BradTank

Here's a write up for how to replace your tie rods on the LS430. Unless you have really low miles, I would think most cars could use their tie rods replaced by this time. If your tie rods are bad, you'll experience sloppy handling and your tires will wear out quickly. It can also be dangerous if they are really neglected as this is what connects your steering.

There's a few ways to check if your tie rods need replacement. One way is to jack your car up to get one of the front tires off the ground, and grab it by the "3 O'Clock" and "9 O'Clock" position and attempt to shake it back and forth, so a horizontal, right to left shake. If you can "wobble it" back and forth, that usually means they need to be replaced.

I would rate this job a 5/10 on the difficulty scale, I would say it's about as difficult as changing your brake pads. Most could easily handle the job. You don't have to have a tie rod/pitman arm puller, but I recommend one. Most places like AutoZone and O'Reillys will lend them to you for free with a refundable deposit. The one thing you need to remember is that your car WILL NEED AN ALIGNMENT after this job is done.

I purchased Moog replacement tie rods. The part numbers were # ES800445 and ES800446, I bought them from Rock Auto for around $35 a piece. Moog is a good alternative to the dealership ,they're actually an OEM supplier for many automakers and I would argue in many cases actually better. These Moog "Problem Solver" tie rods were made in the USA, and were more heavy duty, you could feel and see the heft.




Being that they are greasable, they should also last a lot longer. I will say, however, that if I could do it again I probably would look at buying a non-greasable, sealed tie rod as the zerk fitting is hard to access once the tie rod is installed, but you can do it. So if you decide to buy a greasable Moog, make sure you buy a 90 degree Zerk fitting to replace the fitting that comes with it, otherwise you're not going to be able to grease them.





Start by jacking up the car and removing the wheel. Also, turn the ignition key in the first position, this unlocks the steering if you need to move the position for better access.




Here is the joint that is going to be replaced:




As you can see, mine looks to be in need of replacement, and with 150k miles, it was long overdue. I noticed some strange "feathering" on my previous set of tires and they felt a bit loose on one side. You can also see where looks like much of the grease has leaked out despite it being a sealed tie rod.

You first remove the cotter pin from the Castle nut.





You then take a 17mm socket and remove the bottom nut and set it aside. This where you use the tie rod puller to pop it out by simply tightening down the screw, forcing it out.








I then move on to where the tie rod is screwed into the steering rack/inner tie rod. The whole joint unscrews counterclockwise, but you first have to remove a jamb nut to unscrew.




To do this, you need to get two wrenches, one to hold the tie rod and the other to rotate the jamb nut clockwise. You only need to move the jamb nut a few turns in order to be able to remove the tie rod. Sometimes it's easier to rotate the two in opposite directions to break them free. There is a flat spot on the tie rod itself for this purpose. Depending on the climate you live in, these can really be seized on there, I actually broke a wrench one time doing this job, so it often makes sense to use a large Crescent wrench. These was no issue with these.





After the jamb nut is loose, you then begin to screw the tie rod out. An important step here is to count how many rotations it takes remove, and then screw in the new tie rod the same amount of rotations. This is done in order to get the alignment close as possible. Regardless, it will still need to be aligned on a shop rack, but this quick and dirty way that gets it close. In my case, it was 14 complete rotations to remove. After I remove, I put on a bit of anti seize on the threads to keep the new tie rod from seizing.





I then screw on the new tie rods the same amount of rotations (in my case 14). I then tighten the jamb nut up against the tie rod approximately 30 ft/lbs after I bolt the tie rod in place at the other end with the castle nut properly torqued.

I then insert the zerk grease fitting into the tie rod and put some grease in. Normally, it would be a better idea to install first and then put the grease in but access is a real issue. Be careful not to put too much grease in.





I then put the new tie rod back into the knuckle. It can take some persuasion because the new joint will be stiff. What I did was line it up the best I could and smacked it with a hammer to get it in there. The new hardware included a castle nut that was slightly larger, 18mm. I then attached the Castle nut to the threads and tightened it to approximately 64 ft/lbs, using blue thread locker. I then lined up the opening in the castle nut with the hole and inserted the cotter pin.





