Arny Krueger wrote:

"Pooh Bear" wrote in message

Mike Rivers wrote:

I was listening to NPR's Car Talk program while reading the newsgroup
messages this morning. A caller had a ball joint break when he was
driving, and he didn't want to pay for a tow, so he put the pieces
back in position, wrapped it in duct tape (he had a roll in the trunk
because it was an old car and he'd need the duct tape for something,
sometime) and drove it home. He said he'd been driving it that way
for about three weeks.

It just occurred to me that I've been reading this thread for a while
and from context assumed you mean what we in the UK would call a CV -
constant velocity ( transmission ) joint. A ball joint would
typically be used as a steering link over here.

In the US we call the rotating coupling between the front suspension lower
control arm and the shock strut (McPherson type suspension) a ball joint.
We call the rotating couplings between the hub carrier and the upper and
lower main control arms (upper and lower control arm type suspension) ball
joint(s).

I hadn't imagined that the OP could have been referring to them.

We call steering link ends, tie rod ends.

Track rod ends here.

We call CV joints, CV joints.

K.

Graham