Which twelve point sockets are required on modern vehicles?

[dnschmidt]

I know there are some car makes and models that require 12 point sockets as they use 12 point bolts. Can anybody tell me which sizes of twelve point sockets are required for such vehicles. I, like most people, prefer 6 point sockets but you can't put a six point socket on a 12 point bolt so that's the reason I ask the question. I know Subaru uses 12 point 14mm head bolts. What other sizes are needed.

 

[JradM]

12mm on Ford driveshafts. Actually I think some use 13mm too. I believe CV axels sometimes use them too,

 

[ChevyEFI]

There are some axle nuts, Toyota perhaps, that are 12 point. I hate that I bought 6 point axle nut sockets.

Really, on 12 or 13mm and higher, there's not much reason to go 6 point on socket purchases unless you're wrenching rust-belt vehicles a lot.

 

[Greg5OH]

There are some axle nuts, Toyota perhaps, that are 12 point. I hate that I bought 6 point axle nut sockets.

Really, on 12 or 13mm and higher, there's not much reason to go 6 point on socket purchases unless you're wrenching rust-belt vehicles a lot.

I read your comment, and was about to get angry-then I saw your location.
Must be nice to not have rust...

 

[qqzj]

I read your comment, and was about to get angry-then I saw your location.
Must be nice to not have rust...

Yeah. I also chuckle when I watch on YouTube people in the rust belt trying to get hub assembly off knuckle like mad men. In CA, once I took off the 4 bolts, the hub fell down by itself.

 

[dnschmidt]

In the immortal words of Joe Walsh: "Life's been good to me so far." It's only getting up to 75 today. Damn cold weather.

 

[ChevyEFI]

I read your comment, and was about to get angry-then I saw your location.
Must be nice to not have rust...

I grew up where roads are salted quite a lot in winter, and I learned how to break free brake lines, without rounding.

Context is key, and I absolutely looked for 6 point when I lived back home. I have owned examples of the same car from various areas of the U.S. I "get it."

 

[dnschmidt]

I grew up where roads are salted quite a lot in winter, and I learned how to break free brake lines, without rounding.

Context is key, and I absolutely looked for 6 point when I lived back home. I have owned examples of the same car from various areas of the U.S. I "get it."

Obviously you get it. You left.

 

[DAustin]

Rust Never Sleeps

 

[Snapped-off]

When you buy a whole 12pt set, it doesn't matter.

 

[DAustin]

I bought 6pt. regular and deep sockets, and 12pt. mid-sized sockets. Hopefully I'm covered.

 

[FMB4]

What you're talking about isn't your standard '12 point' fastener.

 

[DAustin]

What you're talking about isn't your standard '12 point' fastener.

What do you mean?

 

[2ndGearRubber]

12 point axle nut sockets, 29, 30, 32 and 38? 13mm for wrangler front hub bolts. 21mm for rover front brake caliper brackets, IIRC the rear are also 21. 12mm for some 4cyl Hyundai and kia ac bracket bolts. Needs removed to swap the oil pan.

The easy button is to just have a proper set of 3/8 and 1/2 12 points, plus 12 point axle nut sockets.

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

99 ram 4wd 9/16 12 point for the front hub I believe

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Some Kia head bolts are 17mm 12 point. Subaru 12 and 14 12 point are needed. Toyota I remember running into 14mm 12 point and 10mm 12 point bolts but can’t remember what on and the axle nuts on most Toyota are 30mm 12 point.

 

[VolvoRyan]

I read your comment, and was about to get angry-then I saw your location.
Must be nice to not have rust...

Every car-specific forum has this problem. The guys "down south" say "just use channel locks". In the rust belt you're using pipe wrenches and air chisels..... and acetylene.

-Ryan

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Every car-specific forum has this problem. The guys "down south" say "just use channel locks". In the rust belt you're using pipe wrenches and air chisels..... and acetylene.

