OT Warning to 88-91 fullsize Ford pickup owners

[kustomizer]

     This may be the wrong place to put this but I think it is important

     A friend had a pig valve put in his heart and was not released to drive his truck/camper on a big family trip, I drove him, and he had a release to drive home in 10 days. About 50 miles from home, in a gas station the steering quit working,( steering wheel would spin but the truck wouldn't turn ),this happened at about 1 mph thankfully. There is a hard plastic "ball" about 4 inches below steering wheel that allows the wheel to tilt, it is the "U"joint, and it broke. Ford had no recall, they don't have a replacement part or even a complete column, the parts guy suggested a wrecking yard. This is not to hammer on Ford, it is an old truck, although low milage ( under 100,000 ), it is in very good shape. I just wanted to warn some folks that have them do something about it before it fails, we made a bronze one. There was no warning, it was perfect, then it broke and had NO steering.