Six Wheels, One Very Different Gladiator

There are plenty of ways to modify a Jeep Gladiator. Lift it, fit bigger tyres, add a winch and roof rack, and you have the usual recipe. Ulterio Motiv has clearly decided that none of that goes far enough.

Meet the Maximus 6x6: a South African engineered conversion that takes the Gladiator JT, stretches it, adds another axle and turns an already unusual bakkie into something considerably more serious.

And before anybody gets carried away, there is an important distinction. This is not a factory Jeep. The Maximus is an independent conversion engineered and built by South African specialist Ulterio Motiv. Stellantis South Africa did not engineer, develop or manufacture it.

That distinction matters, particularly when you see the R3.5 million starting price.

A Gladiator with a serious stretch

The Maximus gets an additional 1,040 mm between its second and third axles, pushing overall vehicle length to 6,577 mm. The load bed is extended to 2,530 mm, while claimed payload rises to 1,090 kg and GVM to 3,490 kg.

That is a substantial transformation rather than an accessory package.

The conversion involves structural chassis and body modifications, a third axle, revised drivetrain components and gearing. Ulterio Motiv has also designed the conversion around the use of familiar Jeep components and aftermarket parts, allowing customers to specify further suspension and off road upgrades.

And this is where things get interesting.

The Maximus can be ordered with a six inch suspension lift using Teraflex springs, Skyjacker reservoir shocks and adjustable control arms. Bigger 350 mm front brakes with six] piston callipers are available, as are 17 or 20 inch alloy wheels wrapped in enormous 37 inch all or mud-terrain tyres.

Roof racks, bed racks, storage, lighting, recovery equipment and winches can also be added.

In other words, the six wheels are only the beginning.

The Gladiator underneath it all

The interesting part isn't actually the third axle. It is the platform underneath it.

South African market Gladiators use Jeep's 3.6 litre Pentastar V6, producing 209 kW and around 347 Nm, with an eight speed automatic transmission. The Rubicon foundation brings serious off road hardware, including Rock Trac 4x4, a 4:1 low range ratio, Dana 44 axles, 4.10 gearing and Tru Lok locking differentials.

A supercharger can also be specified through the conversion specialist.

That sounds excessive until you consider what the Maximus is trying to achieve. Adding an axle, stretching the chassis and increasing carrying capacity isn't simply about making something that looks spectacular parked outside a shopping centre.

The real engineering challenge is making the resulting vehicle work as a coherent package.

But who actually needs one?

This is where we have to ask the slightly awkward question.

Do you actually need a six wheel Gladiator?

For most people, obviously not.

A conventional Gladiator is already an expensive, fairly niche bakkie. A Maximus conversion starting at R3.5 million and that figure relates to the conversion package rather than simply being the price of a complete factory Jeep moves it firmly into specialist territory.

But that misses the point.

Specialist vehicles aren't necessarily built because everybody needs one. They exist because some customers want something specific, different or capable of doing a job that an ordinary vehicle cannot quite do.

And that is probably the better way to look at the Maximus.

It isn't trying to replace the Hilux in the school run. It isn't a new Jeep model. It isn't even pretending to be one.

It is a demonstration of just how far a well engineered production platform can be taken by an independent South African specialist.

Six wheels, South African engineering

There is also something rather satisfying about the fact that this isn't an overseas fantasy vehicle imported into South Africa with a huge price tag attached.

Ulterio Motiv has taken a vehicle already available here and fundamentally reengineered it around a very specific brief.

Whether you think the Maximus is gloriously over the top or exactly the sort of thing that makes the South African specialist vehicle industry interesting, the engineering exercise is difficult to ignore.

Six wheels won't make sense for everybody.

But then again, neither does a Jeep Gladiator.

And perhaps that is exactly why the two make such a good combination.