Most common metric bolt sizes

martell06 · Jan 20, 2008

I know this has been covered before I just can't find any of the posts. The Sears $5 off sale ends in a couple days and I want to grab some swivel sockets but I'm too cheap/broke to buy them all, even with the coupon savings. I decided to just grab a few of the most common sizes, but don't work with metric often enough to know which are most common. The 3/8 metric swivels are available in 10-19mm. Can you guys help me out?

eschoendorff · Jan 20, 2008

Depends on what you're working on. 10, 13, and 15mmm are pretty common on some cars... but then 17mm pops up on others and 18mm on still others. i would get the 10 and 13mm at the very least (think 3/8" and 1/2").

Red Green · Jan 20, 2008

The order I would buy in if you have standard would be 10,18,12,14,15,13,17,16,11,19

Fedwrench · Jan 20, 2008

You can't go wrong with 10 and 13mm for starters. If you work on GM stuff 15 and 18mm are also handy. Although sears doesn't make a 3/8 drive 8mm swivel, I would get one in 1/4 drive because, they're very handy.

fourfeathers · Jan 20, 2008

On the cheap, 19mm=3/4, 16mm=5/8 so you don't "need" both.

dirty old man · Jan 20, 2008

It really depends on the make of the car. If you're working on a Subaru I'd recommend 10, 12, 14, 17 and 19mm.

Deafautotech · Jan 20, 2008

i am working in both Chrysler and Mercury shop... mostly useful tools are 8mm, 10mm, 13mm, 15mm, 18mm but i still willing to buy the set because it is cheaper than buy one each... better to have set than don't have that socket and need go to buy one... my opinion...

Vernmotor · Jan 20, 2008

11mm =7/16

IDASHO · Jan 20, 2008

If you do any work under the dash...

Do make sure you have a 5.5mm socket.

Its crazy how many times a project has been held up due to me digging thru my tool boxes in search of that blasted socket :wtf:

RAYJAY · Jan 20, 2008

IDASHO said:
If you do any work under the dash...

Do make sure you have a 5.5mm socket.

Its crazy how many times a project has been held up due to me digging thru my tool boxes in search of that blasted socket

its just beacuse of you owning a SHO........... :lol_hitti

in all its just a ford thing......

Jeff

goodfellow · Jan 20, 2008

Used to be (back in the 70's and 80's) that European manufacturers used the 13mm and 10mm fasteners the most; followed by the 14, 17, and 19mm. The Asian manufacturers used the 12mm and 10mm as the most common, followed by the 15, 17 and 19mm.

What I hated was the American cars with the weird combo metric and SAE fasteners -- what a frustrating mess. I owned an '82 Camaro, and it often seemed that they used one of everything

Don't know what the current crop of cars are using

jimvannoy · Jan 20, 2008

10 and 13 are the ones I use most but I mainly only work on 60's and older American stuff with the occasional MG or other foreign sports car.

Jbullfrog · Jan 20, 2008

RAYJAY said:
its just beacuse of you owning a SHO...........

in all its just a ford thing......

Jeff

INDEED... I haven't used the 5.5 anywhere outside of my Taurus. As for common sizes, I use 15, 18, and 26 on our JD combine.

goodfellow · Jan 20, 2008

jimvannoy said:
10 and 13 are the ones I use most but I mainly only work on 60's and older American stuff with the occasional MG or other foreign sports car.

Hey Jim, I can see where the 13mm is close to a 1/2", but what do use a 10mm for on older MG and American vehicles?

Merkava_4 · Jan 20, 2008

Toyota - 10mm, 12mm, 14mm.

General Motors - 10mm, 13mm, 15mm.

I'd get those sizes first in 1/4''Drive. :thumbup:

goodfellow · Jan 20, 2008

Merkava_4 said:
Toyota - 10mm, 12mm, 14mm.

General Motors - 10mm, 13mm, 15mm.

I'd get those sizes first in 1/4''Drive.

I remember when 12mm, 15mm and 18mm weren't even part of a packaged metric socket set --

TNToy · Jan 20, 2008

Japanese means you only need an 8mm, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, and 21. Ever.

European means you need 10, 13, 15, 19 etc...

Volvo is a whole different animal. Working on those I wore through a whole socket set evenly. They used 11, 17 AND 18, 19, and 22 as well as the typical european fasteners. I don't miss that.

5.5mm is an evil Ford thing, yes. Volvo holds their interiors together with T25 torx fasteners (I've never used a 5.5mm socket IIRC) and you can damn near disassemble the entire interior in most Japanese cars with a #2 Philips screwdriver, and a 10mm and 12mm socket.

Merkava_4 · Jan 20, 2008

I ran into some nuts that were 18mm across the flats when I replaced a couple of motor mounts on my Buick.

I also ran into a 11mm banjo bolt used on the brake hoses.

I only have one 11mm wrench that was brand new before I used it and I had to take great pains to keep from scratching it. I wish the banjo bolts had been a 10mm or 12mm because I have some duplicates in those sizes.

IDASHO · Jan 20, 2008

Jbullfrog said:
INDEED... I haven't used the 5.5 anywhere outside of my Taurus.

You havnt been under the dash in an Explorer or F-series pickup then.

Those blasted 5.5mm bolts are in there!

I got stalled for more than an hour when I was home for x-mas, pulling the EEC out of my brother's '94 explorer. 5.5mm bolts hold it in :rocketwho

dxdexter · Jan 20, 2008

I would buy 10,12,15,18 if I could only buy a few. The rest up to 19 can be made up with SAE sockets.

Murphys law states that no matter which sockets you buy you will never have the one you need, unless you buy a complete set, and even them you will probably need 6 point, if you buy 12 point.

russlaferrera · Jan 20, 2008

Merkava_4 said:
I ran into some nuts that were 18mm across the flats when I replaced a couple of motor mounts on my Buick.

