XOverland Odin Jeep Gladiator Build: Rig Review

There are Jeep Gladiator builds, and then there are Gladiator builds that helped define what the platform could become.

Odin belongs in the second category.

Built by Expedition Overland—now XOverland—around a 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, Odin appeared very early in the life of the JT platform. Rather than treating Jeep’s new pickup as a Wrangler with a bed and bolting on the usual collection of overland accessories, the XOverland crew transformed it into a purpose-built expedition and production vehicle.

And years later, Odin is still traveling.

That may be the most interesting part of the story.

The Original Mission

XOverland built Odin for The Great Pursuit, its 2019 Canada-to-Mexico expedition involving powered paragliders. The Jeep needed to serve as an overland vehicle, production rig and potentially a search-and-rescue vehicle supporting the flying team.

That dictated much of the build.

This wasn’t simply about camping comfortably. Odin needed serious off-road capability while carrying cameras, drones, recovery equipment, fuel, electrical equipment and the normal gear associated with an extended expedition.

XOverland eventually logged more than 20,000 miles on Odin, including travel in Mexico and The Great Pursuit.

The Feature That Defines Odin

Walk around Odin and one thing immediately separates it from almost every other Gladiator:

The factory bed is gone.

In its place is a Patriot Campers PCOR tray system. (available now through authorized dealers and distributors worldwide, including select U.S. outfitters.)

It’s arguably the single modification that establishes Odin’s identity.

Rather than treating the Gladiator as a traditional pickup, XOverland effectively converted it into an Australian-style expedition ute. The tray provides integrated storage while creating a platform for fuel, recovery equipment and camp systems.

It’s also one of those modifications that makes you look at a Gladiator differently.

The JT’s separate cab-and-bed architecture allows builders to do things that simply aren’t possible with a Wrangler. Odin exploited that advantage almost immediately after the Gladiator arrived on the market.

Fuel Range: 39 Gallons Before Jerry Cans

The factory Gladiator carries roughly 22 gallons of fuel.

Odin added a 17-gallon auxiliary tank, giving the Jeep approximately 39 gallons of onboard fuel capacity in its original XOverland configuration.

For long-distance backcountry travel, that is far more meaningful than many of the accessories normally associated with an “overland build.”

Range creates options.

You aren’t forced to leave a route because the fuel gauge is dropping. You can bypass questionable fuel stops. And in genuinely remote country, fuel capacity becomes part of the vehicle’s safety margin.

Later iterations under Odin’s current owner would push the fuel capacity even farther.

Built Around 37s

XOverland fitted Odin with 37-inch General Grabber X3 tires on 17-inch ICON wheels, supported by upgraded suspension.

The original build also included equipment from ICON Vehicle Dynamics along with an extensive list of supporting upgrades.

Odin ultimately became something of a rolling laboratory for what a heavily loaded Gladiator could handle.

That’s an important distinction.

Plenty of Jeeps run 37s.

Far fewer run 37s while carrying an expedition tray, auxiliary fuel, camping equipment, electrical systems, recovery gear and production equipment for thousands of miles.

Recovery Wasn’t an Afterthought

Odin carried dual WARN ZEON Platinum 10-S winches, along with MAXTRAX and other recovery equipment.

Again, the mission explains the excess.

This vehicle was supporting an expedition involving aircraft operating in remote terrain. Self-recovery wasn’t simply an accessory category on a build sheet.

It was part of the job description.

Camp and Expedition Systems

The original Odin setup reads like a snapshot of serious overland equipment circa 2019:

Patriot Campers PCOR tray system
Eezi-Awn rooftop tent
Eezi-Awn awning
160-watt Overland Solar panel
REDARC Manager30 electrical management
auxiliary lithium battery
onboard air
AEV snorkel
Garmin Overlander navigation
Icom radio equipment
extensive Rigid Industries lighting
auxiliary fuel
Alu-Box storage
dual winches

XOverland describes the truck simply as both an overlanding vehicle and an on-the-road production rig.

And that’s probably the best way to understand Odin.

Almost everything on it had a job.

Then Odin Changed Hands

This is where Odin’s story gets unusually interesting.

Many famous media builds disappear once their original project is finished. They’re sold, stripped, parked in collections or simply fade from view.

Odin didn’t.

