Weight Savings

[Bcol2012]

Good Afternoon All,

Was wondering if any of you guys are doing things to your Bronco to save some weight? I want to add Bodyguard bumpers and the Rockslide Engineering steps but once I add those items plus a winch it won’t leave me much room for cargo based on the GVWR and my current setup (Loaded Badlands. Current Cargo limit is 944 lbs from Ford). What are you guys doing about this? Or are you worrying about it at all?

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[Silver-Bolt]

My only purposeful weight savings will be the wheels. Beyond that I will change to a higher spring rate to handle the extra load of bumpers, sliders, and skids.

 

[Bcol2012]

My only purposeful weight savings will be the wheels. Beyond that I will change to a higher spring rate to handle the extra load of bumpers, sliders, and skids.

Thanks this is what I was essentially wondering. I don’t have experience building off road vehicles so I was curious if people tried to stay within the factory specific GVWR or if people offset the extra weight with beefier suspension. I want to keep this car for a long time so want to make sure I’m taking care of it the best way I can.

 

[Tricky Dick]

You could go with aluminum skidplates to drop a few pounds.

 

[Bcol2012]

You could go with aluminum skidplates to drop a few pounds.

Good suggestion! Didn’t even think about that. I’m also looking at the Magnaflow Overland cat back system to see if that’s lighter than OEM. Magnaflow says their system weights 50 lbs. Just need to find out how much the OEM catback weighs.

 

[Tricky Dick]

Good suggestion! Didn’t even think about that. I’m also looking at the Magnaflow Overland cat back system to see if that’s lighter than OEM. Magnaflow says their system weights 50 lbs. Just need to find out how much the OEM catback weighs.

There's a company advertising them on here but be warned, they're pricy, and shipping is high.

 

[Jdc]

Asfir makes aluminum skid plates but I'm not sure if anyone has spent the time comparing the savings vs the stock skids

 

[Bcol2012]

Figured I mine as well and fully explain what's in my head for those that are curious. Now again I realize I am probably over thinking this but that's how my brain works. The stated cargo rating of my car as it was built is 944 lbs. I've already calculated the weight gain for the following components:

Accessories
Bodyguard Front Bumper: 130 lbs, OEM HD Mod Bumper: ~60 lbs, Weight Gain: 70 lbs
Bodyguard Rear Bumper: 80 lbs, OEM Rear Bumper: ~16 lbs, Weight Gain: 64 lbs
Rockslide Engineer Steps: 140lbs, OEM Rocksliders: 70 lbs, Weight Gain: 70 lbs
Winch: 80 lbs

Total Weight Gain: 284 lbs

Passengers
Myself: 200 lbs
Wife: 140 lbs
Daughter: 50 lbs

Passenger Weight: 390

This puts the remaining allowable weight for cargo at 270 lbs. This doesn't even take into account lighting accessories and whatnot. Now on normal trips this is plenty. But if we take a long camping trip or overland trip with tools, camping equipment, fuel (depending on where we're going), food etc. you quickly eat up that 270lbs. That is why my original goal was to try to shed some weight but it doesn't look like there are too many options to do so (thanks for the suggestions mentioned earlier in this thread). I'll still try to shed weight where possible but it looks like my main options are either limit the accessories I add or beef up the suspension to deal with the additional weight (Icon's stage kits look like a high quality system for this).

Updated Numbers

Accessories
Bodyguard Front Bumper: 130 lbs, OEM HD Mod Bumper: ~60 lbs, Weight Gain: 70 lbs
Bodyguard Rear Bumper: 80 lbs, OEM Rear Bumper: ~40 lbs, Weight Gain: 40 lbs
Rockslide Engineer Steps: 140lbs, OEM Rocksliders: 70 lbs, Weight Gain: 70 lbs
Asfir Skids: 57 lbs, OEM Skids: 125 lbs, Weight Savings: -73lbs
Magnaflow Catback System: 50 lbs, OEM System: ?? (Muffler alone is 30lbs)
Winch: 80 lbs

Total Weight Gain: 187 lbs

Passengers
Myself: 200 lbs
Wife: 140 lbs
Daughter: 50 lbs

Passenger Weight: 390

Cargo Limit: 367 lbs

 

[Jdc]

Figured I mine as well and fully explain what's in my head for those that are curious. Now again I realize I am probably over thinking this but that's how my brain works. The stated cargo rating of my car as it was built is 944 lbs. I've already calculated the weight gain for the following components:

Accessories
Bodyguard Front Bumper: 130 lbs, OEM HD Mod Bumper: ~60 lbs, Weight Gain: 70 lbs
Bodyguard Rear Bumper: 80 lbs, OEM Rear Bumper: ~16 lbs, Weight Gain: 64 lbs
Rockslide Engineer Steps: 140lbs, OEM Rocksliders: 70 lbs, Weight Gain: 70 lbs
Winch: 80 lbs

Total Weight Gain: 284 lbs

Passengers
Myself: 200 lbs
Wife: 140 lbs
Daughter: 50 lbs

Passenger Weight: 390

This puts the remaining allowable weight for cargo at 270 lbs. This doesn't even take into account lighting accessories and whatnot. Now on normal trips this is plenty. But if we take a long camping trip or overland trip with tools, camping equipment, fuel (depending on where we're going), food etc. you quickly eat up that 270lbs. That is why my original goal was to try to shed some weight but it doesn't look like there are too many options to do so (thanks for the suggestions mentioned earlier in this thread). I'll still try to shed weight where possible but it looks like my main options are either limit the accessories I add or beef up the suspension to deal with the additional weight (Icon's stage kits look like a high quality system for this).

Those are some heavy bumpers. I see you've ordered a Badlands and that has a steel rear bumper. Are you sure on the 16lb number? I'd say, depending on what type of off-roading you're doing, that you should look into the Asfir skids.

 

[Bcol2012]

Those are some heavy bumpers. I see you've ordered a Badlands and that has a steel rear bumper. Are you sure on the 16lb number? I'd say, depending on what type of off-roading you're doing, that you should look into the Asfir skids.

Good catch. Didn't even think about that. I looked at the plastic cap they have on top of it for stepping and forgot that it was a steel bumper. So I will need to get an updated weight for that but that's a step in the right direction. And I will definitely check out those skids.

 

[Stampede.Offroad]

Rear seat delete. Should cut down on passenger payload too.

 

[BlueBronco]

Not that any of us here know you from Adam but how pissed is your wife going to be if she finds out you posted her weight to the internet?

 

[Bcol2012]

Not that any of us here know you from Adam but how pissed is your wife going to be if she finds out you posted her weight to the internet?

Ha! Luckily I married a good one and she doesn't care. She got a good chuckle out of your comment though!

 

[Bcol2012]

Those are some heavy bumpers. I see you've ordered a Badlands and that has a steel rear bumper. Are you sure on the 16lb number? I'd say, depending on what type of off-roading you're doing, that you should look into the Asfir skids.

Just added some updated numbers on that post. The Asfir skids helped quite a bit so thanks for that recommendation. Do you have any experience with aluminum skids?

 

[Jdc]

Just added some updated numbers on that post. The Asfir skids helped quite a bit so thanks for that recommendation. Do you have any experience with aluminum skids?

I don't but there are folks in this forum that have much more experience than I do.

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