I have a few questions for those of you who have done things to lower the total weight of a gen 2 brat. I don't think I can do the door elimination thing (that would have been easy tho!) I'd like to keep the main part of the body intact, but I am not afraid of hollowing things out, wondering how feasable "air contitioning" the sides of the bed would be ... gonna be taking out the front fenders for the most part too I think and replacing them with very minimum for protection. The main weight-loss on my brat will be eliminating bed-long tool boxes and NOTcarring half my garage in supplies with me

Why not ditch the doors? Do up some nice lightweight tube doors, keep the real ones in your garage until the winter. Should help you drop about 100lbs altogether, or just wear your belt and ditch the doors completely for the summer, you'd drop about 175lbs that way.

being a unibody the "no door" idea to me sounds like death to the car...... the doors do play an imortant part to the structure of the vehicle. eliminating them completely would cause the car to sag in the middle over time.... being that its an old car, it probably wouldnt take very long to do it either......

doors are not part of the strutural strength of the unibody......they just fill holes.....unless you become involved in a major accident where the body openings are compromised .........then yes.....running w/o doors should be fine ...unless you get real real rough with it.....

all good info ... ty ... I'm going to look into that guy that "bobbed" his brat making it shorter on the end ... I'm not 100% against the door elimination idea, however I don't like the idea of being totally open to the elements, I mean I could "mud proof" my interior, but it's just too nice for that right now I was hoping there might be someone who had race-preped a brat and lightened it a bit .. but I just got off the phone with the Kenda ATV tire rep and weight is NO LONGER and issue!! :banana: go check my "New 14" Holy Grail" post for details

all good info ... ty ... I'm going to look into that guy that "bobbed" his brat making it shorter on the end ... I'm not 100% against the door elimination idea, however I don't like the idea of being totally open to the elements, I mean I could "mud proof" my interior, but it's just too nice for that right now I was hoping there might be someone who had race-preped a brat and lightened it a bit .. but I just got off the phone with the Kenda ATV tire rep and weight is NO LONGER and issue!! :banana: go check my "New 14" Holy Grail" post for details

 

I would HIGHLY recommend taking the doors off!! I did it with the front doors on my wagon for the Crawl 4 the Cure earlier this summer. and you really notice the weight difference, and you can see SOOO much better. you know exactly what terrain you're going over.

 

on the structure of the car, you can have it teetering on 2 wheels, with as much twisting force on the unibody as possible, and still open and close the doors just fine. can't do that in a cherokee....

 

tell me this doesn't look fun

 

unless you're doing some serious mud boggin (which...maybe you are....since you're getting ATV tires), it's pretty hard to get mud in the cab.

tell me this doesn't look fun

 

.

 

nice picture, Im wondering what i should do with my 78 brat, the more I think about , Im thuinkin it should be totaly stripped doors and glass ,and tailgate everything and run some light rims and ATV tires , maybe cut the top off so its like a jeep ( yah I know thats were the strength is)

you could always roll tube it if you remove roof,then canvas the top....thus retaining most all the upper unibody strength (that is surely needed)....if i removed the roof i would definitely tube it........

As for mud in the cab, if I have my windows open, the roof gets coated on the INSIDE, so without doors, I'd be done for.

As for mud in the cab, if I have my windows open, the roof gets coated on the INSIDE, so without doors, I'd be done for.

 

that's a whole different sport. the one I participate in involves alot less happy pedal

 

I rarely get the fenders dirty. sure, I twist and break control arms, rip my skidplate mounts out, and bend bumpers....but no dirt :-\

then your not doing it right:lol:

 

that's a whole different sport. the one I participate in involves alot less happy pedal

 

I rarely get the fenders dirty. sure, I twist and break control arms, rip my skidplate mounts out, and bend bumpers....but no dirt :-\

I only run 3 wheels to save weight.

 

 

Seriously, remove the glass.

then your not doing it right:lol:

 

haha, nah, just doin it different. Most of my favorite trails involve dry, hardpacked dirt, rocks, and fallen trees. have to use alot more finesse to get through that stuff without destroying the car.

lol.....just starting to rain here........thank goodness.....been dry since mid july ........now the real fun begins........

A Brat would be hard to shave weight off.

 

Doors are your biggest weight that's easily shed. (and put back on)

A tailgate could be replaced by a net.

Glass weighs.

A hood weighs.

 

A lot of what you can get rid of depends on what you want to use the vehicle for? Strictly off-road? Still street legal? These decisions will limit what you can do. I removed my doors, hatch, side glass and hood and I was amazed at how much weight those things added! (This is still Street legal in Ut.)

 

Good luck

Glenn

What Sweet just said. Tough to shave weight off of a Brat.

lol.....just starting to rain here........thank goodness.....been dry since mid july ........now the real fun begins........

And what he said. With the rain comes the cold, it's late September. Glass and doors are nice when it's cold.

 

You should have started this thread in June. lol

Swap glass for perspex

remove passenger seat

carpets

front grill

exhaust!

take the sides off the bed with an angle grinder

remove the dash

aerial

anything that'll come off!