Does weight matter?

[Obi.Wan.Shawnobi]

weight matters 100%. I got back a few weeks ago from an 8 day trip. fully loaded rear cargo. i was bottoming out all the time. Lesson learned, pack your wrangler like you are an ultralight backpacker. Mod weight matters. I am going to have to put 3.5" springs on the rear of my wrangler because how the heavy tire and rim cause sag (2.5" now). its better than using spacers even though it may cause the rear to sit a little high. I wouldn't think it would be as critical in a 2dr but I guess I was wrong.

Sponsored

 

[wibornz]

This is my take on it. The story of two JLURs. Both have the same lift and run the same tires, and 5.13 gears, same motor and both pull a camper. I have heavier Jeep, my bumpers, and wheels are heavier. I carry all the tools, and my fridge carries the beverages, I weight about 150 pounds more than him and I have a passenger 95% of the time. Over all my on average is about 500 pounds heavier than his. Yet, I kick his ass in light to light racing dam near ever time.

With the campers in tow and loaded down for travel, my JLUR, and camper is 1217 pounds heavier than my bud's set up. He consistently gets about 1 mpg better in fuel mileage. We have pulled the campers and our set up over 10,000 miles together while Jeep traveling and wheeling. My camper is taller than his and is above the roof line of my Jeep. His is not.

I gladly give up the 1 mpg for a nicer camper. The only time that the weight has made a difference is climbing the pass by Denver and the pass by Breckenridge in Colorado. That's it.

We have wheeled all the same trails and all different types of terrain. So if you think that a hundred pounds or so made it so that you got stuck or could not make an obstacle. I would just have to say you most likely picked a bad line. I often chuckle when someone will also write that they don't want to loose an 1/4 inch of ground clearance by adding a skid plate or something along that line. Once again, if a 1/4 inch is what makes you a better at off roading, well pick better lines. I am fully aware that it can make a difference, I am just saying at the end of the day it is not life ending. For example I run a diff skids. I would much rather protect my diffs, and scrub a diff skid than say, misjudge a rock in the trail, fuck of my diff and walk 20 miles out of the mountains.....

In the end of the day, it is just not that deep. I would only worry about it if I was racing for money and then a win or lose was determined by thousands of a second. Jeeping is not like that or at least the type of Jeeping that I do.