Just had my driver side tie rod drop out from under the car. No warning whatsoever!!! If it hadn't been in a parking lot, I might not be here tonight.

Check them every once in a while.

I had the pitman arm pop off on my 77 T/A. Fortunately it was in the underground parking lot @ 5mph. I was heade towards Indian Head MD, about 45 min trip on the highway. Cotter pin had rusted off and.............hey, how come it aint steering

Sounds fun too, with mine I just heard a nice grinding noise. Stopped, hopped out and noticed my outter tie rod was dragging.

Shouldn't there be some kind of warning before something like this happeniong? Like steering getting loose? My Caprice started to get really sloppy a while ago while my friend still owned it. It drove like a boat, you'd turn the wheel and it wouldn't start turning right away, sloppy as hell and some grinding noises when you turned sharp. He drove it like that for almost a year (stupid) and finally had it checked and it was a bad tie rod. Replaced it and then it drove like new again and still is now. All the front end parts on it feel tight to me but i don't know if I know what to look for.

I would say checking them 2-3 times a year would be fine.
Also, when your steering wheel is 5* behind your movement, have them replaced.

I really didn't have anything to compare with. I bought the car used. Handling wasn't really bad and there was no noise.