Originally Posted by Sixpack577

Yes, it's a pain to get off, but only from corroded bolts.
Yes, it's wimpy...but so are strut tower braces.
It does not have to be heavy duty to improve ON road handling. Which is what it's designed for.

This is basically the same argument that heavy bumpers improve frame flex. Which is 99% false also. Both ends of any span can be as rigid as you like. But without bracing throughout the span, it still flexes easily. The stronger the bracing, the more rigid it will be...to a point. The 2 small crossmembers do more in their stock location, than one twice as thick as both of them in the center.
As said, this is for on-road driving, cornering, body roll.
They work, and do what they are designed to do.
If you don't want to run them, no the truck won't collapse, and it's yours to drive however you like.
But opinions don't change facts, it is simple engineering.

Originally Posted by Best4x4

Back when I had Jeep's drive shafts exploding was actually pretty common (cheaper than a D2 front shaft....). Some guys had full body skids which prevented the shaft from dropping & boy what a nice surprise was hidden under there vs the guys without any type of skid.

Most of the D2 shafts I've seen explode at the double cardon side, so it "should" fall to the ground and then spun by the front diff, but of coarse it's going to rotate on it's way down. It's not going to lift the vehicle up like it would if the front u-joint broke as yep that'll drop and dig into the ground big time!

Sucks either way lol, but I wish I had taken pics of the diaster I worked on. It was almost as bad as a friend back in my Jeep days that flat towed his LJ, but the TC popped into gear exploding everything at 70-75MPH. He was clueless pulling it until people flagged him down to stop. The floor was almost completely blown out, both seats were hanging by just their outer bolts, transfer case was hanging by what was left of the linkage, case was blown apart, front shaft took out the oil pan, exhaust, cats, transmission was in pieces, and the rear shaft had grown down to a flat bar looking piece of steel. He damaged several vehicles behind him & his Colorado trip was over before it had even begun. It was totaled, and he never flat towed anything after that.

Originally Posted by Best4x4

It serves a purpose, but I drive my LR's on/off road, and never felt any difference. If you want a LR to corner grab one with ACE.

I do all my own maintenance on all my LR's and I'm not even in an area with corrosion. The OEM bolts are extremely soft.

However my D2's are lifted and with the member in place the front drive shaft will rest on it. What height I gained by the lift will further protect my undercarriage. Slap on the $$$ spacer & you're back to the stock height.

If I wanted awesome handling I'd be driving a late Pontiac/Holden GTO or a BMW M3.

Originally Posted by Alex_M

Holy o-f*cko, that's insane. I couldn't imaging flat towing without removing the driveshaft. I've heard horror stories, but that's probably the worst.

Originally Posted by Rlozano

All seriousness though, I just tried bolting on my front cross member to see if it aligned after wheeling for 1.5 years with it off and it did perfectly. I do have the front and rear steel bumpers. I drive it 3 hours each way to wheel all over Tahoe, do heavy wheeling. I’ve put roughly 25k miles on it and the frame seems to have held up just fine. I do fall into the category of the lazy guy that didn’t make the spacers like initially intended but the rover has been fine without it.