Metric On Cars ?

I think starting in the 1980's some fasteners on American cars went metric.

I think all the manufacturers are using metric fasteners now.

Pretty much every fastener on todays autos made anywhere are metric. Domestics have a few items that are commonly referred to in SAE numbers but they are actually metric. For instance the recent wheel diameters, the actual measurements for them are in metric.

15" = 381 mm 16" = 406 mm 17" = 432 mm

Where you may run into an SAE size on some vehicles is the lug studs. Most of the newer ones are metric and are stamped with an M on the end. The nuts themselves match the studs.

With large trucks and heavy off road equipment it all depends on who made it and when.

Near as I can figure, the last all SAE car I had was a 67 Barracuda. The Chrysler mini-van I had was a combination of the two and that would have been the last time I needed my inch tools. The Japanese like even number nuts (8,10,12,14.) The Italians would commonly use 13, 15 and 17 which resulted in stouter fasteners. That's the way I remember it anyway.

All the best cars are Whitworth.

--scott

That's a scary thought.

The change started when the domestics decided to start importing engines from their overseas plants for use in domestics. That was the time period when you needed both sets of tools to work on them. Then when the newer models came out it was cheaper to do the tooling in metric since then they could import more parts and not need to rework existing tooling.

By the late 80's and early 90's most of the vehicles were converted over. This also made it easier to export vehicles as well as import other models in.

indeed. but domestic tool manufacturer's don't seem to have figured that out yet. for instance, try finding a snap-on torque adapter* in

12mm or 14mm. they're only two of the commonest fastener sizes used on honda and toyota and have been for three decades, but snap-on, hey, we don't do that metric stuff. same for 3/4" drive - a full range of inch sizes, but only partial in metric.

• like this:

yes.

yes.

the same for "domestics" made here too. frod went metric ages ago. and as steve w says, gm started going metric in the 80's.

i don't understand why sears and all the others offer so many tools and toolkits in fractional - we can't /all/ be driving 50's caddys.

No DIY plumbing, eh?

I've done some plumbing but I don't use a socket or box wrenches for those things. I have done appliance repair and those probably use SAE sized tools.

Don't blame it entirely on Snap--On. blame it on ANSI, ISO, DIN and JIS and there inability to agree on reasonable common tool set. 12mm and 14mm were not originally part of the early Metric Standards. Many years ago the company I work for had me try to specify the minimum number of tools our repair guys had to carry to cover all the inch and metric fastners they were likely to see on a routine service call. We went through the various standars trying to weed out duplicates or uncommon sizes. The original standards for metric fastners came out of Europe (mostly French and German influene) and didn't include some of those even number sizes the Japanese seem to love (I wonder if it is a numberology thing with the Japanese). I don't know if the Japanese or the Germans were trying to pull rank or if the Japanese were just playing the NIH game, but the Japanese picked a different set of standard sizes than the Germans (DIN) or the French (~ISO). Being American, ANSI waffled around. Of course Sears loves it since they just get to sell more wrenches. Honestly there is no reason you should ever need

10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,24 mm wrenches. That is simply too fine a division for fastners of that size. I think originally the ANSI/ISO standard was something like 8, 10, 13, 16, 18, 19..... Then the Japanes threw in the even number wrench sizes 12, 14 and the Germans liked 17 and 19,. I have no idea who decided 15 mm was a good size... so now we have a wrench for every 1mm increment which is silly.

Bolt Diameter Head/Wrench Size (mm) (mm) ANSI/ISO DIN JIS 4 7 7 7 5 8 8 8 6 10 10 10 7 -- 11 -- 8 13 13 12

10 16 17 14 12 18 19 17 14 21 22 19 16 24 24 22 18 -- 27 -- 20 30 30 --

I am guessing Snap-On is following the ANSI standard for low volume products (except they have a 15 instead of a 16...hmmmm). Unless you just have to have Snap-on prooducts, torque adapters in 12 and 14 are easy to find (and a damn sight cheaper than the over priced Snap On Stuff).

Of course the company I worked for tried to cheap it out and only carry the absolute minimum sizes...As I recall the repairs guys got the following combination wrenches - 5mm, 5.5 mm, 6mm, 1/4", 7mm, 5/16"(which covered 8 mm), 11/32", 10mm, 3/8", 7/16"(which can cover 11mm in a pinch), 1/2". 13mm,

9/16"(which can cover 14 mm in a pinch), 5/8", 3/4"(which is almost identical to 19mm). They also got a variety of double open ended and double box end wrenches that covered 1/8", 7/32", 3/8", 11/16" and 17mm. Everything came fropm Snap-on so it was all nice and shiny and over priced. They made great Christmas gifts too.

Ed

If you've actually followed this thread at all, he clearly wasn't referring solely to sockets.

"Heron" wrote in news:jrd49o$vtl$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

Ok my tool box is full of metric everything as well as standard tools, I have no problem finding ANY metric tool I need. KB

So is mine, and neither do I, which still doesn't invalidate his point about Snap On, "a leading US designer, manufacturer and marketer of tools and equipment to professional tool users", not offering a full complement of metric torque adapters, for instance.

Hmm just looked at the tools we have for sale.. No 16mm on the shelf. We have 14mm, 15mm, 17mm, 18mm in wrenches & sockets. Oh it's in a set of sockets, but we don't have it by itself.

Find me a 10mm combination wrench with a handle at least a foot long, please.

--scott

My favorite box wrench was one that had 12 and 14mm on the ends. It was around 10 inches long. I've never seen a 10mm wrench with a foot long handle. I believe that they do not exist.

Even a child could imagine a nearly infinite number of tools that don't exist, which would prove exactly nothing.