How heavy is your XJ?

[Pookapotamus]

One thing that's been in the back of my mind since I have started project Rigor Mortis, is weight. I mean wow, I am adding a lot of weight with all the mods that I have added to Mort! Front bumper and winch, rear bumper and winch, roll bar, frame stiffenerz, sliders, Gas tank, Clayton long arm kit. Not to mention all the little things like air compressor, lights, wiring upgrades, heated seats, recovery gear, amps, and subs. This all adds up, and now maybe the little XJ weighs much more than you previously thought.

Some people might not care, and don't get me started on the whole gas mileage issue (I know I am driving lifted tissue box), but I kind of do want to know. We tend to do a lot of winter wheeling in Alberta, and weight can be an issue when crossing rivers or lakes, we also have bridges that various clubs have built and they can become hazards to cross. Plus Pookapotomi are by nature curious creatures!

Now at this point some of you are saying, "Just how do I go about weighing my Jeep? vehicle scales are expensive!" well there are a couple ways. Here in Canada the truckers have weigh scales at some of the rest stops, you can pull in, park on the scale and read the digits for free! Or at the landfills they now weigh your jeep on the way in and weigh it on the way out and charge you for the weight of garbage you left. A scrap yard will do the same thing.

This just might be the ramblings of a slightly confused/slightly inebriated Pookapotomi, but I think we might be able to learn from this and that it could be very useful information, possibly in selecting better rated tires, and brakes for the amount of weight that we have added to our rigs.

So does your XJ need to go on a diet?

[4.3LXJ]

Pook, great minds wheel the same places. I have always had the same concerns. I started out with a 2.8L and 5 speed. I added my front bumper, but kept it aluminum. It weighs about 65# and rear bumper weighs only about 40# also of aluminum. I haven't done it yet, but I will go to synthetic line and save about 50# I think. Anyway with bumpers and winch it weighed in at 3400#. But like you I started adding weight. Larger engine, though lighter than a 4.0 and auto, close to twice the weight of the 5 speed and an Atlas that weighs 185#. So I don't know what it weighs now. However there a few parts I will substitute with aluminum later to shave some weight I have added. But I am sure I am pushing 4000# now. Axles I add will add a little. The ones I will use will have D60 strength without the weight. Shouldn't be too much more than the current stock axles. However if I ever manage to afford the 38s, those weigh a hundred pounds apiece. I figure I will top out at about 4500#, which is light for a bad ass rock crawler.

[XJ Wheeler]

Haven't done it yet but i do plan on it. Here in the states you can go to most truck stops and jump on the scales, costs around $10. Scrap yard, trash dump, and recycling yard will weigh you for free loaded and unloaded to get a price for the load.

[4.3LXJ]

Here you can also do it at the dump for free. They weigh vehicles to determine what to charge

[bigjim350]

Just through a few bits of scrap metal in the back. Take it to the scrap yard, they will weight it on the way in, toss out the metal, weigh on the way out. Will be free that way, plus make a couple bucks ;)

[Pookapotamus]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/01/uzeqavud.jpg

Finally made it out to a weigh scale today, I'm assuming that it is reading in kilograms, if so he weighs in at 4800 pounds! No to find out what he weighed when he was new.

[4.3LXJ]

Depends on options Pook. The 86 Laredo I have with the V6 and 5 speed was at about 3200# before I started making it heavier

[Pookapotamus]

That's kinda what I have found too, not too bad when you really think if everything I have added, front rear bumper, roll bar, sliders, stiffeners, and the heavy Clayton suspension.

[4.3LXJ]

Mine will be worse now I think even though I have been trying to hold the weight down

[07Negative]

It's not like taking one of these Ford Expeditions or other land yacht SUV's stock and modding it.
At Reid racing. They weighed a front stock D60 at 492lbs. That's insane!

[ArmyGuy45]

How heavy can you go before the uni-body strength become questionable?

[Pookapotamus]

Depends, with frame stiffeners and integrated sliders that both add to the structural of the unibody and with a roll bar that's been tied to both the stiffeners rear bumper and sliders. I'm not too worried about it.

[4.3LXJ]

That does bring up an issue I have with many of the popular mods, such as D60s and a tone of iron in the bumpers etc. At some point you have an extremely heavy vehicle and many of the mods you made are now obsolete due to weight, so more mods needed etc. A good all around rig needs to stay light so it doesn't need 1 ton axles just to get across town

[XJ Wheeler]

How heavy can you go before the uni-body strength become questionable?

I'm no engineer but to me its more how you use the vehicle than weight on that subject, although i'm sure more weight doesn't help.

Sent via messenger pigeon - i talk, he types.

[4.3LXJ]

I'm no engineer but to me its more how you use the vehicle than weight on that subject, although i'm sure more weight doesn't help.

Sent via messenger pigeon - i talk, he types.

You would be amazed at how weight affects a 4WD. Compare my Mighty Mite at less than 2000# with power locks and skinny tires to a 3/4 ton pickup locked etc and the difference is like, well, driving circles around the pickup. The difference gets even more pronounced in soft stuff like some mud, sand and snow especially

[XJ Wheeler]

You would be amazed at how weight affects a 4WD. Compare my Mighty Mite at less than 2000# with power locks and skinny tires to a 3/4 ton pickup locked etc and the difference is like, well, driving circles around the pickup. The difference gets even more pronounced in soft stuff like some mud, sand and snow especially

Oh yeah, i don't doubt that. Weight and weight balance is critical to how a vehicle performs. I just meant on the subject of wearing on the chassis. You could take a XJ, say tony's that has a ton more weight added to it (except without any frame stiffening) and drive streets and highways most its life and the chassis would probably last quite a while un-"tweeked". But a stock cherokee running hard on rocks and jumps would have plenty of problems with it.

Sent via messenger pigeon - i talk, he types.

[Pookapotamus]

Totally agree, that's the whole reason I run stiffeners, my previous xj did not have them, ran it pretty hard, when I striped it down to get rid of it I found many stress cracks in the unibody.