Came across this vid on Youtube today with them interviewing Dave Harriton of AEV and discussing the AEV Brute in detail and how it was designed. I think it might give some hints on what to expect with the upcoming JT: Really cool to see the details of everything.
Nice vid. Not sure how many queues would carry over but the bed design seems like a logical extension despite the tack-on RAM short-box in early mules. The guys in Montana do make nice trucks though. One thing I expect to be improved on the JT over the Brute is the Suspension, as the Brute was still tow and payload limited, and those are supposed to be greatly improved on the JT for that specific reason.. Having dealt with AEV in the past for just the JK, I know it's not powertrain limited but suspension and frame are the primary issues.
...which is really aggravating. This is more a rhetorical question as I don't expect you to know the specifics, but it'd be nice to know *what* about the frame and suspension is the issue? The Cherokee XJ, which was a unibody design, smaller overall, with far less power and arguably weaker in every area than the JKU was rated for 5,000lbs towing. And in Australia the JKU is rated for 4,409 lbs towing with the V6, or 5,070 lbs towing with the 2.8L CRD. So why is it that the US version is only rated for 3,500 lbs towing? The rear suspension isn't significantly different than that of the 5th gen 4Runner (which has a 5,000lbs tow rating) and the rear upper arms on a 5th gen look like a JK's swaybar endlinks. If it's a spring rate issue, stiffer springs would take care of that...
You have a lot going on in that response.... read this for a bit of insight. http://www.jlwranglerforums.com/for...wrangler-pickup-truck-jt.759/page-2#post-6428
Haha, yeah, I made almost the same rant in that thread back in April. :D I hadn't seen some of the more recently replies in it though. The link in your last post in that thread is a good read regarding US vs UK (or AUS) towing ratings, thanks for sharing it. I still find it bothersome that my smaller, less powerful, and lighter duty 22-year old XJ is rated to tow more than my larger, more powerful, and heavier duty JKUR. Not that I'll probably ever even come close to hitting the current towing rating with my JKUR.
Yes, the US vs UK article linked there is a good read and quite insightful. Realistically, those ratings of your current JKUR and old XJ are probably not an apples to apples comparison. The further back in time you go, the more "loose" mfgs were in regards to their tow ratings.
Unfortunately AEV didn't expound further when I was looking into the Brute and regular Hemi mod (towing woulda helped justifythe price) My understanding is that the suspension geometry in the Wrangler is a negative and doesn't react well to rearward towing strain on the setup, and that the choice of springs & shoecks as well as geometry favours articulation over payload and towing. This kinda bares out in the fact that the J8 military vehicle sacrifices rear articulation for leaf-spring suspension, and the new JT mules have been showing a Ram-style 5-link rear, that swaps a balanced triangle geometry in the JK/JL for one with more of an angle L-shape with more suppor for front/back forces rather than up/down.
