With the Jeep Gladiator being one of the hottest new trucks on the market right now, I had no doubt I’d see at least a few at Overland Expo West 2019. Sure enough there were, including this white, fully-loaded Jeep Gladiator Rubicon featured by Leitner Designs of Corona, CA. They were showcasing their new, awesome Active Cargo System that was outfitted with overland gear.
I was fortunate to stop by Leitner Design’s booth when owner Bernhard Leitner had a spare few minutes to do a walkaround of their Jeep Gladiator overland setup.
The Active Cargo System is a patent-pending product that Leitner Designs manufactures in the USA for all the other major truck manufacturers as well. In a nutshell, It’s a fully customizable truck bed rack cargo system with features such as a sliding central load bar so you can still haul big items like a motorcycle, and different size storage boxes that mount on the sides. Some of the other Active Cargo System features include:
- Lightweight at 74 lbs.
- 10 & 40 gallon locking gear pods
- Military-grade aluminum construction
- TIG-welded for maximum strength
- Rubber wind diffuser/ load pad to keep your cargo from shifting
- Quad-slot load beam design for endless mounting option
- Fits many Thule and rhino-rack accessories
- Powder coated
- Fully upgradable
- 250 lbs. dynamic off-road, 500 lbs. dynamic on-road weight capacity
- 1000 lbs. static weight capacity
- Compatible with DECKED storage system
On the particular Jeep Gladiator showcased at Overland Expo, Leitner Designs featured their 10 & 40 gallon cargo pods, along with mounted fuel & water Rotopax. A James Baroud hard shell roof top tent was neatly fixed to the top of the rack – it looks like the system was specifically designed for it. As Bernhard mentions in the video walkaround, “The rack height is a higher than the roof line, but it allows you to fit the larger tents that are now on the market, especially when you have a shortened 5-foot bed like this new Gladiator does.” Larger roof mounted tents clear the cab giving it almost a cabover pop-up camper appearance.
“I think they’ve done a really good job with these Jeep Gladiators”, states Bernhard. “I think they are going to be a big seller in the coming years.” We think Leitner Design’s Active Cargo System will be a big seller in it’s own right as well. It’s a well-engineered, functional and attractive-looking overland product for the Jeep Gladiators.
