Hey GTsorbet, just a quick thought...

Just to rule out other things that could cause popping and what not, it might be worth five minutes to crawl under there and check and tighten things like the sway bar bolts, crossmember bolts, check idler arm and sway bar bushings etc. that can wear or come loose when wheeling.

It'd suck to be driving yourself nuts trying to diagnose and fix one thing only to have part of the problem be something else. Just bringing this up on the off chance that some of the noises might be something else other than the steering and it might make things easier for you.

Hope this helps.