Originally Posted by MikesDuneRunnerSLS

I left the crash bars in place when I installed the ARB belly pan and bridged the gap in front with a couple 3/4" thick steel spacers that now sit between the crash bar and the slots on the front skid. If impact pulls the threads over time you can solve that with a serrated flange nut at the top of a quality rivet nut (I went with flange nuts). It definitely rides better now when I stuff into the first few feet of a sand dune on approach or when bottoming out the front after a gnarly break-over. The feel in the truck is harsher. Making sense of the harshness is that the plates are doing their job sliding over the surface whereas the stock plates would just bend in the front and not cover enough further rearward which consequently allowed the truck to sink in too far. I like the reassurance of the crash bars still in place under the front skid on first contact when it's time to work! It's also been nice bot having to adjust the front bumper cover or replace retainers after running hard at Silver Lake.