Find an honest front end alignment guy and have him look the front end
over and tell you what you need.  There are not a lot of parts that
can be bad once you have the steering box right.  There are two tie
rod ends and a drag link. There are upper and lower control arm
bushings.  You should replace the bushings, steering damper and the
shocks and the coil springs if you want it to drive like new. The tie
rod ends and drag link ends are either tight and good or sloppy and
shot.  If they are tight and the grease seals are intact there is no
reason  to replace them.  Replacing the coil springs will make a big
difference in getting it to feel like a new car.

If you replace the front coils you should replace the rear ones too.
I have replaced all those parts at one time or another in the last few
years on my 1982 300 TDT which has 396,000 miles on it.  It drives
like new and the tires last just like when the car was new.  I have
had terrible luck, by the way, with front end alignments at the
dealer.  I have a local guy at an alignment shop who does not use a
computer for alignment but uses the old style system that relies on
physically measuring the toe in by attaching a steel rod between the
rims and using that to measure and it works great for him. He has some
tools that attach bubble levels to the wheels to figure camber. I am
not sure how he measures caster, but he does it by actually meauring
the parts, not depending on a computer readout.   He charges $50 for a
complete alignment and cares enough to get it right on.

I have my '82 TDT pretty much apart right now.  I pick up the engine
tomorrow which I have just had completely remanufactured for $5600 at
Metric Motors in the LA area and I have the interior all removed for
cleaning and replacement of the AC evaporator, which requires removing
the dash.

Paul Fretheim

Both tie rod assembly, center/drag link and idler arm bushing repair kit.
Everything you need would cost you under $109 at autohausaz.com.

I would change out the sway bar links too...rear ($14 a pair) and front.

The age of your car and most likely not changed  for super long time... I'd
just change them all... they all are cheap!

Of course all worn parts s/b replaced. The other aspect of steering
quality is the tires' aspect ratio. A 70 series tire gives quicker
steering reaction than a 78 series but the 70 rides a bit harder.

Since the car's steering box was worn you should also check the rear
suspension bushings for wear. Worn bushings in the rear allow the rear
wheels to steer the car enough so that as the front is improved a point
is reached where there's an inexplicable gap between where the steering
quality ought to be - given the front end work - and the car's actual
performance. That gap can often be found in the rear bushings.