Not missing a thing!
Now think of all the JKs you’ve seen kitted out for Overland adventure with bumpers, two spare tires, an RTT and awning, maybe a water system, and a full suite of skid plates and sliders, and know that they sometimes have payloads as low as 850-900 lbs....Most of them are well over their payloads. Even a Taco, which for a long time was THE overland mid-size truck to have, has under 1200 lbs payload. The Canyon at 1500 lbs is actually pretty good — a full-size only has a few hundred more, but that small payload boost comes with a thousand pounds extra curb weight (check my chart from a few posts back to see the comparison) which has it’s own challenges off road. But, you still have to pack judiciously and keep things low weight, and that can be hard when packing for a family - hence why so many bring a trailer, but that too is a compromise in terms of maneuverability and off-road performance (Depending on the types of tracks you are taking).
Payload is THE most valuable commodity on an overland build in my opinion — every pound you use somewhere, is a pound you cannot use somewhere else. On my build, I have been slow to add stuff because I want to make sure I have a vision for the whole thing before I invest my money or, if a commercial option isn’t available, my time to build one. Last year I built a bed rack out of aluminum, but it is a bit heavy and overbuilt — still, I can afford that as my total trip load is not even close to 1500 lbs, which is a semi-truck as compared to my Jeep, but I’m revisiting the design. It was a bit of a rush job before a short trip we had last year, and while i had bigger plans for it, it works for now and allows for adventures, but I think I can do better and get more utility for less weight. Like I said earlier that 1500 payload number was my minimum on my most/least flexible as it works for our kit and travel style, but I still want to have maximum lightness in my accessories to allow for future options.
For example, the ARB bumper for my rig is 220lbs - and I think that may be before the weight of the winch as that is the shipping weight from 4WheelParts. If you put a winch on there, that can be as much as 20% of my total payload all on one accessory. Now, that accessory happens to be really important and of great quality — animal strikes are a really risk for our adventures, and a bull bar gives you a chance of at least getting home after having one — but then where else in the build is the compromise? If I give 20% of my payload to the ARB bumper, instead of say 10% of my payload to the CBI Off-Road aluminum bumper (I’m not sure it’s weight that’s just an example), that’s 10% less wiggle room I have in other accessories, like a camper shell, skid plates, sliders, etc. On the other hand, it’s really hard to beat ARB Bumpers in terms of quality and performance and the majority of serious international Overlanders swear by them — for good reason — so that 20% may be well worth it. If they had an alloy (aluminum) bumper for my platform like they do for other platforms, it wouldn’t even be a debate for me, but I’m being very cheap with my payload!
A lot of people don’t give it this much thought and they bolt on the accessory and go, and honestly that works out for them a lot of the time. But, I enjoy this process as part of the hobby of building a rig — chasing perfection as well as our trunks ;) — so it’s part of the fun for me.
