefully!)
Jeep Talk Show Gladiator Update
Jeep Tire Fill Assist
I remember when I ordered the Gladiator to be built that it had a feature, it would let you know when you had filled your tires to the proper PSI by honking the horn. It has tire pressure sensors, and a computer so I figured that was pretty easy and a neat feature.
Keep in mind I had all my “stuff” in the Cherokee and I went off-road with just moving the bare essentials over. A tire pressure gauge wasn’t one of them. So on my first trip to Hidden Falls in the Gladiator, I aired down and expected that I could just hear the horn honk during the airing back up.
It didn’t work! I had to run around to the driver’s side and look at the display to read the tire pressure for each tire. No big deal, worked out just fine.
Doing a little digging I found that Jeep calls the horn honk notification Tire Fill Assist.
I also found out that you have to turn it on each time you want to use it.
On your center display, the 8.4” in my case. Click on “Apps”. Go to the 2nd screen of Apps.
You’ll see “Select Tire Fill Alert” with a Tire and a checkmark. But you can’t select it! WTF?
Ahhh I see you have to go to settings > Safety and Driving Assistance. You’ll see Hill Start Assist and Tire Fill Assist. Check Tire Fill Assist.
Now you can go back to Apps, page 2, and Tire Fill Alert, which you WILL be able to select now.
You’ll see on the Selectable Tire Fill Alert screen you can select the PSI for front pair and rear pair tires on your Gladiator.
There is an Apply and Save Preset button and a Presets button.
Now the question I will leave you with, that I’ll have to answer during my next tire pressure change is, Will the jeep honk at me for airing down as well as airing up? You’ll have to find this out on a future episode of the Jeep Talk Show.
Camp Fireside Chat
What is your biggest ON THE TRAIL Pet-Peeve?
(what is the ONE thing that gives you trail-rage more than anything else?)
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Links Mentioned in this Episode
NEXEN Tires USA https://www.nexentireusa.com/
Trails 411- POWERING Your Adventure https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrydriver
The 4×4 Radio Network http://4x4radionetwork.com/
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Bob (twocheapjeepguys) Does a Walk-Around of The YJL With Greg Henderson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bfmjsGzMxQ
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