Wanted to post this for those looking to do some weight reduction at the track.
Everyone's heard the whole "every 100 lbs cuts 0.1 sec off your 1/4 mile ET" but I wanted to do my own testing.
There's also some online calculators but who knows how accurate those are?

Let's start off with my truck full weight. 5860 lbs truck only with half a tank.


Did some weight reduction: I used a bathroom scale to weigh the items removed.


I figured my bathroom scale measurements might be off a little since it was kind of hard to distribute the weight on the scale for some of the larger stuff.
Plus, I rounded everything to the nearest 5 lb. So, I went back to the CAT scale to get a new weight.
Note that the original weight was from several months ago so not a same day re-weigh.
Also, the way the scales work you have to get down out of the vehicle to press a button and start the weighing process so driver weight is not included.



Take the 5420 and add my 180 and it comes out to the 5600 lb I originally calculated so the weights appear to be fairly accurate.
I made sure to keep the truck at exactly half a tank since that's how much gas I had the first time I weighed it. It's also how much gas I typically have when I go out to the track.

So great I just cut out 440 lbs but how will that affect my 1/4 mile times?
Let's start off with a simple online calculator:
I am using slips with comparable 60's to get more accurate results.



Now with the weight reduction:



Note that I used the same calculated horsepower number from my full weight runs.
I'd imagine horsepower would go up with less weight, right?
That might make the calculations a little more comparable to my real world 1/4 slips, although it's probably negligible.
Possibly the slight 5lb rotational weight reduction from the wheels had more of an impact besides just gearing?

Another thing to take into account is DA was within 500 or so between both slips.

So, 440 lbs removed shaved off 0.33 sec from my 1/4 mile times. Basically every 100 lbs cut out 0.075 sec.

*YMMV* - I'm simply sharing my experience. There are plenty of variables here but thought it was cool to get a rule of thumb.

 

Awesome post!

(Heads outside to remove the rear bumper and tailgate...)

 

Geez your truck is/was 1400lb heavier than mine. Yours is a crew cab? Long bed?

 

crew cab short bed
It's XLT but literally every check box clicked when I custom ordered it. Pano roof adds alot of weight, supercharger, suspension, bedliner, etc. adds up pretty quick.
I was surprised myself the first time I weighed it.

 

Same here,, I haven't weighed mine but I have a fully loaded XLT. trailer package, tailgate step, bed liner, etc... did you remove all that weight for your last runs?

 

I did. Originally i was going to remove 100 lbs at a time and do some Dragy testing during the week to log each point but got too busy so just pulled off as much easy access weight as I could to make sure I got that 10 sec pass.

I really wanted to weigh everything removed to have something to reference for the future. Then i figured other people may benefit from it. Especially if they're just shy of hitting a certain time.

 

Not sure I would recommend it, but the rear bumper and tow bar weights about 70lbs, I weighted mine when I had it off. It comes off with 6 nuts a connector and ground wire. Not sure what it would do to the aerodynamics, with the spare gone and the bumper still install it hangs down looks like it would add a lot of drag or turbulence under the truck.

Mike

 

The worst part is that all the easy access weight is on the rear of the truck.
Weight transfer and traction becomes tricky.
That was literally the worst wheel/hop traction issues i've ever had in this truck (after weight reduction).

 

Just adding some more items that I verified today on my 2018 crew cab Lariat FX4 5.0L.

1. Stock 20" sport wheels with stock Hankook 275/55R20 = 74lbs
2. Stock 20" sport wheels with Toyo Proxes STIII 305/50R20 = 81lbs
3. Front sway bar = 19lbs
4. Sport running boards = 18lbs each
5. Tailgate without the step = 38lbs
6. Stock battery = 52lbs
7. Stock hitch = 42lbs
8. Rear axle blocks = 4lbs each

I'm gonna go ahead and pull the trigger on a 17" drag pack with some M/T 315/50R17 tires. Should save 100+ pounds just in wheels and tires. my last track outing was around 5,400 lbs; I'm gonna try to get to 5,000lbs with 1/2 tank of fuel.

 

I cheated and started out light,

After a few years of adding what I wanted and looking,

Finally scaled this summer 1/8 fuel in the tank. My *** out, all misc. road gear in a Decked Drawer System,

It would take about an hour to drop 400+ pounds off in the garage.
I have not been with it to a drag strip but the light weight is certainly notice in road handling, especially with the suspension mods I have done. KM