steeing lumpy...oh no

ok guys, to start off....i'm new here. used the forum for a few repairs of my own and have decided to ask for your wisdom on a very annoying matter.
MY STEERING IS LUMPY.
why i do not know. i do know that i have a bad ball joint and that the car used to steer perfectly fine before it was parked for roughly half a year...symptoms are heavy resistance that seems like binding ate two different points in the steering and about 2 inches of looseness in the steering. i think the looseness can be attributed to the lca bushings being worn, i have new ones yet to be installed...what should i be looking for, i've checked the pump for movement and looked under the car to see if anything moves while something else isn't and nothing...
in addition to this, when the car is cold the steering squeaks. sounds like it's coming from that bad ball joint.
any comments would be appreciated.

I've never heard a ball joint squeal. Can you be more descriptive of your problem and what you have checked?

well...i greased the fittings. the ball joint is just another problem and i don't think it's attributed to this. let me put it this way
i'm driving straight-i have 2 inches of play in the wheel

when the road curves- i turn the wheel and just so happens that it's right against the rough spot

when i need to actually turn then at about the 10 oclock position it's very hard to turn the wheel, there is resistance and when it's cold it squeaks (or creaks) at the point where it's hard to turn the wheel

what i have noticed is two things, the more i drive it, the wheel gets easier to turn over time (when i got the car i had to muscle it) and now it just requires a bit more extra effort.

and the other one is that it might be a bushing of some sort because the sound it makes is similair to cold plastic creaking and bending.

i lubed five points- the track bar, knuckles, and the two tie rod ends. i didn't notice any cracks or anything on the connections, but they were pretty low on lube...sorry if it's confusing but imagine where i'm at.
BTW I hae found that rear wheel drive is 10 million times better than fwd (snowed 5 inches yesterday)
bear with me, thx

check the bolts holding the steering box to the frame, if they are loose it will cause what you are experiencing. also check the ujoints in the steering shaft (the shaft that goes from the steering column to the box).

yesss. that's what i was looking for. i will do those two things and give some feedback when i do.in the meantime i'm off into the arctic to check it out