Thanks for the responses. Between the discussion here, and reading the manual, I think I get the gist of what has to be done. Aside from being able to feel play by pulling/pushing the wheel from side to side, how do you know if the tie-rod ends, or pitman arms are worn? There's no play I can tell accounted for by these components. However, there is a "knock, bump, pop" (call it what you want) coming from the front end somewhere while driving at very slow speeds, or in reverse while the wheels are turned. Very situational dependent. It's inconsistent but occurs like when I pull a hard left out of the drive way, or then back up the opposite way (left/right). It usually only occurs once per drive (depending on the force in which the Jeep is moving). When I had this similar problem one time before, the shop said the brake caliper needed a shim. They put a shim in and it went away. This sounds a little different. Sometimes is sounds like it could be coming from the tie-rod end near the passenger side, other times it feels like it's under my feet. Maybe that's the tie rod ends? Again, I cannot get any play when the Jeep is up on jack stands and I push/pull on the wheels. Note: there was some play before I started this whole ordeal with the steering gear...that pretty much went away after I tightened the OC.
I'm running everything stock...tires, etc. No lift or anything...yet. Ha! Shop just said it could be replaced, didn't specify the actual wear point, and I didn't ask at the time. BTW, the Jeep has 163K on it. My goal is to get 200K out of it...and who knows, if I keep having fun with it, I'll rebuild the engine when it's time (or drop a long block in it :-)) and keep it going on till I cannot see past the steering wheel or I cannot remember where I was going.