Weight reduction

[geoff77]

All over the forum are posts on getting best efficiency, reducing stress on the engine etcetera. If this thread already exists I couldn't find it, but has anyone given it a good go at reducing the weight of the vehicle. I have seen people using carbon bonnets and other parts, but this will reduce maybe a couple of hundred, but the patrol at around 2300kg, there is a lot to lose.
What about tyres, are there any AT tyres with Kevlar carbon for strength and weight reduction?
Anyone really looked at big weight reduction in the GU??

[MudRunnerTD]

Lol. I roll at 3000kgs when touring and a Carbon Bonnet will be pointless. Obviously tyres are very important when touring the Outback, tough, thick, heavy wall tyres are your friend.

Really if your chasing weigh saving in a Patrol you need to figure out why? That will help you figure out what to take off! When you load 60lts of water and 210lt of fuel it all goes out the window.

For me, I decided on a full length Alloy roof rack at 24kgs over a steel on e at 60kgs

Other than that they are heavy and not for racing so 100kgs here will be canceled by 100kgs there.

Take out the unused seats is a good start. Remove the third row. Take out the middle row if touring two up.

[geoff77]

Yeah that's it. But for example a steel roof rack, which I have, this heavy bugger is constantly on and off. I considered doing something out of carbon, my uncle is a boat builder, and that would allow me to use that reduction somewhere else. North Coast NSW no great need to carry huge amounts of water or fuel. But when I lived in WA, we would camp for a month and be self sufficient. I guess you are right, compromise is a big part of it.
yeah body wouldn't do much if all carbon. What a painful task though. Tyres, fuel, chassis I guess these are the big items. Difficult to compromise with these.
Be interesting to go over a weigh bridge when fully laden. With the vehicle itself well over 2 tonnes, fuel, etc. Anyone ever done this?

[DX grunt]

Yeah that's it. But for example a steel roof rack, which I have, this heavy bugger is constantly on and off. I considered doing something out of carbon, my uncle is a boat builder, and that would allow me to use that reduction somewhere else. North Coast NSW no great need to carry huge amounts of water or fuel. But when I lived in WA, we would camp for a month and be self sufficient. I guess you are right, compromise is a big part of it.
yeah body wouldn't do much if all carbon. What a painful task though. Tyres, fuel, chassis I guess these are the big items. Difficult to compromise with these.
Be interesting to go over a weigh bridge when fully laden. With the vehicle itself well over 2 tonnes, fuel, etc. Anyone ever done this?

Have a look at the thread from Cuppa. He's got a DX ute and set it all up, put it over the pits fully loaded, and had it re-rated - from memory.

[Ben-e-boy]

You could also have a alloy bulbar with a steel winch cradle to save weight here and there, alloy wheels too?

[MEGOMONSTER]

Take a diff out and transfer case
600kg gone in a jiffy.

[04OFF]

The other thing not to be over looked, is "wind resistance", roof basket design and the way you load them can play a big part in this.

I guess certain bull bars/spotties and accessories may also have a effect, i can see how even a duel wheel carrier, could also have some effect and increase drag resistance characteristics on a vehicle ?

All these things over a long trip may alter your fuel consumption as well.

[BigRAWesty]

How extreme do you wanna go..
And many of you may quiver at this but plastic is fantastic..
In the rc world of helis everyone was going carbon fiber this, metal that..
I kept mine a "plastic fantastic" heli, was a good 40% lighter than others, so it out performed and lasted longer per battery than its blinged up rivals because I could run smaller motors..

So if your really wanting to save weight..
Smart bar instead of bull bar
Plastic/ composite roof bars with a lite cage. This should be heavy to start with as you can only place a couple of hundred up there anyway, so any excess roof rack is dead weight..
Plastic tubs as a draw system
Limited electronics (manual windows mirrors etc)
Now with this above you can afford to reduce spring weight and shock sizes, so smaller and lighter
Alloy rims and AT tyres..

And pack the bare essentials..
Ie, a tyre tube instead of a second tyre
Do you need 200L if fuel or will 100 get you to the next bowser?
Same with water.

As above once you go a long range tank and water for a week that could be around 300kg in one hit.

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[threedogs]

I think everyone over the next week or so should go get
their Patrol weighed and report in to NP biggest Losers.LOL
Then write how you can reduce weight. IMO I think I'm as light as
but that could be proven Wrong, great idea lets do it

[taslucas]

Mines a bit lighter at the moment as I have the seats and carpet out after a swim on Sat:-)

FanTapstic!

[Sir Roofy]

A lot of talk about being lighter by reducing wieght,your biggest wieght is fuel and water the two most essentials
if your going into the out back with just 100lts of fuelyou will have to plan it right down to the last k thats fine if your town hopping but what if you venture off the black top into the dunes or if it rains in the black soil country or claypans and the going gets sluggish you burn more fuel than you planned,will be touch and go to get back to the black top and town
your dissapointed you cant see the sights what to do,add jerry cans =more wieght,get a longrange tank =more wieght you really cant avoid it then theres tools and spares to be sorted tents awnings and the must haves what ever you do you will be over gvm
or very close to it or spend the dollars to have the gvm up graded,i myself love to have extra fuel water on board just in case

[BigRAWesty]

Yea couldn't agree more roofy..
I got over the fact that I don't drive a prius a long time ago.. but it is nice to keep track of it. Imo its a sign of things not going right..
Sure you have to account for a roof rack, retain etc, so 2-3/ 100k is fine. If your noticing 10L/100 in a diesel then you start asking why...
Even towing a 1.1t camper mine increased from 12.5 to 16.. so not a huge jump..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[Cuppa]

Have a look at the thread from Cuppa. He's got a DX ute and set it all up, put it over the pits fully loaded, and had it re-rated - from memory.

