The Acela Dispatcher 4x4 Is the Single-Cab Gladiator Jeep Won’t Build

With a single cab and seven-foot bed, the Dispatcher is the Gladiator work truck Jeep never gave us.

Ask truck fans what feature they want but can’t have and the answer is almost always two words: single cab. As much as enthusiasts love them, only a couple models still offer them on the cheapest trim levels as the vast majority of buyers choose four doors even if they cost more. Knowing the business reality, it’s not surprising that the Jeep Gladiator doesn’t offer a single cab model, but it’s still disappointing. Not anymore, though.

Who’s Acela?

Enter Acela Truck Company out of Bozeman, Montana. It’s been refurbishing and enhancing ex-military Stewart & Stevenson 2.5-ton 4x4 and 5-ton 6x6 FMTV trucks for years and offering them to fire departments, utilities, mining operations, overlanders, and more as extreme off-road-capable work trucks. Now, they’ve moved into the midsize pickup truck market.

It’s a big swing, but Acela may have just spotted a hole in the market. Every state and local government has fleets of full-size pickups because they can be outfitted with any manner of accessory up to and including job-specific beds and boxes. You can do that with midsize trucks, too, but not in a single cab long bed configuration. Your only other alternative is a side-by-side, and that comes with its own drawbacks (street legality, safety, top speed, comfort, etc.). This is where Acela went to work.

Meet the Dispatcher 4x4

The only way you’re turning a four-door cab into a two-door cab is with a Sawzall or similar, so given you’re going to have to replace the part you cut off, you want to make it as easy as possible. A body-on-frame pickup is the obvious choice as cutting up the cab doesn’t affect the frame, but even then, there are roadblocks. Slicing up a unibody cab jeopardizes its rollover protection. This is where the Jeep Gladiator comes in.

Because the Jeep’s roof is removable, the rollover hoop is a separate piece that stays in place when the top comes off. Legally, it’s there to protect people in seats, so when Acela removes the back seats, it’s OK to remove the back half of the roll cage as well since there’s no one to protect. With the back half of the cab gone, it’s as simple as plugging the hole.

This is no slapdash camper shell, either. Acela worked with Jeep engineers for a year to create a single SMC composite piece which acts as part of the roof and sides of the vehicle, plus the rear window and wall. Acela cuts the standard Gladiator cab in half just behind the front doors and permanently attaches its rear cab while preserving the removable front roof panels and creating an 18-inch-deep storage area behind the rear seats. Yes, you can still remove the doors, and yes, that technically makes it an extended cab, not a single cab.

Acela doesn’t touch any of the airbags or any mechanical systems when it hacks off the back of the cab and tosses the rear seats, so the Dispatcher retains its factory warranty. The company is testing the stock stability control system and airbags post-conversion to determine whether any software update is required to account for the lighter curb weight and altered center of gravity as the Dispatcher is about 1,000 pounds lighter than a stock Gladiator.

The inside of the rear cab is finished in black ABS plastic over sound-deadening material like a stock Gladiator. The factory electronics mounted to the back wall of the cab are reinstalled in the same space on the new back wall. It also retains the factory rear window with defrost and sliding center section.

As a result of losing three-fifths of the seating capacity, Acela is able to offer the Dispatcher as a chassis cab or with an optional seven-foot Tafco aluminum drop-side flatbed. That’s a full two feet longer than the stock bed, a few inches wider at five full feet, and with no pesky wheelwells to get in the way of whatever you want to carry back there. L-track tie-downs are optional and if you’d like to retain the factory blind-spot monitoring system, Acela will relocate the sensors from the taillights into custom housings.

Is it perfect? Not quite, but how much do you care? The rear side windows don’t match the design of the front windows and don’t line up with them. The new back of the cab overhangs where the old back of the cab was cut off and looks a bit awkward from the side. Going to an aftermarket bed for now means losing the factory taillights, but that’s no big loss.

Powertrains You Know

Acela generally begins with the Gladiator Sport S model but will build off a base Sport model if your budget is tight. Those who want maximum off-road capability can also use the more expensive Rubicon model as their starting point. Standard Sport S-based trucks are generally fitted with the Max Tow Package as well which brings with it the two-inch Class IV receiver hitch, extra engine cooling, high-power 240-amp alternator, and 4.10 rear axle. If you really want to start with another trim level as your base, Acela can do that, too.

Like all Gladiators, the Dispatcher comes standard with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine producing 285 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. It’s hooked to an eight-speed automatic and, generally, the Command-Trac two-speed transfer case with 2Hi, 4Hi, and 4Lo, but no 4 Auto. If you’re looking for more power and are willing to forgo the factory warranty, Acela is considering offering a Hemi V-8 swap in the future.

For most builds, the suspension is the only thing Acela touches below the body, and it’s enhanced to increase the max payload capacity from 1,720 pounds stock to between 2,712–3,001 pounds. Most of that comes from removing roughly 1,000 pounds of cab, roof, and roll hoop during the conversion. The rest comes from a Stage 1 suspension upgrade that strengthens the rear suspension only, or the Stage 2 kit that does both the front and rear suspension for max payload. The latter also increases the truck’s gross vehicle weight rating slightly.

If you need to tow, you need to make a choice. If you go for max payload, Acela drops the max tow rating to 5,600 pounds so as not to mess with the gross combined weight rating. Take the lower payload rating and max towing goes back up to 7,700 pounds.

Variants Already on the Way

Acela expects its top customers to be farmers and ranchers looking to do more work than a side-by-side can handle but with similar off-road capability. The company is also preparing other packages like a dump bed and a snowplow kit.

Despite that, the Dispatcher was originally conceived as a Type 6 wildland firetruck, and that determined all the payload, cargo capacity, and towing specs. It’s also why the truck is an extended cab, not a true single cab, so firefighters would have a safe, lockable place to put their personal gear bags.

The first variant is a fully equipped Type 6 firetruck with a slip-in pump powered by a standalone Honda engine, a 100-foot hose, and a 150-gallon water tank with foam capability. That doesn’t sound like much to the uninitiated, but it’s substantially more capable than a similarly priced side-by-side Type 6 unit as the entire firefighting apparatus can be mounted to the bed rather than partially towed behind. With factory stability control, the Jeep-based Dispatcher is also less prone to tipping over in the hands of an inexperienced driver. The Dispatcher also fills a massive hole in the Type 6 segment, as other options are built on much larger platforms like the Ford F-550 and cost half a million dollars.

Yes, You Can Buy One

Unlike some conversions, the Dispatcher isn’t just for government fleets and commercial buyers. Acela will happily sell one to any customer willing to pay the $54,325 entry price for a chassis cab Sport S, a $9,840 upcharge over a stock Sport S with the max tow package. If you want to start with a different trim level, the starting price varies accordingly. The aluminum flatbed is a $6,900 option, and the Type 6 firetruck package is $22,800.

Acela is finalizing its supply chain now and plans to put the Dispatcher into production in July. It’s taking orders and deposits and expects a three- to four-month lead time at first, which should shorten substantially once the production line is fully up and running. The company also plans to stock converted Sport S and Rubicon models for immediate sale to folks who don’t want to customize their orders.