Just curious about how much left to right slop (by hand) of the outdrive is acceptable and where to look for the fix?...

Almost none. Check your upper swivel pin/gimbal ring if it's a bravo. VERY common problem on bravos.
Gary

There is only a pinch of movement up & down, but when I push pull side to side it's almost like there's slop in the steering rod area on the inside transom?...Could something have worked loose? I don't see (meaning nothing) how the pin would create this "kind" of slop aside from up & down?...

Yes, there can be slop in the cable steering, tiller arm to upper pin, or the upper pin to gimbal ring. Check them all out. Also do a search here in the tech section, you'll find it's a common problem with bravos.
Gary

It is probably the upper swivel pin or the tiller arm or both. Probably both.... Try to tighten the bolt on the tiller arm first you might get lucky. I replaced mine this sping, kinda tricky at 50+mph when the boat is walking and you have 9" of play in the steering. I tried one or the other and couldn't get it tight until I relaced both tiller and pin together.

Okay I'll do the search. The gimble seems pretty solid itself as does the pin. It just seems the seering cable/tiller or something suddenly developed slack left to right...

Okay I just looked at it again more closely. The tiller arm doesn't move and the drive seems to move without the pin/bushing moving anymore than just a tad bit. I guess that would mean the upper swivel pin (which is square at the bottom) has rounded out some. Does the inside of the gimbal ring itself (squared portion) have a tendency to wear as well?...

Oh boy, does it!

You can try tightening the pinch bolts/nuts at the outside of the outdrive and it may take some of the slack out. Just don't bear down too tight. There is a torque spec for these. If there is too much slack in it, it's not going to take it out. The square in the top of the gimbal ring may have wallowed out.

I'm pretty convinced now it's the gimbal ring that has rounded out on me. Has anyone ever got this repaired under an extended warranty? or will this be considered normal wear & tear?

www.jrmarine.com (Ron Bender?) has this great deal on welding/sleeving the worn gimbal and/or exchanging for another welded/sleeved unit for a third of the cost of a new one ($750-$800) or used one ($500). Turnaround time is 5-6 days. See http://www.jrmarine.com/products/gimbal_repair.htm for more info.
If the warranty won't cover it that's the way I'm going....

Warranty will not cover a worn gimbal ring. I just had mine replaced. $$ Ouch!

Yeah I just found that out today. I'm going to go with JRMarine for the repair. See the websites listed above. Much cheaper option than $750+....

Also as a note of interest. I found out when checking those external nuts for the c-clamp and proper torque, they're supposed to be checked for torque every 100 hours or so. They are spec'd at 55 ft lbs and the proper way to do it is first to "loosen" them up THEN torque them up to 55 ft lbs. Otherwise you will get an inaccurate torque value. Doing this every 100 hours will help prevent premature gimbal wear especially if you run mostly in the rough....