2019-2020 Jeep Gladiator Brake Upgrade Options

By Core Brake Parts Tech Team — Circleville, OH warehouse

If you want better brakes on a 2019-2020 Jeep Gladiator JT, you have three real levers and they work in this order: a better pad compound, a slotted or dimpled rotor to keep that pad cool, and fresh fluid so the pedal does not go long when the system gets hot. The Gladiator is a body-on-frame truck rated for up to 7,650 pounds of towing and up to 1,600 pounds of payload with the available Max Towing Package, and it stops that load on four-wheel disc brakes running Mopar DOT 3 fluid. Most owners who complain about Gladiator brakes are not short on clamping force, they are short on heat capacity.

What the Gladiator brakes are actually being asked to do

The JT arrived as an all-new 2020 model and shares its architecture with the Wrangler JL, but with a longer wheelbase, a heavier tail, and a tow rating the Wrangler does not have. Parts catalogs commonly list the platform as "2019 and newer" because that is when production of the generation began, so a listing that says 2019+ and one that says 2020+ usually cover the same truck.

Two things separate this truck from a car. First, mass: even an unloaded Gladiator is a tall, heavy vehicle, and every pound has to be turned into heat at four rotors. Second, duty cycle: towing a trailer down a grade, running aggressive tires, or crawling a trail in low range all put energy into the brakes for far longer stretches than commuter driving does. Jeep builds the maintenance schedule around that reality. The factory schedule calls for the brake pads, shoes, rotors, drums, hoses and parking brake to be inspected at every oil change interval, and on four-wheel-disc trucks it adds a parking brake adjustment starting at 20,000 miles.

Where the factory setup runs out of talent

Original-equipment pads are chosen for quiet operation, low dust, and low cost at the assembly line. They are not chosen for repeated high-temperature stops. The symptom pattern is consistent and easy to recognize:

• The pedal gets long and soft after a few hard stops, then comes back. That is heat. Either the pad compound is past its working range, or the brake fluid is boiling and you are compressing vapor instead of liquid.
• The pedal pulses or the steering wheel shakes under braking. That is usually uneven pad transfer material on the rotor face, or a rotor that has run hot enough to distort. It is often mislabeled as a warped rotor.
• Rear pads wear out much faster than expected. On a truck that tows or hauls, load transfer and stability-system intervention put more work through the rear axle than a car rear brake ever sees.
• A grinding noise, or the fluid level in the master cylinder reservoir has dropped. Jeep notes in the owner manual that with disc brakes, the fluid level can be expected to fall as the pads wear. So a dropping level with worn pads is normal, and a dropping level with good pads means you go looking for a leak.

Step one: the pad compound

Changing the pad is the single biggest change you can make to how a Gladiator feels under the ball of your foot, and it is the cheapest of the three levers. Pad compounds are not simply good and better on one line. They are trade-offs between cold bite, high-temperature stability, dust, noise, and how hard they are on the rotor.

EBC groups its compounds by base material rather than by marketing tier. Yellowstuff and Greenstuff are non-asbestos organic (NAO) formulations, which carry only a small percentage of steel fiber, leaving room in the mix for performance additives. Semi-metallic pads, by contrast, can be half or more steel fiber by volume, which is why they are noisier, dustier and harder on rotors. EBC Extra Duty Plus is the red-coded compound the company positions specifically for Jeep, light trucks and SUVs. Hawk takes the same approach with its LTS compound, which it publishes as providing 20 to 40 percent more stopping power over stock replacement pads and lists for light duty trucks, all classes of SUVs, and vans up to one ton, singling out heavily loaded trucks and vehicles used in moderate towing.

For a Gladiator, the rear axle is where most owners feel the change first. Options that fit the JT include EBC Extra Duty rear brake pads for the 2019 and newer Gladiator 3.6L, the more aggressive EBC Yellowstuff rear pads for the same truck, and Hawk Performance LTS rear pads for the 2020 and newer Gladiator JT. If you would rather compare the full range side by side, the brake pads collection lists what fits.

Step two: the rotor, and what the slots and dimples do

A performance pad makes heat faster. The rotor is what has to absorb and shed it, which is why upgrading pads without thinking about rotors is only half the job on a truck that works.

Slotted and dimpled rotors are not cosmetic. EBC states that the wide aperture slots on its GD Sport design draw cool air under the pad and rotor interface and help cool the pad contact temperature, which the company notes can climb to well over 1,000 degrees at the heart of the pad during heavy braking and cause fade. The dimples matter for a different reason: EBC says the dimple-drilled rotor gives pad degassing without through-drilling the rotor, because through-drilled holes have been shown to promote rotor cracks. That distinction is the whole argument against cheap cross-drilled rotors on a heavy vehicle. EBC also finishes its GD series discs with a long-lasting corrosion-resistant coating, which matters more than it sounds on a truck that sees road salt and water crossings, and machines them in the UK from R90-approved blanks.

On the Gladiator, the front axle does most of the stopping work, which is where a vented, slotted rotor earns its keep. EBC GD Sport front slotted rotors (GD7815) are the direct-fit option for the JT. Browse the rest of the brake rotors collection if you want to see the plain and coated alternatives.

