^^^Yes like that.

The squishy-ness at 3 and 9, were you pulling the wheel towards and truck and away from it or rotating the wheel on the split king pin axis?

Loose wheel bearings as far as steering goes will give vague handling...just before the wheel flies off!

I 'm connecting the dots here...if the PO used the nice clean shiny grease gun adapter as much as I think they did (that's not much if at all) chances are the drag link was greased with the same amount of care!

I sent you a rather lengthy PM with 35 years of experience owning one.

Your pm was great. I replied. Thank you again.

so I will look for the zerks around the drag link. It's right near the steering shaft right? Which has a zerk I did grease .
and I think there are only 2 zerks in the drivetrain that need that extension right?

So there are two fittings at either end of the drag link, and one on the steering shaft by the steering box. The one at the knuckle is a bit of a tricky one to get at. Also there is a square head plug at the top front of the steering knuckles, 12mm wrench, you stick the end gun right in the hole, its a good close fit. Obviously you'll want stuff good a clean around the hole and the end of the grease gun. Anything 'bad' that falls in (dirt, sticks, dead racoon guts, etc) is going right onto the birfield joint. I squirt some varsol around the plug and scrub with an old tooth brush, squirt again and wipe it with a rag. Toyota says to half fill it...how you're suppose to know that is anyone's guess... I give mine about 15-20 pumps once a year and maybe 5-6 after any 4 wheeling in the wet. Use Lithium grease with a Molybdenum Disulphide additive. I use Valvoline and it has added polyethylene as well. There are three fittings that require that adapter, two on the rear drive shaft and one on the front. The carden joint on the front drive shaft by the transfer case has three which require that moly grease, two of these are easy to see. The third is not. You'll see two hole in that joint , one on each side. Look up into these holes and you'll see it. You may have to rotate the front drive shaft 180/360 degrees. I'll almost bet most guys have no idea its there.

Again that adapter is a bit of at miserable SOB, you got to push it good and hard and kind of wiggle it around to find the right spot (we're talking about greasing here people!) Don't even try it if you don't have a pistol grip type gun. I'll guarantee you the first few times you'll have a "Bleep" of a mess, swear and curse new words and just about throw the mess into the neighbours yard. Be patient, stay calm and you'll get it.

excellent post, thank you. I have a mini and a full size grease gun. I also have solid straight or flexible hose. Probably big gun with straight shaft best?

I will go on an Easter egg hunt for the fittings on drag link. Is it best to remove driver side wheel to get an easier look?

Okay so I really cleaned up the front end a lot more today and can actually see things clearly now!
I removed the square plugs and put 25 pumps in each birfield. As I've noticed a bit always on the ball of the birfield so probably needed a good amount.
I also added some to each end of the drag link. One side onky took one pump before it ozzed out a bit. The front most one took like 3 pumps.
I can not turn those giant flat screwdriver looking ends and yet I removed the cotter pin. I tried the rear most end i have not tried the front as it looks like it has to be disconnected in orser to get anything lined up to turn it.

I used the little Toyota grease gun tool on the hidden one u can access thru the passenger side wheel well. I think the PO actually did it because it was clean and I was easily able to add 3 pumps but each pump ouzzed a bit out of the seals and surrounding areas.
I also got that one on the front driveshaft where all 3 are very close together . The middle one is way in there but didn't need the Toyota tool. My gun attachment fit in there and that one took like 5 pumps.
I will post pics later in my build thread .
thanks guys