Steering gear & DW ? (long)

Yes, I searched the DW threads.

Vehicle: 96 Jeep Cherokee Country 4x
Eng: 4.0 HO
Trans: Auto
Stock suspension

Background
1/08/09 took vehicle to alignment shop for clunk, brng noise, pulls rght. They found these items in need of repair-

Lft uppr & lwr ball joints
Lft hub brng
Rt hub brng
upper control arms
lower control arms
(They said for them it was easier buy new control arms with the bushings already installed. It was just the bushings that needed replacing)
Trac bar
Outer tierod assys
Rt draglink end (long)

They recommended these services-
Align frnt suspension
Adjst steering gear
Rotate tires
Front brakes
Balance 2 tires

Price Estimate-
$2800 (OUCH)

Their notes-
Rear springs (sagged)
Rear brakes

Not being made of $$, I decided to do what I could myself. 1st I had to scrape up $$ for the parts. Finally around April I headed over to Fast Undercar to pick up some parts. It took me till May to get enough free time to put it all in. The only things I didn't do was the rear springs and brakes. I also didn't (forgot to) replace the long draglink arm. Then I bought a new set if Dunlop Rover AT's and had them mounted and balanced then took it back to the alignment shop on 5/04/09. They said I did a good job of rebuilding the suspension (I didn't tell them about the arm.) They aligned it and said I was good to go. I drove out and it felt fine. One thing though there was still a growling/ whining/ humming type noise from the front axle when steering left at speed. I took it back and had them check it and they said they noticed some leakage from my front axle (probably when I had to pull the shaft to replace the ball joints some fluid leaked out and was still in the axletube) and it probably just needed fluid. OK, so I go home pull the cover off the diff to check it. No chips in the oil, no worn looking teeth. With the front end off the ground I spun the drivers side tire by hand and noticed a clunking noise. Same with the pass side just less noticable. Well since its the wife's car and she don't wheel and there appears to be nothing bad but a sound, I put the cover back on and filled it up with oil. Other than the noise, no problems. Fast forward to Oct 09. The wife says when she hits a bump over 55 mph sometimes the car will get a bad shake like it's gonna fall apart. OK honey, I'll check it out . I notice a little shaking but nothing like she described. I'll take it in later I said. Well one day we're going to town, and I hit a bump and OH $#!+ ! (I've heard of this. I think they call it DW!) I had to slow down just to get it back under contol. Now it's going to the alignment shop. They said you need your tires balanced and a new pass side hub. So I replaced the hub and had the tires rotated and balanced. Problem still there. I got the front end up in the air again and had the wife turn the wheel back and forth so I could see if anything was loose. There was a loose clunk coming from the long draglink (the one I didn't replace earlier) and the TRE attached to the pitman arm. So I replaced them both and the problem was still there. (In the process of removing the draglink my father in law mangled the threads on the stabilizer stud so I took off the stabilizer) I decided I'd take it to 4 Wheel Parts since they're supposed experts. I told the sales rep about the problem ( the whole story your getting) and also mentioned the noise in the front diff. He said that could be from the pinion bearing.( I'll do that myself) Anyway after it was checked out on their alignment rack they said alignment was a little off but not bad and they sold me a stud for the stabilizer. (it was still off when I took it to them)

4WPW align specs for (their printout said) Jeep 99-06 Wrangler TJ (WTF?)

Frnt Left Camber = -.03°
" " Caster = 8.7°
Toe -1/32"

Frnt Right Camber = -.03°
" " Caster = 8.3°
Toe -1/32"

They said the tires might be out of round and I should look into that. When I got it home I put on the front tires from my 87 XJ on it and drove on the freeway a bit and thought it was fixed until i hit a bump at 65 and DW again! OK so it's not the tires. I got home and had my wife turn the wheel (motor on) sitting on ground. I noticed a little movement (click) in the TRE at the pitman arm. I just replaced that 2 weekends ago! Last night I jacked it up and checked out where the NEW tracbar attaches to the axle and the hole in the axle bracket is a little elongated (approx .06 - .08" ) That didn't seem too bad. The thing that I noticed that concerns me the most is- with the front end off the ground and the steering wheel locked, when I push and pull in and out on the wheels I observed that the pitman arm moves(rotates) laterally approx .75". The gearbox seems tight to the frame. If I grab the arm and yank up and down there's no play in it. The arm appears tight to the box. I think the slop is in the box. I notice the steeing shaft turns also. (my 87 xj with worn out suspension doesn't move that much) Would this cause DW? I still have to put the stabilizer back on.
One last thought, could axle u-joints (they're still original) have anything to do with this?
Sorry for the life history here.
Any comments suggestions hints?

When you have steering wheel locked there will be some movement of the steering wheel, you say the steering above the box moves with the movement of the tires so I don't think there's excessive play in box. Have someone hold the steering wheel and try again to see if there is play. Your u joints are probably what's clicking when you turn your wheels. With wheels on the ground, watch the upper trac bar mount while someone turns the wheels back and forth and see if the trac bar is moving up and down.

That is a LOT of caster. Don't have a spec sheet in front of me but that seems too much, I'd like about 6 degrees. Also did you type that right, they set it to toed out? That's not good.

Thanx 4 the replys.

You're right JJacobs, I was looking at the before #'s for the toe. The toe IS currently + 1/32" for both left and right sides. Also according to their printout the caster should be between 6.0° and 8.0° (Of course it also says Jeep 99 - 06 Wrangler TJ on the printout) so I'm not sure if they got the wrong specs or if the 99-06 TJ specs are the same for the 96 XJ?

88xjlover, I'll check it out tomorrow when I get home from work.
Man I h8 not having a garage!!

just so you know, alignment shops ALWAYS quote you for damn near everything in the front end. So don't take their word at face value. I had pretty much the same quote to fix my DW on my XJ. I did an alignment in my driveway with a tape measure and it fixed it.