got the truck on the lift today and the sway bar bushings looked to be in decent shape and the ball joint bushings looked to be in the same shape. i did look at the bolt at the bottom of those shocks and there dont seem to be noticeable play, but still plan on trying to change them out...

kbsupercrew...did you have a similar issue and pump grease into the ball joints and solve the issue? i actually considered pumping new grease into all the grease points on the truck today while it was on the lift, but left my damn grease gun at home and the hobby shop on base couldnt find the fittings