How to Replace Outer Tie Rod Ends 2004-08 Ford F150

Okay friends. To get started on this job, the first thing that we need to talk about is safety. You want hand protection and eye protection at all times. With that said, safely raise and support your vehicle. So you have your front wheel off the ground. We're going to remove this center cover and then we're going to remove the lug nuts as well.

Get your wheel off of here. The next thing we need to do is loosen this jam nut right here. We're just going to go a little bit so that way there we'll be able to get this tie rod off. There we are. We need to get this cotter pin off of the outer tie rod end now, then we'll need to get the nut off of there. Use your 21 millimeter socket and remove your knot. I just put this back on there just a couple threads because now we're going to use our hammer and we're going to hit right along here on the knuckle.

Let's get this off of there, pull this down. Next, we're going to unscrew our outer tie rod end from the inner tie rod end. Once you get this off of here, just make sure you compare it completely to your new part. Next, I always like to use a little bit of copper Never-Seez along the threaded area. Now it's going to be time to install our brand new tie rod end. Go ahead and screw it right onto this inner tie rod end until it bottoms out with the jam nut. Let's get our tie rod end back in here. Now it's going to be time to get the nut on here. Just make sure if you've got a locking end, that's facing up.

Bottom it out. Torque this to 111 foot pounds. Torqued. Let's get this jam nut snugged back up. There we are. Now it's time to get our wheel back up on here. Start on all of our lug nuts, bottom them out, and then we're going to torque them to 150 foot pounds. Next you need to get your vehicle so the tire is just barely on the ground so it can't spin. We're going to torque the lug nuts like I said to 150 foot pounds in a star pattern. Once you've torqued it, make sure you put back on your center cover of course.