Pork Chop
My apologies in advance for the crabby sarcasm and the liberal use of "air-quotes". Proceed at your own risk.
I currently own a “fully modified” 100 series and before that I had a modified Jeep Cherokee (the real one). At some point I would like to move to a 200. This got me thinking about what I want and “need” in the next rig. I’ve always gone full modified as it looks cool and makes it more capable off-road (or does it?) There was a nicely modified 2011 I had my eye on at some dealership in the Chicago area that was priced quite appealingly that got me thinking about the mods and their weight (anyone on here snag that?).
I get tired of loading up my rig for a camping trip and feel like I’m driving an overloaded Clampett-mobile. 100 series ain’t exactly that peppy to start (or is it?) and now I’m carrying quite a load. So, I figured I’d go through and add up the weight of the most common Cruiser mods (for the 200 series in this case) and see what dizzying number I came up with. Here you go:
Ugh. What the hell are we doing? So, the payload of a 2011 LC is about 1500 pounds. Let’s say you’re a husky fellow and so is your friend, 500 lbs of husky between you both. Congrats, you’ve just hit payload rating and haven’t yet packed a single thing. No cold beverages for you. Side Note – it’s nice that the Slee website lists weight for each product, but unfortunately they list two weights for each product. WTH? See image below for their step sliders.
And we didn’t even talk about those bigger wheels and tires and unsprung weight. Quick summary, unsprung weight ain’t good and when you move up to bigger wheels and tires you just added some.
Granted, we lost some weight removing the factory bumpers and maybe some running boards. It would be interesting to know how much that is, I don’t have any idea. Couple hundred pounds, maybe? Great, you can pack a few things for camping now, a few cold beverages.
This weight issue has bothered me ever since I loaded my Cherokee up for the first camping trip, the ass is sagging and I can barely stop. Those were definitely light-duty (and yet still had a payload of 1150 lbs (scary). True, the Cruisers are heavy duty compared to that, but geez, 1 THOUSAND pounds of bolted on junk? And what exactly are we gaining? With a couple of swing outs we’re gaining the ability to bolt even more heavy junk on! Load up those jerry cans!
What is actually “needed”? A couple years ago I went to Moab with a couple of buddies and one of them had basically a stock LX570 (I think it was an ’11 or maybe a ’13). He had slightly larger tires. He followed me everywhere I went, to include 7 mile rim (including down Wipe-out hill), Hell’s Revenge, some Fins n Things, etc. He came down hard once on a running board, that was the only real “damage” and it was slight (see below). And of course he drug the bottom of his bumpers, but that’s to be expected. By the end of the trip he was definitely worn out and trail-wary.
And then there’s the “overlanding” crowd, or at least those that identify as “overlanders”. I’m convinced that just means they bolt every heavy-ass base mod they can find on their rig, then bolt a bunch of heavy-ass things onto those base mods and then pack the interior full of everything imaginable. How many pounds over GVWR do you think your average overlander is?
And then we all complain about how our rigs have no “power”. We’re rolling around at or over GVWR complaining that our rigs have no power. Geez, you think?
There was an ugly steel bumper on the Cruiser when I bought it. I replaced it with an aluminum Dissent and also got the aluminum skid plates. I’m a fan of the aluminum in trying to chop the pork. I wonder why no one makes aluminum rock sliders? Yah, yah, you can’t drop your rig on a rock from 10 feet and not have damage. Whatever. I’m convinced that a good portion of rigs just get built and that’s it (most likely going to have a snorkel). That’s the adventure for some, the building of a rig. I like to build and wheel. They go together for me. To each his own.
Anywho. Part of the reason I find this so important is that I have a wife and 4 kids. When we all go camping together I have approx. 880 pounds of human I’m carrying, and that is very precious cargo. Looks like the payload for my 2000 Cruiser is 1745 pounds. I’ve offloaded gear hauling to a small cargo trailer (see below), but I’m sure with all my mods and people I’m near GVWR. Hopefully not over, I need to roll over a scale fully loaded to see where I’m at.
So what’s next? This Cruiser called to me and also got me thinking about what I actually “need”. Perhaps a hidden winch, aluminum rear bumper, no swing-outs. And maybe some sliders (geez it would be hard to run trail without them). Really try to chop the pork. Someday I’d like to buy something Trailhunter-ish, consider the mods completed and just run it.
I think I’m ranted out. What say you?
My apologies in advance for the crabby sarcasm and the liberal use of "air-quotes". Proceed at your own risk.
