chassis tuneup?

Always a good idea to lube the u-joints a couple times a year. Any more and I just spend a stupid amount of time wiping grease off everything in the engine bay.

Checking the wheel bearings is also a good idea once or twice a year. USUALLY you can tell of impending issues by doing a slop test. Jack the car off the ground and firmly grab each wheel and ensure there is no side-to-side, up-down or in-out play when pulling/pushing etc.

Sometimes things will go fast and without warning, but in my experience, bearings usually start grinding and howling well enough in advance to at least stop the car safely, if not drive home or to a shop.

Mark

To really 'tune up' the suspension, consider investing a Saturday in installing grease 'zerk' fittings in your 6 expen$ive ball joints and two tierod ends. The stock Pantera got no zerk fittings at all, probably to save Ford 0.01¢ per fitting so most have not been greased since they left Italy. Auto parts stores sell zerks cheaply, the tap needed is 1/4-28, and the entire job can be done without removing anything from the car. The hardest part is getting the thing up high enough (on jackstands!) so the drill clears the ground. Lower ball joints and the tierod ends can be more easily serviced by using 65 or 90 degree zerk fittings, and the uppr ball joints need extended-length zerks due to the dropped centers where you must drill. The only tricky thing is, the covers you're drilling and tapping are thin sheet steel, so you only get about two threads. But that's enough to hold greasing pressure. This will positively increase the life of your costly balljoints and tierod ends, at very low cost and little installation trouble. And if things all 'go-to-worms' during the installation, wipe off the buggered-up hole, plug it with RTV and move on; some is better than none.