Comparison: Weight of Stock Hennessy Suspension (post 2013 sewn whipping) vs. Alternatives

[Grumpy Squatch]

I've been messing around with my suspension for the last year or so. Many, many, many posts mention potential weight savings by switching to whoopies (like this one), cinch buckles, etc. But nowhere could I find the weight of the stock suspension components I was replacing to make proper judgements before taking stuff apart. Just speculation about how much weight people would save.

So, since I kept everything from day 1, I broke out my scale. Here's how it stacks up.

Stock ropes (for the pair): 4.5 oz.
1.5" x 42" huggers (pair): 3.4 oz.
1.5" x 72" huggers (pair): 6.9 oz.
Stock tarp hooks & loops (pair): 0.2 oz.

That's your starting point - if you ditch the stock ropes you shed 4.5 oz. 4.7 oz. if you include the tarp hooks.

My stock suspension was a total of 8.1 oz. with the 42" huggers (ropes + huggers + tarp hooks. Yours may vary slightly since I have no idea how precise Hennessy is cutting the stock ropes to length.)

Comparisons

A complete Dutch aluminum cinch buckle suspension with 8" 7/64" Amsteel loops and 15' straps (w/ Dutch Hooks) is 9.0 oz. You gain 0.9 oz by switching. More if you opt for 1/8" Amsteel loops.

My new suspension is Dutch's titanium buckles. If I add 15' Kevlar straps w/ Dutch Hooks and 8" 7/64" loops the total is 5.5 oz. That's a savings of 2.6 oz. for a cost of ~ $75. That may or may not be worth the concerns of strap slippage (jury is still out on Kevlar straps & cinch buckles), etc. If I have to go back to nylon straps the weight is 7.7 oz. That's only a 0.4 oz. savings over stock.

Going to pure Whoopie suspension? 6 foot 7/64" Amsteel whoopies weigh in at 1.4 oz. for a pair (according to whoopieslings.com). That's only a 3.3 oz. savings over the stock ropes. Get fancy w/ Dutch Buckles? Savings is only 2.7 oz. total! You may be able to drop the weight of the huggers by going to lighter webbing than the Hennessy stock 1.5" however.

So, at least Hennessy modifiers now have a baseline weight to work from. And the fact is, the stock suspension is pretty efficient compared to the alternatives.

For one more reference, for a while I used 'biners and decender rings. That meant I was adding an additional 4.5 oz. (2 Petzl Mad Rock carabiners and 4 aluminum rings) to the stock 8.1 oz. for the convenience of adjustability.

Good luck.

[jburke8305]

Thanks for this info. I wondered if I would really save weight. It seems to me it is the adjustability that is the reason to switch. For me I'll keep the stock suspension.

[Secondchance]

Valuable information, thanks for doing the grunt work. I swapped out to Dutch clips and cinch buckles for ease of setup and adjustment, it's nice to know I didn't add that much weight in the process!

[kwpapke]

Good work! I have not changed out the suspension on my Explorer UL in 7 years, though I don't use it as often as I used to. Just didn't seem worth the effort, your measurements have confirmed that.

--Kurt