You make fun, but That old Jeep has been wheeled pretty hard and never broke a link in 15yrs. 6.0L, Atlas, D60/D70, Full Hydro Steering and 42s Pitbulls. 20-30yrs ago a lot of guys around here were running them. And they pretty much were all V8, 1-ton running 42's and 44's. But these were all trail and comp rigs. Not daily drivers. No clue how they are on the road.
He just never saw the need to switch them out. Never said they were better then what we can buy now. It was just a creative solution to a problem back then. I believe The guys who created EMF Joints are they ones who done this first back then. They used to be WMS but spawned into EMF. Good Heim joints were not out 30yrs ago. These were easy to get locally and under $40 each.
Its kind of like when guys ran 1/4 elliptical, buggy springs, Revolver shackles etc.. You don't see those anymore either. But I'm sure there are still a few old guys running them.