Thanks, Carter! That makes me feel good. I know I definitely get something out of all this - I get advice from people that see things I miss, and have experience where I don't. But it's great to hear that you also enjoy my stories and struggles! Haha. But of course I love it, or I wouldn't be doing it.
I am headed to the Shop as soon as I post this, to try the whole assembly with the tie rods and drag link installed. But thinking about it and reading all the above, I think it's a real good bet I'm gonna be OK here.
A little self-analysis here - re-reading my long post from last evening, I was getting real close to solving this, but was a little panicked. I talked about "So next I started to try and understand if somehow it was turning too FAR - what made it stop?" And of course now it looks like a classic case of "looking at the trees and not the forest." (Needed to look at the whole assembly, BOTH knuckles). I KNEW there was an adjustable bump bolt on the axle housing. I even said "I know there is also the bolt on the axle housing that serves as a stop - but that's for turning the other direction." That's pretty dumb of me - obviously, they wouldn't want to limit movement only when turning one direction and not the other.
So my panic came from knowing about the damage I had in that drivers side in the ball and the knuckle housing -and jumping to the conclusion that this new problem must be related to that old damage.
But you guys set me on the right path and helped me open my eyes a little wider, and I thank you!
JabJeep, your experience of not seeing those other, newer posts is almost certainly a result of your "point of entry" to the on-going string. If you were following in an "Alert" from up top, it only takes you to the oldest "new post" since you looked at the string - and things below that will be - well, below that. Compounded by the fact that my long post was the final entry on that "page," and then the string turns over to the next page. So if you were reading my long post, and answering it, that's on Page 10, and the next posts were Page 11 (at least on my software/browser).
So now - off to the shop and see what Murphy has in store for me next!