There sure isn't a heck of a lot to play with when setting up for long term & remote touring solo.
GVM on my DX was 3400kg. Fully loaded & ready to roll we weighed 3700kg!
I started looking at ways to reduce the weight to get under the GVM & realised that I just couldn't do it. Knocking off even 100kg was going to mean compromises I was unwilling to make. If travelling in a group, or for shorter period of just a few weeks there are many compromises which could be made, but for longer term on our own not so. We have a set up to be able to go bush for weeks at a time, with solar self sufficiency, hot water, 180 litres fresh water etc all of which weighs. Trying to reduce weight was looking at a few kilos here & there, nothing which would add up to close to the 300kg we needed to lose. Sure I could lose a battery, carry less water, rip out the hws, carry les food, just have the single fridge instead of fridge & freezer, junk the fridge slides, carry less spares/tools, live with just the rooftop tent instead of carrying the Oztent 'living room' too, but every one of those things was included for very good reasons & to discard any of them meant unacceptable change. It would have made more sense to get a diferent vehicle & tow an off road camper trailer, which we also didn't want to do. Solution was to accept that we will be 'heavy', which carries the cost of greater fuel consumption & vehicle wear & tear ....... but upgrading the GVM to 3900kg has allowed us to keep to our original plan. The cost of upgrading, whilst not cheap, was way less than the other options. We will still need to take care to stay within the GVM, but it is do-able, & often will be well under by virtue of not needing to have water & fuel tanks full. All that said I continue to 'nibble at the edges' of weight reduction. Eg. replaced steel winch cable & roller fairlead with dyneema rope & alloy hawse (worth 13kg), we are getting a new mattress & will likely go with a single sided inner spring, an expected weight loss compared to the current knackered foam job. No glass. Switching seats will have saved a bit of weight too I expect etc etc

Cuppa

[threedogs]

Roof rack on my other 4x4 used around 40 extra Ks a tank. I'm not a fan of travelling heavy if thats the term.Travelling "heavy" comes with too many negitives, wear and tear and fuel usage just to name two. As for "remote" thats nearly a thing of the past.Travelling if you need fuel every day ,you'll more than likely have access to food, shower and laundry facilities. Food can be purchased along the way, you can even go to Cape York these days Hamburging it all the way. The CSR would be a different story, but only a 2-3 week trip. Maybe the only true "remote" trip left to do in Aust. Surveyor general corner is only day from supplies I think. Most remote communities have plenty of frozen stores, bread etc, When I was travelling I acquired a taste for powdered milk, now there is UHT milk, squeeze tube coffee, laugh as you will be these are all weight saving items. learn to make bread I did and love doing it at camp. These days it just buy all the gear and take off. there are heaps of ways to cut weight ,first IMO would be plan your trip better

[93patrol]

I think my ute is as light as its going to get with alloy tray and bull bar side steps. Bucket seats and just one 85L fuel tank. Still weighs close to 2500 kg last weigh bridge I rolled across


Just tap it in just tappy tappy tappy

[Cuppa]

As for "remote" thats nearly a thing of the past.Travelling if you need fuel every day ,you'll more than likely have access to food, shower and laundry facilities. Food can be purchased along the way, you can even go to Cape York these days Hamburging it all the way. The CSR would be a different story, but only a 2-3 week trip. Maybe the only true "remote" trip left to do in Aust. Surveyor general corner is only day from supplies I think.

Yes you've said all that before TD, and you are right, but what you seem to forget when making such pontifications is that not everyone wants to travel everyday or to rely on having to replenish supplies so often. In fact quite the opposite in our case. We hope to find spots where we can camp for weeks at a time, the longer the better, without having to up sticks to go get supplies, & I believe I have achieved the ability to do just that. It's that old horses for courses thing again, so whilst the travelling style you describe might suit many, it is not the only way. To my way of seeing things zipping up to the tip of Cape York & back in a week or two just doesn't appeal, although I understand it's what the majority of people do. I, & I suspect many others if they had the time available, would much prefer to take a lot longer, allowing for stays at those special spots for a week or two at a time, rather than rushed overnighters. Time to get to know the places, to relax, walk, catch a few fish etc, and then to move on to another idyllic spot without need to divert past a 7-11.

So, compromise on the the length of time one can spend away from 'civilisation, or compromise on vehicle weight. I guess most aim for a balance that suits their aims.

Cuppa

[megatexture]

So out of curiosity what are some of your weights, last i was on the pits my trol was 2860kg (09 gu) with full tank of fuel and nothing but myself in it and I’m 92-95kg between meals
And a mate of mine has nothing but a alloy bar on his and his is 2600kg ... so we thought it was strange that there is not much difference between them when I’ve got 33s, steel roof rack, cargo barrier, winch, bullbar and sliders all of these things you would think would weigh more than 165kgs... the only thing we can think of is there is more plastic in the newer models.

[threedogs]

Should start a sticky with what you think are your heavier accessories.
I've removed 3 seats but added 2 battery, winch, and bullbar.
I'll try and get it weighed this week. Plus travel with Engel every day.
My recent roofrack was not heavy but would ad maybe 40kg if that.