I have seen some people remove it. I think it's was put there to protect the E-disco on the Rubi's. Not sure though. Probably won't hurt to remove it but I'm no engineer either.

 

i had to romove it to install my mbrp front bumper. it tells you too right in the install instructions,

no probs. rip it out dude if you want!

 

Ok - you want the real story on that bar?

It's called the "Mall Crawler Bar."

It was developed in a partnership with GM's Hummer brand and Chrysler's Jeep brand. As we all know - Hummer's H2 has absolutely dominated the mall crawling scene. Jeep can't even compare. So, to break into a new market, Jeep partnered up with Hummer to share blueprints. Hummer H2's have that bar in place as an extra piece to put a stainless steel overlay on for added factory bling.

Because, as we all know, bling = off road capability.

Jeep took that bar and put it on all new Wranglers - but due to the recent purchase by Fiat the stainless steel overlay was never developed. And there you have it.

-Jason

 

It's called a "Compatibility Beam". It is there to match the height of the average passenger car bumper beam so that in a collision the car that you hit doesn’t go under your Jeep.
It is available as a service part if you want to replace it.

 

That is exactly what I was thinking it was as it is not a good design for protecting the Rubi sway motor.

I hacked mine off about a year ago. Only worry I ever had is if I ran over a car in a wreck that they may come back and mention I did not have the crash bar. I suppose I could be liable for something

 

Thanks folks; out comes the cutoff wheel...

-WRM

 

i left mine on. Would rather hit that on a rock then my actual frame. And if you do hit that bar on a rock...most rigs wont make it over it. lol

 

MAybe I did not read that right...but that is exactly why I removed mine. I needed the clearance so I would stop hitting that bar on stuff. That takes a bunch away from your approach angle. Now my bumper hits instead of the bar which is what I prefer because I can just grind/slide along the rock till I can get a tire up on it and not have to worry about smashing that beam,

 

It's a (poor) last line of defense before a rock bends your tie-rod.

I wanted more protection for my e-disco so I added a Rugged Ridge front skid to that bar. The OEM bar was already so bent that I had to grind out clearance on the RR skid so it would fit.

My steering linkage is still in good shape.