price of a grease fitting would save it all was there and did that

Your ball joints are probably getting buggard, how is the wear on the tires, is inside going loopy. If good wear pattern look to the steergear wear. You know you have perty good hyd psi because it pulls hard on the motor at idle. No hard pull weak pump psi verses good steering. Naturally the pump is the easiest to fix. They wear out together a lot filling the system with grit.