wound up using a plugin to clean this up. closing topic.
@metaprinter what did you end up using to clean all of the unused db data? Its unreal that they dont have something to get rid of the left overs! I’ve asked about this for some years now!
Its been years of asking about this.. http://support.advancedcustomfields.com/forums/topic/flush-unused-custom-fields/#post-33095
I just tried this other old plugin Delete Custom Fields on several sites I own, and it appears to work fine deleting custom fields that have been previously used on pages or posts. It does NOT delete custom fields that are hidden and not used though.
thanks Info Broker, trying it now..