I have the ARBs in an LX. No fitment issues, that's already been covered. I never noticed the 50% opening until this thread...it hasn't been a problem (yet?). But I could potentially see a situation where that would be a pain. It's a good point. No issues with sheet metal drawers—they've put up with a few hundred pounds of offroad gear over several thousand miles of dirt track now, and they look and function as new. I also have no idea how heavy the ARB system is, but it's a HELLUVA lot heavier than 35 pounds.
IMO the biggest hassle with the ARBs is getting them out of the truck when you want to modify or change something. Need to get the side panels out? Prepare for two hours of unloading drawers and disassembling the whole system. The drawers don't just come out—the top has to come off. And another hour at least putting them all back in afterwards. I've had a couple of situations where I wanted to run a reverse camera, or wire up the HAM antenna and power feed, for example, where I wanted the wires inside the cabin for most of the run. I need to replace the seals on my quarter windows—drawers are going to have to come out again. Dammit.
So...consider removal as part of whatever you choose. I'm happy with mine except for that. (And I'm an urban dweller, so I don't have the space for making a set myself, or gluing carpet down to the top of a prefabbed set, etc. So I went the easy route with something that was already built for my need.)
Oh yeah—the drawer stays are crap on the ARBs. They always break.
How much are the SS1s again?