You're not done yet though, the car needs a real alignment at a shop with the right equipment. Even with putting back the tie rods back as close as possible, the car was horribly out of spec, they were nowhere near where they were supposed to be.

After the job was complete, I noticed my steering felt MUCH sharper and I also had a "clanging" noise when I went over a rough patch at slow speeds that seems to have gone away.

You might want to combine other jobs with this work so you only need one alignment. I probably should do more suspension work like the lower ball joints with this job, but they seemed to feel tight and the "might as well" type jobs can really add up to where you end up rebuilding your entire suspension. I thought I would focus on a problem area and take the issues as they come.

sr20mofo

iTrader: (10)

good job on the detail write up. gonna have to take a look at my tie rods tomorrow.

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

great DIY, I like how u explained it simple enough for us non mechanics to understand.

The mods should definitely move this to the sticky's

malrafe3i

Thanks man we really appreciate this help from you and i would like to make it clear for anyone if they can update us with each thing they do in car so in case we happen to face the same problem we just have to follow the instruction done by them thanks again bro

mattbeeezy

iTrader: (26)

great DIY thread! never really noticed it until today mine are starting get a bit greasy might have to do this on a weekend.

Lynzoid

These are not 'tie rods'... These are 'tie rod ends/outer tie rods'...
And happy driving with MOOG. It won't be long driving tho. Crappy MOOG gives out around 1-5k miles after install.

BradTank

Have you decided to become the forum's resident Troll? Thanks for the helpful contribution.

Lynzoid

More like a voice of reason amongst amateurs. I may very well abandon this board completely )) But amount of PMs asking for qualified/experienced help won't allow me currently....
If you want to ruin your ride - go ahead and install aftermarket parts.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

There will be a range of experiences with aftermarket and factory parts. The input from members experiences are welcomed good and bad. We're all here to keeping ours cars running well so let's be nice to each other.

Lynzoid

Well, MOOG outer tie rods failed literally 30mins after replacement. Both. And that was almost catastrophic fail - one of the ***** almost popped out of the socket while i was driving.
MOOG, bought at rockauto, no foul play suspected.
Lexus in not a car to show/hide how cheap you are.

Coulter

Sounds like somebody installed them improperly to me.

I've had good luck with Moog parts, in fact on one Lexus I bought Moog tie rod ends and I believe they were Lexus-Toyota OEM just put in a Moog box. They were made in Japan and had "555" on the part, which is a major supplier for Toyota. I've gotten other suspension parts from them that were also made in Japan, all quality stuff that I've never had a problem with at less than half the price of going to a dealership.

Another good brand is Raybestos Professional, just don't get their regular or economy line.

The only suspension parts I've had bad luck with is the cheap, Chinese-made house brands in places like AutoZone carry, just not worth your time fooling with.

Lynzoid

If your MOOGs had this grease holes on top (with sockets included and as is depicted by op) - that's the crap i got.... It's still possible to get moog branded oem part, but i've never been so lucky. Rockauto seemed a solid place. Back then.
Also bad history with MOOG parts on 1 GM and 1 Chrysler vehicles...

And really, sewell guys. It's as great as it gets with toyota parts stateside.
Here, in evil RU, i can get oem parts (well, some) priced 2/3 of a sewell discount price w/o shipping.
But i still buy some stuff from sewell. Great discount, great people.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Some of the OEM's used can vary time to time so it can be spotty as Lynzoid encountered. I've had similar problems with aftermarket parts.

This thread in the 400 section of OEM's as a reference since some of this will carry over to the 430 parts:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...know-them.html

If the box states Japan as country of origin...

lsdude

How do you torque the jamb nut? Do you attach a crowfoot to the torque wrench?

BradTank

That's the proper way, but it's not a critical fastener that you need to be dead on with. I just cinched it down good and tight with an open wrench.