Hunter didn't mention the bar when we got our new machine a few months ago, but we're a Ford dealer. As I said, I don't see the spreader being deal breaker. I've aligned my Merc fleet without it and I'm satisfied that the results are as good as they're going to get, considering all the bushing mush that Merc designed into their suspensions. If you get some nice stiff poly LCA bushings, the spreader bar shouldn't be used and your front end will gain more bite in corners than you thought possible. All that caster is pretty nice when your bushings aren't moving all over the place.

FYI, it's not accepted practice to adjust toe to correct spline offset. The spines should be clocked correctly, otherwise gear mesh will be messed up and your pitman/idler arms won't be oriented correctly and your linkage geometry will be thrown off.