A center link design to fail?

I was not aware of those. I drove that old Ford over one winter, then the boss bought a really nice long wheelbase "church van" about a 77 Dodge window van, and I used that a couple years. Then they bought a brand spankin new 1T Chev van, 350.
Yeah they were pretty much the same ball and socket design, but instead of being pressed together with a bearing, they were injected with rubber. It was ridiculous.