Jeep on a Diet

[2001Jeep]

Has anyone figured out how to remove weight from a Jeep Cherokee.

Id like to figure out what item I could loose to make it lighter.

I could stand to loose 40LBS but I think taking it out of the jeep would be easier.

I contemplated removing the back seat but i have 2 kids and its not easily removed or replaced, unlike my old wrangler.

Ideas????

[ebacherville]

spare tire, jack etc..

also if you got roof racks remove them.. that will help weight and drag

[2001Jeep]

Thanks. I Just removed my roof rack cross bars yesterday. I'll see if it had any impact in a week or 2 after I get a few fill ups.

Im not sure I want to remove the spare and jack. It seems if I get a flat, the cost of the tow would more than erase any savings the weight removal would have gained.

[ebacherville]

Originally Posted by 2001Jeep

Thanks. I Just removed my roof rack cross bars yesterday. I'll see if it had any impact in a week or 2 after I get a few fill ups.

Im not sure I want to remove the spare and jack. It seems if I get a flat, the cost of the tow would more than erase any savings the weight removal would have gained.

True.. thats your call for sure , some have AAA or other insurance to cover a tow.. my insurance offers it for a few bucks a month.. use it once in 4 years and it paid for its self.. some people just carry a can of fix a flat.. not going to fix a blow out but slow leaks yes..

You could remove plastic trim in the cargo area.. .. really drastic .. start removing metal from the car that not needed, like braces under the hood.. in non structural areas.

[adam728]

XJ's are pretty light as is, actually lighter than a Wrangler because of the uni-body construction. I can't remember the year ranges, but I believe some Cherokee's have a stamped steel rear hatch and some are fiberglass. I can't verify, but I want to say the older ones were the lighter fiberglass, then they went to steel for crash safety reasons.

Any extra skid plates to pull?
Look into JeepSpeed, a lot of those guys run fiberglass front fenders and hoods (will never pay for itself with gas savings though)

After that you are going to start getting into comfort items.
Underhood insulation
Carpet and padding inside
Headliner
Plastic trim (which is pretty light anyway)
Extra seats (you already mentioned)
Spare tire/tools (I don't like that idea either, although switching to a space-saver spare could help)
Air conditioning
Swap rear windows and hatch glass for lexan
If you have a reciever hitch and don't use it, loose it

That's about all I can think of

I'll have to see if I can dig up some pictures. You could be like my buddy and just chop the top off your Cherokee. The shell was destined for the scrap heap, the trans/engine/axles were set for another project. So he took and cut everything from the base of the windows up and then beat the crap out of it. Surprisingly the uni-body didn't fold up like an origami swan.

[johnpr]

switch to as many fiberglass parts as possible - already mentioned, kinda expensive,
replace spare with a smaller spare (as long as its not awd and you dont lock into 4wd) honestly though, without getting into safety stuff (airbags, seatbelts, bumpers etc) there isnt that much weight to lose, on my trans am if i replace all of the glass with lexan i will be lucky to shave 80 pounds, and you wont save even that much so, i would suggest maybe trying some aero mods, maybe replace skid plates with a plastic belly pan, a grill block would help also

[Red]

Not much to pull from an XJ, like adam said they are pretty light as is. Biggie would be swapping the front D30 out for just a beam axle.

[elhigh]

I'm thinking hard about Mom's Wrangler and there really isn't anything I can think of that would be easy to part with - taking out the sound insulation would just be an assault in my opinion...Jeeps are noisy enough.

You could perhaps switch out the conventional battery with an Optima Yellow Top; I think there's a bit of savings to be had there.

[johnpr]

wranglers have sound insulation??? mine doesnt even have a carpet (jeep 2) honestly jeeps are made about as light as they can be, maybe change the bumpers to fiberglass bumpers, that was common on the olds cutlass back when they came with steel bumpers. and skid plates, those are the only real heavyweight items