Tie Rod End - No nut

Hi everyone,

Last weekend I decided to paint the stock rims on my car plast dip white when I found something very unusual, on the front right wheel of my car. It seems there was no nut connecting the tie rod and it was just hanging. I was completely unaware of this so I decided to run down to Bunnings and get a replacement nut.

Initially I bought an M10 and M12 nut, however M10 is too small and M12 is too big, so I was thinking it was a 7/16 inch nut holding that in place. Unfortunately, it seems the 7/16 is an uncommon and possibly non-existent as I've gone down to a few maintenances stores and they don't have any in stock? Are these the correct sized nuts?

Cheers,
Jude

If it is a sway bar end link, it wouldn't be 7/16" - too big to fit the hole so probably M10 or 3/8"
Do you know if it has stock end links?
The stock end link thread is  M10 x 1.25 (fine thread)
What M10 nut did you try?  An M10 x 1.5 nut (coarse thread) won't screw on.
 
Twos'r'us (USA origin) sway bar end links use a 3/8" UNF nut (24 threads per inch) 
 

Are you sure it is the outer tie rod end?
The outer tie rod end uses an M12 x 1.25 castellated nut with a cotter pin.
How could that fall out?