2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport

[chithead]

Replaced the Ram with a 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport. It is the basic Sport. They did order it though with some of the, "Premium" options which basically makes it a Sport S - but with the very basic Sport gauges. Also had the dual top option, Mopar roll-up bed cover, spray in liner, and Alpine audio option with the removeable Bluetooth speaker. From my research, the Alpine setup is much easier to integrate with when upgrading audio.

So, let's start with the vehicle, some pictures of the factory audio locations, and a mini progression story. The day I brought her home:





The soft top is still in a crate, very nice to have that option if desired sometime:



Factory speaker locations are the top of the dash, lower panels (knee) of the dash, and then an overhead soundbar between the front and rear seats:



3.5" widebander in the top dash corners:



Jeep decided to step back a bit as they previously had 6.5" mids down low of the dash and in the soundbar, but now are ported 4" mids in each spot:

[chithead]

Well, that leads to the first issue. How do you upgrade to larger speakers? They make replacement dash pods to fit a 6.5" in both the dash and soundbar. The dash is a simple pod replacement. The soundbar requires cutting and installing a baffle/adapter. I went a slightly different route, and we'll get to that in a bit.

The factory subwoofer is located behind the rear seat:



Can also see the removeable Alpine Bluetooth speaker (really neat option, I've used it quite a bit while working on the Gladiator):



Subwoofer enclosure is pretty slim. Definitely will be a challenge to fit a replacement in the location, but it's possible. Have seen a few builds where they either use a small shallow prefab setup, or go with a single 10" sub in a full wall replacement. I would like to retain the Bluetooth speaker, and also keep everything stealthy. So, will be going a different route with it as well. More pictures though:









The enclosure is a unique shape. Getting to it is a royal pain, but removing once there is simple enough:

[chithead]

Under the rear seat is this nice cargo holder, should provide a very nice stencil for a subwoofer enclosure:





Made a small order from Crutchfield to acquire some integration pieces to make things easier:









The harness should integrate with the PAC AmpPro perfectly. Pods are pretty nice, similar to the Metra set:



But, I did notice an issue right away:





Had the same problem with my wife's Wrangler. That indention inside prohibits some speaker choices from fitting properly. You can build a baffle spacer to help, or just be very selective with the speakers. Went with the MB Quart 6x9 adapters to get the larger replacement grille opening that will allow a lot more replacement speaker options:









It's a nice sheet metal adapter, with a plastic replacement grille. You do have to cut the factory soundbar to fit any larger speaker though:



The factory setup has these nice removeable threaded inserts too. Since I'd be cutting around them anyways, removed those first to save for future projects:

[chithead]

Starting with the dash pods, dampened inside and out:



Also fabricated some baffles for them, but not for the 6.5"... to fit a 5.25" instead. My main reasons are that the pods are really small inside. Playing around with an online response calculator - decided the 5.25" would work better there, especially with the factory dash opening being so small for sound to pass through:



After a jigsaw, and then drilling to tap for machine screws:





These prototypes worked out well. Went ahead with painting:



Used butyl adhesive to seal the baffles to the pods, then weatherstripping to seal the speaker to the baffles:





VERY solid now. Definitely a nice thunk when knocking on the side instead of that hollow plastic sound.

[chithead]

Removed the soundbar to make modifications much easier:



Putting the 6.5" there because of having more internal volume for them, and also because I plan on just using them for midbass only:



Cut for the 6x9 adapter to fit, then dampened inside:



Worked out quite nicely by using the 6x9 baffle, and then fabricating my own 6x9-6.5 adapter out of aluminum again:



Stuffed with polyfil and used butyl adhesive between the baffle and soundbar, plus between both baffles:



Worked out nicely, and the MB Quart replacement grille has plenty of clearance:

[Notloudenuf]

Looking good man. I can't believe you haven't traded it yet.

[chithead]

Should also add some of the other necessary upgrades. Had to get some different wheels and tires:





They are from a 2-door Wrangler Rubicon. Also scored the full suspension, bumpers, spare tire carrier, big ole package of parts. Kept the wheels, tires, and front bumper... sold the rest:



Applied some door sill guards to dress things up a bit:





Rubicon rock rails were next:





Some Rubicon Fox Shocks to replace the factory stinkers:



Also ordered the matching Fox steering stabilizer to again, replace the weaker factory one:



And who can resist adding some sort of decals! I couldn't:



These were a bit cheesy, but totally had to do it as a throwback to my 80s childhood:

[chithead]

For anyone thinking of putting a subwoofer behind the rear seat, as stated, it is achievable, but not something I wanted to invest in - this is a shallow MB Quart 12" subwoofer:





Still a bit of room there, but the back of the motor was touching the rear cab wall:



And here is a measurement of that subwoofer:



I'm just going to skip all that though, and go with this underneath the seat:



Upfire, downfire, we shall see. Hoping to get the amps and processor in soon to start doing some testing on which works better.

The complete equipment list as of right now is:

PAC AmpPro AP4-CH41
Arc Audio PS8 DSP
Arc Audio XDi 1200.6
Arc Audio XDi1100.1
JL Audio C3-525
JL Audio C3-650
JL Audio 13TW5V2-2

[Anu2g]

Have you thought about adding the APA-TOS1 to the AP4-CH41? I used those two on my brother's JLUR. worked well, and simplified wiring a bit.

[chithead]

Absolutely, that is a great suggestion! I do have that Toslink adapter already installed on AP4-CH41. Hoping to make this easy to connect everything as the APH-CH03 harness plugs right into the factory wiring, connects up the AP4-CH41, then optical output from it to the Arc PS8. Probably will just make some short RCA cables from the PS8 into the 1200.6 and 1100.1