From personal real world experience I had an ARB on my old D2. Even with the OME HD springs and taller tires, it dragged a lot, usually on much of nothing (like going to dips in the desert or up mild inclines). so to my way of thinking, unless all you do is drive on fire roads and the street or have a 10 inch lift, it doesn't take much to drag one and you don't have to be doing any serious rock crawling either. IMHO, the bars on one are more for ascetics than being of any real use. If you hit anything that's substantial at speed, they'll just fold up into the hood and grill and take the front end out. They do crumple in a major collision (I had the ARB on the D2 when I got in a head on at combined closing speed of about 60-70 MPH). The bars folded back into the body then. The nice crumple also took out the winch (it looked like someone blew it up). Considering the damage done to my D2 (frame bent, dashboard pushed back a few inches, etc), I'd seriously doubt the mild amount of crumple they have is any real saving grace for much more than a 10 mile per hour collision at the mall.
So, for my D1, I just bought a RTE slimline (no light bar, no brush bars). I like the look (no gigantic appendage hanging out in front, no bars), it's real clean looking. I also like having the winch up higher. I just measured and drilled proper holes for my driving lights, mounted on the top flat surface on each side of the winch, which also looks clean. The RTE is built like a tank. Like someone else said (not my thought but I agree) one of these and you use the other vehicle for a crumple zone, not to mention if you whack something on the trail it most likely isn't going to do more than scrape some paint off.
Now mind you I'm not nearly as hardcore of a wheeler as some of the people on here, yet even with my mild to somewhat difficult wheeling, I find the RTE vastly superior. Since I'm a form follows function type of person I didn't even consider buying an ARB this time because I knew in advance I'd be unhappy with everything but the looks.
Just my 2 cents worth. (let the flaming begin!)
So, for my D1, I just bought a RTE slimline (no light bar, no brush bars). I like the look (no gigantic appendage hanging out in front, no bars), it's real clean looking. I also like having the winch up higher. I just measured and drilled proper holes for my driving lights, mounted on the top flat surface on each side of the winch, which also looks clean. The RTE is built like a tank. Like someone else said (not my thought but I agree) one of these and you use the other vehicle for a crumple zone, not to mention if you whack something on the trail it most likely isn't going to do more than scrape some paint off.
Now mind you I'm not nearly as hardcore of a wheeler as some of the people on here, yet even with my mild to somewhat difficult wheeling, I find the RTE vastly superior. Since I'm a form follows function type of person I didn't even consider buying an ARB this time because I knew in advance I'd be unhappy with everything but the looks.
Just my 2 cents worth. (let the flaming begin!)
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