Timeless

If the RC kit is the only upgrade you can find, you need to search better. Clayton, TNT, Iron Rock, Synergy, Rusty's, Rock Krawler all make LA upgrade kits.

And OP, you do realize that if you buy those Rusty's arms separately, you still need to fab up brackets or a cross member, right? You're really not going to be saving any money by piecing together pre-made parts. Buy a complete LA upgrade or build your own.

Having past experience with the Rock Krawler 3 Link, it would be my recommendation. I have never been a fan of a radius arm setup for crawling. A radius arm set up and/or 4 link with track bar is great for situations where both sides of your front axle are moving up and down evenly...but for crawling on uneven surfaces, they just bind. Factor in the unloading on steep hills because of no upper link(s), and their fate is sealed. The RK kit can usually be had for around $700 shipped. Some folks complain about their joints, but if they become a problem they can always be swapped out with whatever other kind of joint you want. I personally never had an issue as I kept them well oiled.

One of those things...I'm hoping I will be able to better repair that down the road. Some low amperage TIG welding will be in order. I realized that I never disclosed my plan for the truck; Red Berry Deathtrap Express will be donating its interior, engine, etc. etc. This will be a 1987 to 1999 conversion project. Axles will be the D30 and 8.25 previously mentioned (unless I find a rear Ford 9 or something a bit beefier but still relatively light in the near future) Suspension will be SOA in the rear with stock leaves and either a custom built 3 link for the front or an off the shelf 3 link or radius arm set up...though I'm not a fan of radius arms. Time will be the determining factor here. Shocks are TBD. Either OME's or Bilsteins of the longest possible variety. Tires/Wheels - 35" Kevlars from Red Berry Driveline - Coolers/filters added wherever possible. All accessible engine and transmission gaskets and seals will be replaced. All fluids flushed/replaced Bumpers/Armor - Logans winch bumper up front and very likely a JCR DIY that I will add a swing out tire carrier too out back. I need my bed space. Skids will be built/used wherever possible and I may clock the transfer case for a flatter belly. I am really concerned about the rear quarters...I'm not sure what to do there yet. I want the truck to be a weekend wheeler and be able to drive for 11 hours straight without any concern. It will be used to access trails for hiking and biking, hunting grounds and other hidden outdoor awesomeness. And of course, I need to look pimp getting there.

Seems like a good deal though I usually buy filters and oil together on special. Just an FYI, these filters may be 15 years or so old. For additional info and dissection: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3329687/1 These fit only later model 4.0's correct?

Probably not. Your drag link and track bar are at pretty mild angles as is. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't mess with it. Fix your caster first.

Looks really darn close to perfectly parallel to me...

Washer bottle still fits, but relocating it inside the fender frees up engine bay space. It's your call. Yes, I meant headlight harness. Sorry. The main connecting plug is different. The individual bulb plugs for signals are different too (IIRC). I decided it was easiest just to adapt the late model harness to the comanches plug.

The drag link and track bar angles will not cause death wobble, but will cause bump steer which could in turn cause death wobble. Death wobble is largely because suspension parts are loose and "give". The inverted T steering set up set up should help prevent it provided the tie rod ends are good. I would suggest lifting the front end off the ground, taking weight off the front suspension and trying to move the front end in every way possible other than up and down. Even if a bolt is slightly loose, you can get death wobble. But first fix your caster.

By late fall, I was convinced the truck was dying. The engines fuel economy had dropped, start times were longer, it began to run rougher. After throwing parts at it, I decided I was wasting my time and I needed a new motor. Knowing that much of the trucks wiring was screwed up from 26 years of tinkering, I realized that whatever I did next needed to be right and I was going balls deep. A couple weeks later a 1999 XJ popped up with some cool bolt ons popped up for sale on craigslist and JF; And I bought it. This jeep quickly earned the name "Red Berry Deathtrap Express." Between all the rust on the unibody, the terrible steering geometry causing insane bump steer, the alignment being way off and the exhaust rubbing against the gas tank, the name was 100% valid. This jeep needed to pass on its good features and leave its bad ones behind. I swear that if someone bought this rig to actually drive on a road or any speed about 10 mph, it would have killed them and any passer bys. It was the hairiest thing I have ever driven. Then the winter really set in and I couldn't do anything truck related so i drank my sorrows away and played that silly cards against humanity game; Two weekends ago it was warm, so I decided it was time for Red Berry Deathtrap Express to go under the knife. This was the first engine I ever pulled and it was easier than I expected. There is however one bolt connecting the engine and bell housing that refuses to come out. I then tore the dash and interior apart, which also was easier than I expected; Then i started tearing into the suspension/driveline; And that's how she sits for now.

I'll spare everyone the little stuff I did in 2013 as its pretty boring...replaced grounds, seats, center console, engine parts, blah blah... I did start gathering parts for the build...a HP dana 30 and 8.25 from a friend who ran them briefly before upgrading. 4.56 Yukon gears, new bearings, aussie locker in the rear, ruff stuff covers...a perfect set up from the MJ. I bought all new consumable parts for the axles except for unit bearings and decided to do a disc conversion on the 8.25. Ball joints, calipers, pads, rotors..you name it. I wanted these axle to be fresh. I lobbed off the pieces I didn't want as the plan was to run a RK 3 link up front and obviously I needed to redo the rear perches. At some point I also threw on some 33" duratracs. Then a friend stopped by: And I put on doors from a 1997 XJ And acquired front body panels from a 2000 XJ The rust on the bed was starting to really piss me off and I had nightmares of the POR15 lifting off so I stripped the entire bed and media blasted all of the rust Then sealed it with DP40 epoxy primer After all that work, I was thirsty and decided to do some therapy mowing Over the course of the summer, I spent probably 100 hours on the beds body work trying to get it as smooth as possible. After all that, I realized this amount of body work was making me hate my life. After getting everything as good as possible, I sealed it with more DP40 and decided I'm going to have the pro's finish the trucks body work. By now, it was fall again, hunting time, and the truck was good enough for my frequent trips upstate. I got alot of funny looks in this multi-colored jeep, but everywhere I went people would always ask about this weird jeep pick up truck. More than one person thought I had chopped up an XJ.

