What's up guys?
I'm Andy from 1A Auto.
In this video I'm going to show you how to replace the rear sway bar links on this 2010
Toyota Rav4.
If you need these parts or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description
and head over 1AAuto.com.
All right, with the vehicle raised up, we're underneath the back side of the vehicle.
I'm going to use some rust penetrant.
I'm going to take this link off.
Just want to spray a little rust penetrant right there, let that soak, and then also
for the top nut as well.
Just make it easier to take those off.
I am going to spray the other side down as well.
We're going to do these in a pair.
It's a good idea to replace them both together.
All right, what I'd like to do is take these two nuts off first, but if I do that, when
I go to raise the bar up to loosen this nut, it's going to be too difficult to remove that
nut.
So what I'm going to do is just crack this nut free.
I'm going to take a 17 millimeter wrench and just crack this one free.
So I'm just going to use a pipe, get a little more leverage.
Just break that free.
So I got that to break free.
If you have the ability to take this nut off completely at this time, you can do that,
but generally the studs going to spin and because of the location of the spring, you're
not going to be able to get a hex bit in there to hold the stud from spinning.
You could also take some locking pliers and lock the backside.
But what we're going to do is I'm going to loosen up this nut as well on this side.
The exhaust kind of in the way, so you're going to have to get creative with how you
loosen this up.
All right, I was able to get the wrench in there, so let's see if I can loosen this up.
And I need a little more leverage.
All right, I put a pipe on the end of the wrench.
I'm just going to pry down on this, try to loosen this up.
I got it a little bit loose.
That's good.
Now if you have trouble with that, you're going to have to lower this exhaust.
You can a lower it from the hangers right here, right here, and right there.
That should be able to if you support it with a floor jack or a screw jack, you should be
able to lower the exhaust enough just to be able to get the wrench on there to loosen
that up.
All right, so now I'm just using the open end of the wrench and just loosening this
up a little bit more.
The stud is going to start spinning.
And it is, so that's okay.
Now we're going to loosen these two nuts underneath and we'll be able to raise the bar and take
those other two nuts off.
So I'm going to use a 14 millimeter socket extension and a ratchet, loosen this up.
And then I'm going to do the same with the other side.
All right, take that nut off.
All right, the nut got stuck in the socket, so screw that back on, pull the socket off.
We can pull that rubber piece off right there in that washer.
All right, take that off.
We're just going to pry this sway bar up using a pry bar.
And with both disconnected, that's pretty easy to do.
Take a 17 millimeter ratchet wrench, get on the nut here and then just a hex key.
I'm going to use a 5.5 millimeter hex key.
I'll loosen this up.
The hex key is just going to hold the stud from spinning.
This may take a little bit of time, but the patient.
Sometimes that holding it with a hex key is a little bit difficult.
Sometimes it starts stripping out.
You could try also a standard size hex key to see if it fits a little better, but what
I'm going to do is use some locking pliers on the backside right here.
Just lock those on real tight and I can use that same 17 millimeter ratchet wrench and
with the pliers up against the body right there, it makes it a little bit easier to
loosen this up.
Now we'll take the nut off.
Try not to drop it.
All right, you can use a magnet if you need to to get that out.
Then I'll just take the locking pliers off.
I can grab the link and slide it out.
All right, this other side, I'm not even going to use the hex key.
I'm just going to start with the locking pliers.
Here we go.
It's tight.
Just pry this up so I can get a socket on there.
All right, so use a 17 millimeter socket extension and a ratchet.
You should be able to loosen this up.
All right, get that off.
Take that nut off.
Then I can just pry the link out and just pull it out.
Here's the old parts.
Here's the new rear sway bar links from 1AAuto.com.
They come with new nuts, new bushings, new washers.
The shape of the part is the same.
One thing that's nice about these parts, you can use a wrench on the inside right her instead
of using a hex key, which generally strip out.
Get yours at 1AAuto.com, you'll ready to rock and roll.
I'm just going to take this protective sleeve off, throw that away, and that's just to protect
the threads.
Take this washer, this is going to go on the inside.
Then take this bushing.
That's going to go like that and we're going to slide this in position and then you'll
have the other bushing and the other washer and then the nut.
So just leave that like that.
We'll take this nut off here.
Get this lined up right there, just position that like that.
Take that nut, install the nut.
And then I'm just going to put the other one in as well just to make sure everything's
in the right position.
Slide this one in as well.
Just makes it easier to put them both in.
Get them at least started.
I'll take a 18 millimeter wrench that's going to hold the stud from spinning and then I'm
going to use an 18 millimeter socket and I'll use an electric ratchet.
If you don't have an electric one, just use a regular one.
Tighten this down.
Now I will switch to a regular ratchet and just snug this up some more.
That's good.
Do the same for the other side.
The other side, I'm going to use a extension just to make it easier, but the same 18 millimeter
wrench, 18 millimeter socket and electric ratchet.
Switch to a regular ratchet, just tighten it up.
So make sure those bushings stayed in the right position.
Slide those down.
I'll take the bushing, slide the bushing on, the washer.
You might have to pull down on this a little bit.
Pull down on the link just to get some more threads and take the nut.
Get the nut started.
The way the bushing goes, see this little extra collar right here.
You want that towards the hole.
And same with when you're putting the top piece on, you want the washer side to be the
flat side.
So the raised up part goes towards the hole.
So when you're putting it on on the link itself, make sure that's going down.
Do that.
The idea is that that sits inside the hole and then there's insulation in between there
and the frame so that the link, the metal part of the link isn't rubbing right on the
frame.
So you could actually wiggle the link a little bit.
Just make sure that's good.
Actually, it looks good.
So another nice part about these links is you can use a wrench right here to hold the
link.
On the old links, they didn't have this, or they had it, but it was way down low.
It was kind of hard to get to.
So we can take a 16 millimeter wrench, hold the link right about there.
That'll prevent putting too much strain on the ball socket right there.
And then I'll take a 17 millimeter socket and electric ratchet, tighten up the nut.
That's good there.
We'll do the same on this side.
About there, that looks good.
And you're good to go.
Thanks for watching.
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