Step three: the fluid, which almost everyone skips

This is the upgrade that costs the least and gets ignored the most. The Gladiator master cylinder calls for Mopar DOT 3 brake fluid meeting SAE J1703. Jeep is blunt in the owner manual about why fluid condition matters: brake fluid in an open container absorbs moisture from the air, which lowers its boiling point, and that fluid may then boil unexpectedly during hard or prolonged braking, resulting in sudden brake failure. That is exactly the long-pedal-on-a-grade complaint described earlier.

So when you do a pad and rotor job on a Gladiator, do these at the same time:

1. Flush the brake fluid with fresh fluid of the specification the manual calls for, poured from a sealed container. Do not reuse fluid from a bottle that has been open in the garage.
2. Replace the caliper hardware, meaning the abutment clips, anti-rattle shims and slide pin boots. Seized or dry slide pins are the most common cause of one pad wearing out while its partner looks new. See the brake hardware kits collection.
3. Inspect the flexible hoses for swelling, chafing at the bracket, or cracking. A hose that balloons under pressure feels exactly like air in the system. Replacements are in the brake hoses collection.
4. Check the parking brake, since the factory schedule pairs the four-wheel-disc parking brake adjustment with these mileage intervals anyway.

How hard is the job

A pad and rotor replacement on a Gladiator is an approachable driveway job for someone who has done brakes before: jack stands under the frame, wheel off, caliper off its bracket and supported so the hose carries no weight, bracket off, rotor off, new parts on, then bed the pads in per the pad maker instructions. Two things raise the difficulty. First, torque values for the caliper bracket and guide pins must come from the factory service manual for your truck, not from a forum post. Second, if your trim uses an electronic parking brake function at the rear, the rear caliper pistons have to be retracted with the correct procedure rather than simply wound or pressed back, so confirm what your specific truck has before you start the rear axle. Budget an afternoon for one axle if it is your first time, and plan on a proper bedding-in cycle before you tow anything.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Jeep Gladiator have rear disc brakes?

Yes. The factory maintenance schedule includes a parking brake adjustment step specifically for vehicles equipped with four wheel disc brakes, and it applies to this truck. That is why rear pad and rotor upgrades are available for the JT rather than shoes and drums.

Will upgrade pads make my Gladiator noisy or dusty?

It depends on the base material, not on the brand. Non-asbestos organic compounds carry only a small percentage of steel fiber, while semi-metallic pads can be half or more steel fiber by volume, which is why semi-metallics are the noisier and dustier choice. If quiet operation matters to you, stay with an organic-base truck compound.

Do I need slotted rotors, or are plain rotors fine?

Plain vented rotors are fine for a stock-tire Gladiator that never tows. If you tow, run larger and heavier tires, or descend long grades, slotted or dimpled rotors help the pad interface run cooler and help clear dirt, water and pad gas from the friction surface. Avoid cheap through-drilled rotors on a truck this heavy, since through-drilled holes have been shown to promote cracking.

What brake fluid does a 2020 Jeep Gladiator use?

The owner manual specifies Mopar DOT 3 brake fluid meeting SAE J1703 for the brake master cylinder. Use fluid from a sealed container, because open fluid absorbs moisture and its boiling point drops.

How often should I check Gladiator brakes if I tow?

The factory schedule already calls for inspecting pads, shoes, rotors, drums, hoses and the parking brake at every oil change interval, and for checking the brake master cylinder fluid level once a month or before a long trip. If you tow near the truck rating, treat those as minimums rather than targets.

Should I upgrade the front or the rear first?

The front axle does the majority of the braking work, so front pads and rotors give the biggest change in stopping distance and fade resistance. Owners who tow often notice the rear first, because loaded rear axles chew through rear pads, so if your complaint is rear pad life rather than pedal feel, start at the back.

Sources

1. Jeep Gladiator (JT) Owner Manual, Mopar - Mopar DOT 3 brake fluid meeting SAE J1703 for the master cylinder, the brake fluid moisture and boiling warning, fluid level falling as pads wear, brake inspection at every oil change interval, and the four wheel disc parking brake adjustment intervals.
2. Stellantis Media: All-new 2020 Jeep Gladiator - up to 7,650 pounds of towing and up to 1,600 pounds of 4x4 payload with the available Max Towing Package, and the truck launch as an all-new 2020 model.
3. Hawk Performance LTS compound - 20 to 40 percent more stopping power over stock replacement pads, and the compound stated application to light duty trucks, SUVs and vans up to one ton in moderate towing use.
4. EBC Brakes: Types Of Brake Pads - steel fiber content of semi-metallic versus non-asbestos organic compounds, Yellowstuff and Greenstuff as NAO formulations, and Extra Duty Plus as the Jeep, light truck and SUV compound.
5. EBC Brakes: GD Sport Rotors - wide aperture slots drawing cool air under the pad and rotor interface, pad contact temperatures well over 1,000 degrees during heavy braking, dimple drilling for degassing instead of through-drilling which has been shown to promote rotor cracks, and the corrosion-resistant finish on GD series discs.