A couple years ago I "built" my first rig. A 1999 XJ. It started out as a near stock truck, eventually got 31's, then 33's and 4.56 gears...then I went a little nuts and re-did everything. When it was all said and done, the truck sat on 37's, D44/D60, 3-linked front end, stretched wheelbase with a meager 5.5" or so lift. Mild by some perspectives, pretty cool by others. Unfortunately, the rig was a bit too impractical for what I ended up needing. It did 75 on the highway easy and was kind of boring off road because it just straight up got it done. I remember the first shake down run at Rausch, blues and blacks that were previously challenging were a walk in the park. The truck wasn't a trailer queen so I was some what adverse to beating the hell out of it and breaking things. So I sold it. Prior to selling it, I was on the lookout for an older Tacoma or Comanche. I wanted to stay in the Jeep family, but the taco's were really tempting me. This paired with the fact that all of the Comanches I was seeing in the north east were rotten from our winters forced me to extend my search radius. In the summer of 2012, I found a listing on JF for a 1987 Comanche with some reasonable mods for what I thought was a slightly high, but almost fair price. After seeing some photos and speaking to the owner, I decided to send a deposit. The only catch was the truck was nearby Charlotte, NC...only 700 miles away. A flight later, the sellers brother in law and wife picked me up at the airport and off we were to see the truck. I was excited and nervous but was in good company. I knew the truck had a few quirks but didn't expect water pooled on the floors creating a humid micro-ecosystem in the cab, the spray paint on the bed had deteriorated exposing it to the elements, a few mice lived under the battery amongst other things. Had I not flown half way down the east coast, I would have walked away. But this truck needed saving. We worked out a deal and I was off to drive back to NY with the soothing sound of a lone cherry bomb "muffler" destroying my sense of hearing. I made it back to NY the next day after driving almost straight thru the night and immediately ordered a proper muffler. Installing it a few days later, I noticed the engine sounds previously masked by deafening exhaust noise. There was very evident valve train noise. Thinking it was just sticking lifters, I went through the gauntlet of oil changes, marvel mystery oil, seafoam to free the lifters. No luck. I decided that I would eventually rebuild or replace the engine, but would drive the truck as is until the motor grenaded or I found a suitable donor. So that's what I did for the last year and a half. in the interim, there was some strange stuff I wanted to undo/fix like the cowl induction intake: I also stripped the bed, cleaned up the rust and POR15'd the pitted areas. Then hit it with some primer. Then it was hunting season and got to cold to work on the truck...so I drove it through the winter with big plans for spring.

Caster or track bar bushing/bracket is loose. On my last XJ the track bar bracket came a bit loose from the frame and I mean barely. I had death wobble like mad. Welded the bracket to the frame, problem solved.

Get a hitch or the IRO tow hook mount. Well worth it compared to stand alone hooks.

You need the brackets on both sides of the truck that attach the very front of the fender to the unibody (pictured dead center). The rest of the attachment holes line up. You'll also probably want to use the 97+ wiring harness and adapt it to the comanche plug. Installing the 97+ windshield washer bottle is a very good idea and will require you drill a 1 1/2" (or so, I don't remember exact size) through the unibody for the filler neck and extend the pump hose. You might as well use the 97+ bumper caps too if you want a stock look.

Did you check that the exhaust manifold flange is actually flat? Is your exhaust manifold cracked?

In your second video @ 18sec. that looks like gear paint. There is no way to set up gears even remotely close to right without using paint. Did the shop replace the pinion bearings? If not, they are probably not going to last too long. IMO, the metal in the oil shown in the first pic is too much considering you have only driven 45 miles. The drive side pattern (second photo) looks okay. Its hard to tell in the third photo, but the coast side might have some weird stuff going on. Is that wear on the inner most gear surface? The coast surfaces as a whole look pretty rough/gouged but I have never seen USA Standard Gears up close. A good gear setup needs both a good drive and coast pattern.

Unless its only the yoke that is moving, the pinion shaft should not move like that. That movement is killing your gears and your bearings. If you pull the diff cover, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a fair amount of metal in the oil.

Plate the unibody with 1/8" or 3/16" sheet steel. Tie the frame rails together and too the reinforced unibody with either a winch bumper or a proper winch mount. Winch away.

He could probably do a custom "ELEMINATOR" one for you too. Those emblems/stickers are super rare.

Is the battery charged?

I have always been under the impression, and I could be wrong, that to install the 97+ dash, gauges, controls, etc. you had to swap over just about all of the other electrical/controls/computer parts too which meant you had to bring in the power train too if everything were to work. You will probably be better off putting in the original-to-that-era dash so save alot of headache. If you're hell bent on keeping the 97+ dash, you're going to be doing alot of electrical work.

So you have an 88 with 88 engine/transmission/computer/etc. and installed a 97+ dashboard and controls?

42" center to center

The same voltage supplied to the reverse lights could in theory trip a solenoid or actuator to make them drop down. Why not just recess them into the bumper?