So riding in Tellico really opened my eyes as to what the TJ is capable of. It made a the ledge on Schoobus that only comp buggies made and it would have walked it if the rear was not so heavy. So, I started thinking about how I could trim the fat on the rig and decided to put it on a diet. I weighed it a while back fully loaded out with about 1/4 tank of gas, soft doors and tools/spares it was 4,540lbs, 100 of that was tools, spares and cooler. I was thinking about cutting a bunch of weight off like the front stinger, back porch, misc stock mounts, heavy battery tray, etc. Also would like to move the coilovers up front and air shocks in the back. This would drop about 50lbs in the back and also net me 3-4" more travel in the rear since air shocks have a smaller diameter which means more room before it hits the frame. Plenty of room for coilovers in the front, and the weight would be a wash since I would be losing a bunch of heavy bracketry, coils and shocks. Was also thinking air bumps up there if I had enough coin. The last step would be unbolting anything not neeeded to save weight and possibly going with a Chris Durham fiberglass hood with integrated fenders. It weighs in at 12lbs and my current front hood and tube fenders probably weighs 200. Any ideas on other stuff I can ditch with minimal cost involved? WE Aluminum beadlocks would be nice and I am going to save for them as they are expensive.
Me and my buddy Wayne did some work today. Ditched the following parts:
Sound Bar - 15lbs
Rear Storage Rack - 45 lbs
Steel Fairlead - 5lbs
Trimmed Down the Tool/Spares - 25lbs
Misc Stuff (Cruise Control, Stock Battery Box, etc.) - 10lbs
Also found out that my soft doors weigh in at 15lbs each, I am guessing the windshield frame is 70lbs or so. Also cutting off the "back porch" will net me about 60lbs and front stinger and braces are about 20lbs,. So I got the easy weight off, the rest requires money and labor ;D