I currently own a “fully modified” 100 series and before that I had a modified Jeep Cherokee (the real one). At some point I would like to move to a 200. This got me thinking about what I want and “need” in the next rig. I’ve always gone full modified as it looks cool and makes it more capable off-road (or does it?) There was a nicely modified 2011 I had my eye on at some dealership in the Chicago area that was priced quite appealingly that got me thinking about the mods and their weight (anyone on here snag that?).
I get tired of loading up my rig for a camping trip and feel like I’m driving an overloaded Clampett-mobile. 100 series ain’t exactly that peppy to start (or is it?) and now I’m carrying quite a load. So, I figured I’d go through and add up the weight of the most common Cruiser mods (for the 200 series in this case) and see what dizzying number I came up with. Here you go:
| SLEE- Rear Bumper, Tire Carrier and Ladder | 325 |
| SLEE – SliderStep Pair | 120 |
| ARB Winch bar | 150 |
| WARN ZEON 10-S | 75 |
| SLEE- Skid Plate System –High Strength Steel | 140 |
| Hi-Lift® All-Cast Jack | 28 |
| Subtotal | 838 |
| RTT | 168 |
| Another Subtotal | 1,006 |
| Your favorite heavy-ass mod here | Nnn |
| Another Subtotal | Nnn |
Ugh. What the hell are we doing? So, the payload of a 2011 LC is about 1500 pounds. Let’s say you’re a husky fellow and so is your friend, 500 lbs of husky between you both. Congrats, you’ve just hit payload rating and haven’t yet packed a single thing. No cold beverages for you. Side Note – it’s nice that the Slee website lists weight for each product, but unfortunately they list two weights for each product. WTH? See image below for their step sliders.
And we didn’t even talk about those bigger wheels and tires and unsprung weight. Quick summary, unsprung weight ain’t good and when you move up to bigger wheels and tires you just added some.
Granted, we lost some weight removing the factory bumpers and maybe some running boards. It would be interesting to know how much that is, I don’t have any idea. Couple hundred pounds, maybe? Great, you can pack a few things for camping now, a few cold beverages.
This weight issue has bothered me ever since I loaded my Cherokee up for the first camping trip, the ass is sagging and I can barely stop. Those were definitely light-duty (and yet still had a payload of 1150 lbs (scary). True, the Cruisers are heavy duty compared to that, but geez, 1 THOUSAND pounds of bolted on junk? And what exactly are we gaining? With a couple of swing outs we’re gaining the ability to bolt even more heavy junk on! Load up those jerry cans!
What is actually “needed”? A couple years ago I went to Moab with a couple of buddies and one of them had basically a stock LX570 (I think it was an ’11 or maybe a ’13). He had slightly larger tires. He followed me everywhere I went, to include 7 mile rim (including down Wipe-out hill), Hell’s Revenge, some Fins n Things, etc. He came down hard once on a running board, that was the only real “damage” and it was slight (see below). And of course he drug the bottom of his bumpers, but that’s to be expected. By the end of the trip he was definitely worn out and trail-wary.
And then there’s the “overlanding” crowd, or at least those that identify as “overlanders”. I’m convinced that just means they bolt every heavy-ass base mod they can find on their rig, then bolt a bunch of heavy-ass things onto those base mods and then pack the interior full of everything imaginable. How many pounds over GVWR do you think your average overlander is?
And then we all complain about how our rigs have no “power”. We’re rolling around at or over GVWR complaining that our rigs have no power. Geez, you think?
There was an ugly steel bumper on the Cruiser when I bought it. I replaced it with an aluminum Dissent and also got the aluminum skid plates. I’m a fan of the aluminum in trying to chop the pork. I wonder why no one makes aluminum rock sliders? Yah, yah, you can’t drop your rig on a rock from 10 feet and not have damage. Whatever. I’m convinced that a good portion of rigs just get built and that’s it (most likely going to have a snorkel). That’s the adventure for some, the building of a rig. I like to build and wheel. They go together for me. To each his own.
Anywho. Part of the reason I find this so important is that I have a wife and 4 kids. When we all go camping together I have approx. 880 pounds of human I’m carrying, and that is very precious cargo. Looks like the payload for my 2000 Cruiser is 1745 pounds. I’ve offloaded gear hauling to a small cargo trailer (see below), but I’m sure with all my mods and people I’m near GVWR. Hopefully not over, I need to roll over a scale fully loaded to see where I’m at.
So what’s next? This Cruiser called to me and also got me thinking about what I actually “need”. Perhaps a hidden winch, aluminum rear bumper, no swing-outs. And maybe some sliders (geez it would be hard to run trail without them). Really try to chop the pork. Someday I’d like to buy something Trailhunter-ish, consider the mods completed and just run it.
I think I’m ranted out. What say you?
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