KOH Dave Cole's JEEP Gladiator Baja Race FAIL! San Felipe 250 Disaster Documented

Baja Racing News
SPECIAL REPORT!
UPDATED! September 26, 2019

"Dave Cole's Jeep Gladiator Fail Continues>>>

The Savvy Offroad DNF failures have been explained by the factory. Jeep has issued a recall on the Gladiator pickup and a STOP SELL ORDER!

*At issue are certain trucks that may have a rear driveshaft assembled without grease in the monoblock joint portion of the shaft*

The suspect population was determined by reviewing the supplier’s driveshaft production records from the beginning of production of this driveshaft to identify which driveshafts may have been assembled without grease.

A joint without grease may overheat and seize, possibly causing the driveshaft to fracture, resulting in a sudden loss of drive power. If the driveshaft completely separates from the vehicle it may become a road hazard and, as one would expect, either of these scenarios can increase the risk of a crash.

Thanks to the nature of this problem, a stop sale order has been issued for any affected Gladiators loitering on dealer lots. A total of 3427 trucks are affected, built between the middle of December 2018 and the end of June this year.

FCA US will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driveshaft, free of charge. 

The recall is expected to begin October 18, 2019. Owners may contact FCA US customer service at 1-800-853-1403. FCA US number for this recall is V95 and the NHTSA campaign number is 19V636000." 


 


UPDATE! June 4, 2019

Recent UPDATED Report on this POS Project
CLICKY

Original Release: April 9, 2019 

KOH Dave Cole's JEEP Gladiator Baja Race FAIL! San Felipe 250 Disaster Documented
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SCORE racers who experienced the San Felipe 250 this past weekend are flooding the Baja Racing News LIVE! with information documenting the Dave Cole JEEP Gladiator FAIL that occurred over race weekend.


A ridiculous attempt merely to finish the race event was witnessed by racers and documented by people around San Felipe. Over the race radio relay, Cole begged for someone with a portable welder would come out to a distant race location, south of the start line and short of the bottlemeck at Matomi, help repair his critically damaged JEEP.

The first volunteer stated over the relay, it would take them two-hours just to reach the broken down JEEP.

What did Dave talk about prior to the green flag at San Felipe?:

"So the skinny behind the Jeep Deal...it was literally a last minute deal for them to go after KOH. They have been our Official Vehicle for several year but were more interested in the lifestyle and culture of our fans than the competition. The JT (JEEP [Truck] Gladiator)  drops in April and they wanted to prove it had the the same Jeep toughness. They asked me on January 4th if I knew anyone that could build a race car in less than a month. I called the guys at Savvy...they have won almost every limited class race at KOH. Gerald and Johnny killed it and made a good car. When negotiating the contract to race KOH, I threw in that we wanted to keep the truck till the end of the year to race the 1000. After qualifying on the pole and Erik Miller and Robby Gordon teaming up for a 6th place finish (80% of entries didn(')t finish)...Jeep was stoked when we pitched them the idea of going for a Milestone award. I cant do anything about the lack of competition...I can do everything possible to complete every mile." "Changing Classes...looks we will be campaigning in 7F. SCORE banded today. Can't wait for San Felipe. The guys at Savvy are fitting bypasses front and rear and swapping out the rear coils for coil overs. Going to be a great year".
"It raced KOH on Dynatrac 60s Need to switch to Dana Spicer 60s to meet class rules (must run whats available from the dealer...Dana 60s are a(n) dealer option upgrade)".

Dan Fresh (L) Dave Cole (R) Teamed up to race in the San Felipe 250 and plans are to run the BAJA 500 in June

UPDATE! Here's what's promoted on the builders website about Baja and KOH: 

"(JEEP) Gladiator going from KOH to Baja 500. Follow along as Dave Cole and Dan Fresh Tackle Baja in two weeks. A lot of work to do".





The plans: "Racing Baja, then back to JEEP in December". 

Not stock as stated by the bloviation team on the vid. "Toughest race in the world?" 

At KOH EMC, a JEEP sponsored event, (king of hammers every man challenge), they finished 43rd, an "official finisher". "The Jeep Gladiator, modified and piloted by the guys at Savvy Off Road (& World Famous Robby Gordon), has completed the grueling ('4WP Four Wheel Parts sponsored') Every Man Challenge event at King of the Hammers off road race".

What does this say about the 4WP Four Wheel Parts KOH Every Man Challenge, when the same rig crapped at the SF250, a baby Baja race event?


The (JEEP) Gladiator (car #5337) finished in 43rd place (with a time of 10:04:17), which is commendable considering the majority of the field does not even finish this event".

On February 6, posted:  "Mission critical! Get the (JEEP) Gladiator to the starting line of the King of the Hammers Everyman Challenge. Two weeks before the race Jeep dropped the new flagship Gladiator off at our shop. Our partners quickly jumped in and the best parts in the world started showing up so we get it built. Dynatrac Rock Krawler Suspension, FOX, Falken Tire, Raceline Wheels, FK Rod Ends, ODYSSEY Batteries, Griffin Thermal Products, Sparco, J. E. Reel Driveline Services, PSC Motorsports, Torco, Magnaflow".
 

Here's how it started, after dropped off by JEEP to the fabricator

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Gary Newsome, Publisher
Baja Racing News LIVE!