-Ryan

It's basically not even "working" on cars without rust and rot. You're just removing stuff. LOL

 

[DAustin]

All I've ever known is rust. Over the last 50+ years I'm sure I've eaten my weight in rust.

 

[turtleman321]

i work on a bunch of performance/aftermarket stuff.

all ARP hardware is 12pt.

 

[silkman]

Someone told me that 27mm (including) and above (up to 36) you buy long, impact 12 point sockets instead of standard hex chrome ones and you're good for these kind of jobs.

Similarly, you dont need combination wrenches above 24mm for most jobs, you get open ended wrenches and you have two sizes in one tool.

Thats obviously for DIY and for metric as I have no idea nor touched a SAE wrench in my life. Once by mistake maybe.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

For me:

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 30, 36, 39mm.

I'm not going to list what's what.

 

[setfocus]

Let me think...

jeep wranglers and Ram's with solid front axles use 12 point for hub bolts 12, 13, or 14mm depending on ymm

Drive shaft bolts but you can normally get a wrench on those.

Most Toyotas use 30mm axle nuts, needs to be deepwell. And knock the stake back out on the old nut before you remove it or you'll tear up the end of the axle

Seen VW group cars with 32mm axle nut/bolts or giant Allen or some other stupid *** ****, think some are even really big triple square

Land Rover front caliper bracket bolts, can't remember the size... maybe 22mm?

I don't know the model but land rover again, all the front control arm and tie rod nuts out on the front steering knuckles are really big 12 points, bigger than 32mm by a good bit

Internal engine bolts but I dont get into that kind of work

 

[Wiz02]

I bought my first set of sockets from Sears in 1980 and couldn't figure out why I rounded off every bolt in my 1970 911T that I touched, not to mention the broken knuckles. Eventually, I figured out that the 12 pt sockets were the issue, bought 6 pts and haven't touched the 12 pt ones since, unless it's a 12 point bolt. Sadly the 911 is long gone.

 

[DAustin]

I bought my first set of sockets from Sears in 1980 and couldn't figure out why I rounded off every bolt in my 1970 911T that I touched, not to mention the broken knuckles. Eventually, I figured out that the 12 pt sockets were the issue, bought 6 pts and haven't touched the 12 pt ones since, unless it's a 12 point bolt. Sadly the 911 is long gone.

Should have bought metric ones.

 

[Wiz02]

Ha ha

 

[mikegt4]

My primary sockets are Craftsman that I bought in the late 1960's, still use them every day. I rarely use 6 pt. except for impact work. Back then good sockets were 12 pt. and ratchets were 24T, maybe 36T for high dollar tools (SO). Reminds me of the famous quote by Juan Manuel Fangio ( 5 time Formula One World Champion) who raced in the 1950's when he observed F1 racing drivers in the 1990's. He said "in his day the drivers were fat and the tires were skinny".

 

[bsaint]

How much is a set of metric 12 pt shallows? Can't be that much but I haven't bought basic sockets in like 20 years.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

How much is a set of metric 12 pt shallows? Can't be that much but I haven't bought basic sockets in like 20 years.

This is garage journal. Where everybody makes 20% year over year in the market, but doesn't want to spend $50 on a set of sockets.

1/4 Inch Drive 12-Point Socket and Ratchet Set (55-Piece) | TEKTON | SKT05302

Includes: 5/32-9/16 inch (SAE), 4-14 mm (Metric) 12-point standard and deep sockets, ratchet, extensions, hex bit holder, u-joint, spinner handle, and case. No skipped sizes. SKT05302.

www.tekton.com

An entire 1/4 set, ALL of it, metric/SAE, deep and shallow, with some extensions and a ratchet, in a case, $74. 3/8 is $89. I'm confident you could get a 10-19 3/8 set somewhere for sub $20.

 

[DAustin]

How much is a set of metric 12 pt shallows? Can't be that much but I haven't bought basic sockets in like 20 years.

