'97 GM/Crown Vic front end lube?

Can anyone tell me exactly how many grease fittings there are on the
front end of one of these things? My '97 GM's steering is getting
heavier, it doesn't want to return to center very well, etc. It's got
200k on it and no work on the front end other than alignments. Looking
at the Ford tech manual (the real thing, not a Haynes manual) they don't
show any lubrication points anywhere, and yet they list the kind of
grease you're supposed to use on the "Front suspension ball joints,
steering linkage, and steering arm stops". I've looked and looked and
I've only found one grease fitting, where the pitman arm meets the
center link of the steering linkage, as I remember.

TIA,
CN

"Chris Nagorka" wrote in message

> Can anyone tell me exactly how many grease fittings there are on the
> front end of one of these things? My '97 GM's steering is getting
> heavier, it doesn't want to return to center very well, etc. It's got
> 200k on it and no work on the front end other than alignments. Looking
> at the Ford tech manual (the real thing, not a Haynes manual) they don't
> show any lubrication points anywhere, and yet they list the kind of
> grease you're supposed to use on the "Front suspension ball joints,
> steering linkage, and steering arm stops". I've looked and looked and
> I've only found one grease fitting, where the pitman arm meets the
> center link of the steering linkage, as I remember.
>
> TIA,
> CN
>

Hi Chris -
I will tell you what I did to my '95 but . . . you may not feel comfortable
doing what I did. Mine were creaking and groaning. I bought a needle
attachment for my grease gun and carefully injected each ball joint full.
The rubber bits were already damaged so I wasn't worried about letting water
in. I used a good anti-seize grease with anti-washout properties. I also
jacked up parts to relieve the pre-load to get the grease between the joint
parts.

PoD