2015 Lexus NX300h Front Driver & Passenger Side Outer 2 Piece Tie Rod Set TRQ PSA55470

What's up guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the front outer tie rod ends on this 2010 Toyota Rav4. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1AAuto.com.

All right, I raised and supported the vehicle. I'm going to remove the wheel. I'm using a 21 millimeter socket and an air gun. If you don't have an air gun, you can use a breaker bar. Just crack the lug nuts free while the vehicle is still on the ground.

All right. Now I want to take the tire off. This one's stuck on there pretty good, so I'm going to put one lug nut on so the tire doesn't go flying and just hit it on the backside of the tire with a hammer. Break it free. The reason you leave the lug nut is so the tire doesn't go flying. Now take the lug nut off and pull the tire off.

First I want to loosen up this jam nut. I'm going to use a 22 millimeter wrench. Loosen this up. You might have to put a pipe on this wrench. There we go, just loosen that up. And there's a cotter pin on this over holding this castle nut on, or at least retaining the castle nut. So I'll just take the cotter pin off. Just use some straight cutters. Sometimes you can't get in there, sometimes you use a pick. Let's try to start it with a small pick and then sometimes using a cotter pin style pick can get that out. Slide that cotter pin out. There we go.

You don't ever want to reuse a cotter pin. You always want to replace it, so put a new one in. Take a 17 millimeter socket and a ratchet, loosen up this castle nut. It's a little bit rusty. I'm going to spray some rust penetrant on there. There we go, and loosen it up.

All right, before I take that nut all the way off, I am going to use a punch and a hammer, and just hammer down on the stud part of the tie rod. You could use a fork or there's other type of tools that you could use to press this out, but this will work. ... The reason why you leave the nut on there is so that you don't mush from the end in case you had to replace it. If you don't have to replace it, it doesn't matter. Take the nut off. You can slide the outer tie rod off there.

Now we can take this off. I like to count the threads so that when you put the new one back in, the alignment is at least going to be kind of close. So one, two three, four, five, six, 13, 14. 14. All right, then I'm just going to write the number somewhere, 14, just so I remember. You can write it anywhere you want.

Here's the old part. Here's The new outer tie rod from 1AAuto.com. It's the same shape as the old one, has the same ball stud, and it comes with a new nut. It actually comes with a locking nut with a nylon locker. Get yours at 1AAuto.com and you'll be ready to rock and roll.

Take the outer tie rod in, and I'm going to count how many turns I go. So I want 14 total and one, two, three, 13, 14. All right, and take the nut off. We'll just slide this in position, ... and that's good right there. Take the nut, get that started.

Now this tie rod, the new nut that comes with this happens to be in 19 millimeter nut, so I'll use a 19 millimeter socket and a ratchet. Tighten it up. Now if the studs start spinning, what you're going to have to do ... and it looks like it's not spinning, so that's good. But if the stud does start spinning, what you want to do is have a friend hold this, take some big pliers and just hold this tight. That'll keep it tight up against the knuckle and then you can tighten it up. That's good. Snug that up and then I'm going to torque it. I'm going to torque this to 36 foot pounds.

I want to take the jam nut, tighten that up against the tire rod end. Now this jam nut's a different size. I'm going to use a 15/16, or you can use a 24 millimeter, snug this up. So you're supposed to tighten this jam nut up to 65 foot pounds. If you have the ability to do that with a torque wrench, you can do that. I'm just going to snug it up with a wrench.

Now install the tire. Take the lug nuts, install the lug nuts. Now, I lowered the vehicle down to the ground so that the tire's just touching the ground. I'm going to torque these with a 21 millimeter socket and a torque wrench to 76 foot pounds, and I'm going to do this in a star pattern. The reason you do it in the star pattern is so that the wheel gets tightened down evenly. ... Then I always like to go around again just to double check.

Whenever you do a job like the one we did today, you're going to want to go to a local shop and have your alignment adjusted because you don't want to end up with premature tire wear whenever you change components or even remove them and reinstall them. Things change, and you want to make sure everything is lined up so you're good to go.

Thanks for watching. If you want the parts to do it yourself, check out 1AAuto.com, the place for DIY auto repair.