Here you can find information regarding the assembly of the Toyota Highlander front end. In this guide we will cover the
essential repairs for the front end of this vehicle. Included within these repairs
is the inner and outer tie rod removal and change, the front wheel hubs installation, ball joint removal and
installation, the upper and lower control arms, and the front shock installation. Along
with the repair procedures we also include the corresponding bolt torque specs for each fastener involved. These
guides are intended to assist in each procedure to help diyers with the job.
Toyota Highlander Tie Rod Change/Removal
To install a new tie rod on a Toyota Highlander you must first remove the old one from the vehicle. This can be
done by raising the vehicle up by either the use of a floor jack or a vehicle hoist.
Once the vehicle is in the air you can remove the corresponding tire for the side that you want to change the
tie rod on. Once the tire is off you can now access the old tie rod and remove it for replacement.
The inner part of the tie rod uses an nut that will need to be removed, this nut may spin depending on how
rusty it is. I suggest using a pair of vice grips to hold the portion of the bolt to prevent it from
spinning. You may also use a wire brush to clean off the threads prior to removal and or use penatrating oil to
aid in the removal. Once removed you can now tap out the tie rod from the spindle and
start to remove it completely. If you want to replace just the outer portion of the tie rod you can use a wrench
to hold the inner tie rod and spin off the outer tie rod. I usually count how many turns
it takes to come off so that I can then use the same number when installing the new part. This helps to avoid
alignment costs and hassles, although you may still want to get your vehicle realigned.
Once the outer tie rod is off you can now screw on the new part and reinstall it the same way it had been
removed. Once you get the nut back in place you can torque it to 36 ft-lbs. Be sure to tighten
back up the nut on the middle of the tie rod to ensure it does not move your alignment. If you happen to be
installing the inner tie rod as well you will need a special tool to loosen and tighten
the inner part. The torque specs for the inner tie rod are 50 ft-lbs.
Toyota Highlander Outer Tie Rod Torque Spec : 36 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Inner Tie Rod Torque Spec : 50 ft-lbs
Front Wheel Hub Installation
To install the new wheel hub you must first remove the old hub from the vehicle. To do this you must first remove
the center axle nut from the vehicle. This is best done while the tire is still on the ground to prevent the entire assembly from
moving during removal. Next you will need to jack the vehicle up and remove the lugnuts and tire from the car.
Once the tire is off you will need to remove the bolts from the brake bracket on the steering
knuckle. These bolts will be rather tight so you may want to use an impact or find some
leverage. Once removed you can move the brake assembly out of the way and move the brake rotor from the vehicle.
Next you will have to remove both the upper and lower connections to the steering knuckle. These include the lower ball joint and
the lower strut bolts. A tip is to also remove the tie rod end so that you can remove the steering knuckle entirely from the vehicle.
With the knuckle out of the car you can then press out the old bearing using a hydraulic press or a bearing pressing kit. With the old
one removed you can press in the new bearing and then begin to reassembly the steering knuckle back into its place on the car. Starting
with the lower ball joint you will need to tighten the nut to 90 ft-lbs. The lower strut bolts are next and get tightened to
170 ft-lbs. The last part for the knuckle is the tie rod end which tightens to 36 ft-lbs. The last stages are to put the braking system back
on and then tighten the tire back up to the vehicle and install and tighten the center axle nut.
The center axle nut gets tightened to 217 ft-lbs and finally the lugnuts go to 100 ft-lbs.
Toyota Highlander Front Axle Nut Torque Spec : 217 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Wheel Hub Torque Spec : 100 ft-lbs
Front Ball Joints Installation
The Toyota Highlander has one front ball joint being the lower ball joint.
To remove the old lower ball joint you must loosen up the ball joint nut which holds the lower
control arm to the steering knuckle. Next you need to remove the nut which hold the ball joint to the knuckle itself. Once the nut
has been removed you can then remove the 3 fasteners that hold the ball joint onto the lower control arm.
With all of the fasteners loosened or removed you can use a pickle fork to remove the joint part from the steering knuckle. From here you can begin to install
the new ball joint doing the reverse of the removal. Starting with the 3 bolts install them and tighten them down to 94 ft-lbs. I recommend using
some red or blue loctite when installing these bolts to ensure they do not loosen up and cause an accident. Next we will move to the ball joint
nut that holds the lower arm to the knuckle. This nut can be tightened down to 90 ft-lbs and then a cotter pin can be installed.
Toyota Highlander Front Lower Joint to Arm Torque Spec : 94 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Front Lower Ball Joint Nut Torque Spec : 90 ft-lbs
Front Control arms Installation
Lower Control Arm
On the Toyota Highlander there is only one control arm being the lower control arm. It has 4 fasteners that
hold the part onto the vehicle. There are 3 bolts with nuts that hold the control arms to the vehicle frame. There is also a ball joint which
fastens the control arms to the steering knuckle. On the lower control arm the frame bolts get tightened down to 150 ft-lbs. The lower ball joint nut gets tightened down
to 90 ft-lbs. When tightening up the lower control arm fasteners be sure to set the wheel height to a level that it would be at during riding or when on the
ground. This is best done with a bottle jack under the suspension. On the lower control arm there is also a connection between the arm and the ball joint.
There are 2 nuts and one bolt which allow the ball joint to be removed from the arm. These should all be tightened down to 94 ft-lbs.
Toyota Highlander Lower Arm Ball Joint Torque Spec : 90 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Lower Arm Frame Bolts Torque Spec : 150 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Lower Arm to Ball Joint Torque Spec : 94 ft-lbs
Front Strut Installation
To replace the front struts on the Toyota Highlander you will need to lift the vehicle up into the air and start by removing the tire on the side you want to replace.
Once the tire is off the first thing to do is remove the ABS sensor bolts so that you don't put stress on the bolts or ABS sensor cord. Next you can remove the sway
bar link bolt from the side of the strut. With the sway bar removed you can start to remove the lower strut bolts. There should be 2 larger bolts
which are used to clamp the bottom of the strut to the steering knuckle. You may need to use a hammer to pound these bolts out once loosened. I
always put the nut on a few threads before tapping it to protect the threads from damage. With the lower 2 bolts removed the last fasteners to take off
are located at the top of the strut and can be accessed from under the hood. You may need to take some of the wiper area trim off of the car to allow
better access to the bolts which hold the top of the strut in. There are typically 4 or 3 of them. Once removed the strut should come out from the car. The
new strut can be installed in reverse order of the removal. Starting with sliding the new strut into the strut tower and tightening the upper nuts to
59 ft-lbs. Then you can install the lower strut bolts and tighten them to 170 ft-lbs. The stabilizer nut can be tightened down to 55 ft-lbs.
Toyota Highlander Front Strut Upper Nuts Torque Spec : 59 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Front Strut Lower Bolts Torque Spec : 170 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Front Stabilizer Endlink Torque Spec : 55 ft-lbs
Front Swaybar Installation
The front swaybar on the Toyota Highlander consists of a series of brackets that hold it to the frame of the
vehicle and a couple of endlink nuts that fasten it the the outer side of the car. To remove
the swaybar you will need to jack up the front of the vehicle and remove both the endlink nuts as well as the
brackets. To install the new swaybar you will need to move it back into the place as the old one
and torque the endlink nuts to 55 ft-lbs and then torque the bracket bolts to 15 ft-lbs as well.
Toyota Highlander Front Swaybar Bracket Torque Spec : 15 ft-lbs
Toyota Highlander Front Swaybar Endlinks Torque Spec : 55 ft-lbs
