My friend doesn't like the internet. He has a 97 4 door sport. Automatic. He wants to reduce as much weight as possible without removing the rear door or turning it into a Cheromanche. Any ideas?

 

Take all the seats out, take the dash out, take the hood off, take out all trim, alloy rims, light tires, aluminum head (if they make it), go to the gym, take out ac, bypass heater core and remove, take out glass, take off mirrors, headlights, turnsignals, and windshield wipers.... And I'm sure there's more

 

is he street driving it or crawling? obviously start taking **** off of it. glass, doors, interior, everything. if it's a crawler and he wants it to weigh less and he's still on stock axles I think he should be more concerned with increasing wheelbase and upgrading suspension/axles. xj's are pretty darn light. if it's a daily driver, sell it and get a 2wd!

 

Ride alone.

 

Sell it and walk. You're not going to pull a lot of weight out of those.

 

There are some legitimate ways to remove a few pounds here and there without totally hacking up your Jeep, and obviously how far you go depends on your goals. Here's what I've done with some of my Cherokees to reduce weight: remove headliner, remove plastic trim on rear hatch and if you wish other plastic, remove rear wiper assembly/motor, remove the sound deadening material under the carpet (I put the carpet back in afterwards), remove a/c stuff, lines, replace compressor with bypass pulley (as mentioned above), the a/c radiator in front of main radiator, remove factory airbox and use cone style filter, use an aluminum valve cover from an older 4.0, you can get a custom built aluminum driveshaft for a bit over $300, use aluminum wheels with the smallest diameter tire you can get away with (again, depending on your goals), use an aluminum wheel with a small tire as your spare, I even removed that little metal bracket thing that the spare sits on. There is a metal plate under the plastic trim beneath the steering column which is intended to protect your knees from being crushed by the column during a crash, remove at your own risk. Don't carry around anything other than what is needed, junk inside the Jeep, keep it clean. All of this costs basically nothing and allows your Jeep to remain presentable. Obviously you can take it further if you wish.

 

Like guys have said already, just start taking things out. For a non-street rig, I'd start with the back seat, removing glass and replacing it with a lexan/plexiglass type material, remove carpet, spare tire, mirrors, radio, kick out passengers, and do some sit-ups 8)

 

whats you goal weight? and what is he using the jeep for. I had my jeep down to 3300lbs. at one point.
start from the top of the jeep and work down if you want it to loose as much weight it can.
remove roof rack remove window glass remove all interior plastics head liner carpet sound deading dash covers and heater assembly and all but driver seat and seat belts. remove rear wiper and speakers. remove spare tire. remove exterior plastics then skid plates from under the jeep. remove ac pump and lines. remove front drive line convert to 2wd get 4 space saver spares and install them. put van rear leafs in it.
basically strip it

 

The xj weights 3300lbs unless hes trying to drag race it the weight of it is fine really.

 

Losing weight on an XJ with no stated goals, and does not use the internet Just taking weight off of something never solved anything with it alone.

Makes me feel like an odd ball as I look for ways to safely increase weight capacity of mine for longer trail use times. While carrying everything I may need for several days to a week including fuel, recovery gear, spare parts along with all my "Must Haves".

 

I prefer big heavy wheels and tires myself. Although it sucks *** on the highway

 

You need to include way more details. With the limited requirements you posted, removing the front doors would be among the acceptable solutions to reduce weight.

As for me, I'm trying to minimize weight gain. There's already enough things that I'm going to add to the XJ and lots of things I'll bring on trips. I'm going to sign up for cnc classes this year, and possibly get a tig welder as well so I can make some parts out of aluminum instead of steel to minimize weight gain on the XJ, and try to reduce weight from my Corvette and motorcycle.

 

Depends how he wants to use the jeep,As a rock crawler you want to try to balance the weight front to back.

 

Humm he never came back and answered any questions.

 

Sorry for the long wait to answer. Been busy at work. He wants to crawl with it. But he wants to keep it raid legal. Also, since we live in Maine, he wants to keep warm when "wheeling winter style" as he puts it. Thanks for all the replies.