You can spend as little or as much as you want too on them. Harbor Freight to Snap-on.

 

[bsaint]

Well **** OP, just get a set of metric shallow 12 pts and call it done. My first real socket sets were 12 pt because our machinery has ferry cap bolts. I still have them. Danaher made Napa sockets.

 

[bscman]

As cheap as a set of 12pt 3/8 shallow chrome sockets is, I'm surprised this is even a conversation. I'm even more surprised, given this is garage journal, that everyone here doesnt already have full sets of sockets in BOTH 6 and 12pt.

Just go buy a set of generic Taiwan 8-19 for $25 and call it a day. A 12" rail of 12pt sockets hardly takes up any space.

For myself, I'd say 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, and 9/16 are regulars... but I play with old cars, ARP studs, etc. this probably doesn't help you much

 

[AJHD]

I'm not a fan of 12 point sockets, personally. They round bolts more than 6 point, rusty or not.
But I have a 12 point set of axle nut sockets and a just a shallow set of 3/8" metric 12 point impact sockets (I also have a 12 point swivel 12mm that helps with drive shafts).
That should cover 99% of what you might need them for.

As others have said, some drive shafts and CV axles sometimes use them (ie. Ford 12mm drive shaft), and some axle nuts are 12 point (ie. 39mm Toyota)... You will also find 12 point sockets on some head bolt sockets and other "internal" engine parts, but that's about it from my experience.

Also, once you go above say 27mm, I don't think 6 point vs 12 point really matters anymore, so a 12 point axle nut socket set does just fine for me. I don't see the point in buying a 6 point set too. But, I do have a 6 point Snap On 32mm for my Nissan (personal vehicle).

 

[corn chip]

thinking logically ,just buy a affordable middle of the road taiwan 12pt set. likely youll rarely, if ever need them but theyll be in your box if you ever do.
ya some cv axle nuts are 12pt, some pinion nuts are 12pt but theyre very large (30mm+) and very rarely needed by the home mechanic so just buy them individually as needed

 

[VolvoRyan]

My rule of thumb is that if I don't know what size I need, then I don't need it...... at least not yet.

The exception is if you might see the fastener in professional use, then having a decent import set on the shelf will pay for itself.

Otherwise, if I know that a not-Volvo job is coming my way, I'll research and tool up appropriately.

-Ryan

 

[superautobacs]

off memory: 10, 12, 14, 17, 27, 30, 32, 36, 41mm

 

[crasher98]

I ran into a couple of 12-pt bolts taking the oil pan off of a 2011(?) Kia Forte; can't remember the size but 10 or 12 mm I guess. Was very excited because my very first Craftsman socket set I bought in the early 80s had 6-pt and 12-pt sockets and that Forte was the first time I ever needed one of the 12-pt sockets. Good thing I kept them around for 40 years!

 

[putergod]

I know this is an old thread, but if anyone googles this and this thread comes up I want to add one I just came across that isn't mentioned.

VW 2.0 SOHC (and possibly others) harmonic balancer bolt is a 19mm 12pt (some of them can also take a triple square, but I trust a 12pt impact socket on a high torque 1/2 impact wrench over a triple square).
It was with shear dumb luck that my 1/2" drive 19mm shallow impact socket just happened to be one of the very few 12 point sockets in my impact socket drawer.

 

[N8sToolz]

Funny this thread came up, I just found a recent love for 12pt. If I'm working under hood or under dash I've found being able to line up to a fastener with less angle is pretty nice. And they hold just as good as anything else, unless it's rusted. At that point it's getting a smaller sized 6 pt socket hammered on.

 

[AEAdam]

I have a basic set of 1/2” drive, 12-24mm that has served me well. It’s my only set of 1/2” chrome.

Not sure why, but I prefer to use chrome on my torque wrench, so I use these sockets for more than just 12pt fasteners, but almost never for removals unless the fastener is a 12pt.