85 CJ body tub weight

my first Google hit :)

Extreme Fiberglass tub = 275lbs Kevlar Tub = 325lbs

I would take a guess that a stock steel tub would be 400+ish??

Good point about the roll bar, but surely "ninety pounds" is a typo?

--=20

Dale Beckett

90 pounds does not sound right for all of that REAL steel, I bet my CJ doors weight more that that.

I'd guess that my repop steel `79 tub is well shy of 400#, since I could lift one end at a time without popping a gut. If forced to bet on it my money would say 300#. Of course, the repop steel is thinner than the OEM sheetmetal was.

Rusted wrote:

Naw, the rollbar weighs only about 30 pounds. It is difficult to judge just how heavy the tub is, since (unlike you) I wasn't lifting the whole thing at once.

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III wrote:

After looking around, it seems that most fiberglass tubs weigh in between= =20

275 and 325 pounds. One site puts a steel tub at 300. I would have thought= =20 fiberglass would be a LOT lighter.

--=20

Dale Beckett

Either that or I am a shit load stronger than I think I am... I could easily pick up my 'glass tub and put it on or off the frame when it was empty. Even after I placed the seats and roll bar inside, 2 of us could move it. My front clip can't weigh in more than 50 lb also.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

[snip]

So, with a 'glass front end, you had to run new electrical grounds, and remount the radiator, yes?

Any other gotchas?

I ran a negative battery cable over to the back of the fuse panel and mounted some electrical clamps there for the ground wires. I ran a dedicated 10 ga ground for each harness piece and terminated all of them at the above ground tap.

For the solenoid ground, I mounted that to the side of the engine block behind the alternator. The dash also got it's own ground.

I soldered the ground tags right onto the outside of the front signal lens sockets and soldered it to the plate inside the rear fixtures.

For the rad, I use an old bed frame and just welded up a couple L shapes and used old rad hose squares as vibration washers. It held for 5 years of heavy off roading and one roll over. I finally twisted up enough last fall to snap the metal side strap on the rad, so welded a 1"x1/8" bar along the outside of the rad like [. That held until last week when I snapped the other side on an off road trip. I am just welding that one up today for the next 4 day trip tomorrow. My Rad will now have heavy brackets on both sides like [=====] . :-)

You have to watch the roll bar height. The floor can be too thick so the hard top might not fit on. The heater was a bit of a pain to fit flush so I use spacers and left it pointing a bit to the passenger side. You cannot see this when looking at it. I think I had to shorten the steering brace by 1/4" or so, no trouble there.

I managed to put 6"x1/4"x4" plate under the floor under the roll bar so the frame mount hits the plate and the seat belt is bolted down to it.

All in all I love the 'glass body! It was worth the work and is so light my CJ7 is downright scary with the acceleration it has. She goes like a scalded cat thanks to some nice sites like

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Thanks for the clues on some things I wouldn't have thought of. And you're right, that IS a cool site, isn't it? :)

You are more than welcome. Please feel free to ask if you need more ideas.

Mike