The Gladiator eventually landed with Minnesota-based overlander Scott Maeyaert, who continues to travel with and modify the truck under the OdinsChronicles name.

Scott’s current adventure setup includes Odin paired with a Patriot Camper known as Frigg. Taruca Adventure Gear, where Scott is listed as an ambassador, describes Odin & Frigg as his heavily modified Gladiator/Patriot Camper combination.

Even XOverland has revisited the truck. Its Shop Talk series features an episode titled “What Happened to Our Gladiator Build?”, with Scott discussing Odin’s evolution and travels around the United States.

That’s a pretty cool second chapter for a famous build.

Image courtesy of bruiserconversions.com

Odin Gets a V8

And Scott didn’t leave it alone.

By 2023, Odin’s original 3.6-liter Pentastar had already been supercharged. But Scott reported that the engine still wasn’t providing the power he wanted once the heavily loaded Gladiator and Patriot trailer were combined.

His solution was considerably more dramatic:

A Bruiser Conversions 6.6-liter LX3 V8.

The conversion was installed by Zeus Off Road in Minnesota and paired with an 8HP75 eight-speed automatic.

Scott reported the engine at:

550 horsepower
625 lb-ft of torque

That’s a completely different animal from the Pentastar-powered Gladiator XOverland originally built.

The Rest of Odin Grew With It

By the time of the V8 conversion, Scott listed Odin’s configuration as including:

Bruiser 6.6L LX3 V8
8HP75 eight-speed automatic
Fusion one-ton axles
5.13 gearing
37×12.50R17 General Grabber X3 tires
3-inch lift with Clayton springs
He reported Odin at approximately 7,200 pounds fully loaded, with the combined truck-and-trailer setup around 10,500 pounds.

Earlier in the conversion process, Scott also described configurations carrying as much as 47 gallons of fuel onboard.

At this point, calling Odin a “modified Gladiator” almost undersells it.

It’s closer to an expedition vehicle that happens to have begun life as a Gladiator.

Why Odin Still Matters

Odin is interesting to me because it demonstrates both the Gladiator’s greatest strength and one of its greatest temptations.

The strength is obvious:

The JT is an incredibly adaptable platform.

Solid axles, lockers, removable body panels, a real pickup chassis, enormous aftermarket support and the ability to carry specialized bodies or tray systems make the Gladiator capable of becoming almost anything.

Odin demonstrates that better than nearly any Gladiator built.

But it also demonstrates how quickly an overland build can escalate.

More fuel requires more weight.

More weight demands suspension.

Bigger tires affect gearing.

More equipment increases electrical demand.

A trailer increases the workload again.

Eventually the drivetrain becomes part of the equation.

And suddenly you’ve traveled a very long way from the stock Jeep you started with.

That’s not necessarily bad.

But it is instructive.

The GladiatorUp Take

Would I build my Gladiator like Odin?

No.

And that’s actually one reason I find it so interesting.

My own approach to the Gladiator is much closer to the weekend-warrior end of overlanding: keep the truck useful as a truck, build systems gradually, understand what I actually need, and let real trips dictate the next modification.

Odin sits near the opposite end of that spectrum.

It represents what happens when the mission comes first and nearly every system on the vehicle is optimized around that mission.

And there are lessons to steal from it without copying the build.

Range matters.

Organized storage matters.

Electrical management matters.

Recovery equipment needs to match the places you’re traveling.

And perhaps most importantly:

Build around the trip—not around the catalog.

XOverland built Odin because they had a specific expedition to accomplish. Scott has continued modifying Odin because his use of the truck changed.

That’s the part of this build worth remembering.

A Gladiator With a Story

Odin could easily have become a relic from the early days of the Jeep Gladiator.

Instead, it’s still evolving.

It began as XOverland’s 2020 Rubicon-based expedition and production vehicle, traveled thousands of miles on major adventures, passed into private ownership, gained one-ton axles and ultimately received a 550-horsepower V8.

And Scott continues telling that story through @OdinsChronicles.

For a Rig Review, that makes Odin more interesting than a pristine show truck.

It’s a build with chapters.

And apparently, they’re still being written.

Here’s to the road unpaved – Doug

Rig Review: XOverland’s Odin — The Gladiator That Kept Evolving