I also ran into a 11mm banjo bolt used on the brake hoses.

I only have one 11mm wrench that was brand new before I used it and I had to take great pains to keep from scratching it. I wish the banjo bolts had been a 10mm or 12mm because I have some duplicates in those sizes.

Instead of scratching your new wrench. Would it be better to go to Sears and buy a set of wrenches to work/ scratch up with. This way you can have two sets one for show and one to use. :lol_hitti

eschoendorff · Jan 20, 2008

Merkava_4 said:
I only have one 11mm wrench that was brand new before I used it and I had to take great pains to keep from scratching it.

Are you fking serious??? You're worried about scratching your tools??? Turn in your man card - NOW!

Here is my main tool taht I use everyday:

It's a TANK. You should see the scratches in it. but I don't care as long as it sounds good and gets the job done. Hell, I bought it with scratches in the bell because it had a good sound!

youm0nt · Jan 20, 2008

Deafautotech said:
i am working in both Chrysler and Mercury shop... mostly useful tools are 8mm, 10mm, 13mm, 15mm, 18mm

are these common on a 99-04 grand cherokee? what is?

Deafautotech · Jan 20, 2008

youm0nt said:
are these common on a 99-04 grand cherokee? what is?

yes, it is common size (10mm, 13mm, 15mm, and 18mm to take anything out of engine or transmission but Transfer case use 9/16 because i tried to use 14mm but it is too tight to in... most of driveshafts use 8mm bolts to hold univeral joint on Yoke...

anything problems on Grand Cherokee?

chad s · Jan 20, 2008

eschoendorff said:
Are you fking serious??? You're worried about scratching your tools??? Turn in your man card - NOW!

Here is my main tool taht I use everyday:

It's a TANK. You should see the scratches in it. but I don't care as long as it sounds good and gets the job done. Hell, I bought it with scratches in the bell because it had a good sound!

So you have an air compressor set up to blow through the trombone? You lazy *******!

Deafautotech · Jan 20, 2008

chad s said:
So you have an air compressor set up to blow through the trombone? You lazy *******!

that would be funny! my brother had one like that and he did for classes in his high school even my parents took me to my brother's music programs few times... it is nice but too boring for me because i am deaf... but i am here for my brother! same with him to be there for me when i was play football games...

T56 Impala · Jan 20, 2008

Nice horn!

The old Toyota's came with a tool kit. I used said kit to remove the engine once. In that kit it had:

10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19 mm open end wrenches, a flip screwdriver, a plug "wrench", and a lug wrench.

I rebuilt that engine with those tools and some Craftsman sockets and TQ wrench. (I was 9 years old at the time.) It ran 160,000+ miles before the timing chain broke again and I had to do it all over again.

I would add a 13mm into that group as well. If your feeling wealthy, add the 16, 18 and 21 to it. Maybe a 27 too. (Rare but when you need it you really need it!) The 5.5 mm is a good choice if you are doing interior work.

ImportTuner · Jan 20, 2008

T56 Impala said:
Nice horn!

The old Toyota's came with a tool kit. I used said kit to remove the engine once. In that kit it had:

10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19 mm open end wrenches, a flip screwdriver, a plug "wrench", and a lug wrench.

I rebuilt that engine with those tools and some Craftsman sockets and TQ wrench. (I was 9 years old at the time.) It ran 160,000+ miles before the timing chain broke again and I had to do it all over again.

I would add a 13mm into that group as well. If your feeling wealthy, add the 16, 18 and 21 to it. Maybe a 27 too. (Rare but when you need it you really need it!) The 5.5 mm is a good choice if you are doing interior work.

Nine years old and you rebuilt the engine ... not sure I would believe that ...

Red Green · Jan 20, 2008

ImportTuner said:
Nine years old and you rebuilt the engine ... not sure I would believe that ...

I am inclined to belive. I know I could remove power steering pumps at 8 yrs old and by age 10 I was running my dad's cutting torch (My Mother was not happy about that).

youm0nt · Jan 21, 2008

Deafautotech said:
yes, it is common size (10mm, 13mm, 15mm, and 18mm to take anything out of engine or transmission but Transfer case use 9/16 because i tried to use 14mm but it is too tight to in... most of driveshafts use 8mm bolts to hold univeral joint on Yoke...

anything problems on Grand Cherokee?

ive noticed its been squeaky when going over rough roads. probably the shocks or sway bar bushings? about 52k miles. dont they say replace shocks at 50,000 miles?

Jason_D · Jan 21, 2008

When is the last time you greased the under carriage? Not that there are many zerks, but you can still grease ball joints, etc with a needle adapter for a grease gun. Also, if you don't want to or can't remove the swaybar end links & center mounts, you can shoot grease in them the same way. It's best to remove the links & center mounts & clean them though. Check the body mount bushings too.

Have you noticed any sign of build up on the shocks or simply push down on the corners of the car?

T56 Impala · Jan 21, 2008

ImportTuner said:
Nine years old and you rebuilt the engine ... not sure I would believe that ...

Its not like I did it all on my own. My father helped me along. I did all 90% of the work on it including removal, rebuild and reinstall. Dad helped with things like the higher TQ required to break loose the mains and to put them back to the proper TQ. He followed along and made sure things were right. I wasn't going it alone or anything.

At age 10 I was rebuilding, for profit, mowers/tillers/gocart engines (I even did one VW bug engine for a friend of my father). I sucked with carbs so a friend of mine (who happened to be a whiz with them) did those. We did okay for pre teens! In high school I built engines for several of my friends. Cars, boats, motorcycles all by the age of 17.

Since you are into the import scene judging from your screen name, take a look at a Toyota 8-RC engine (not the 18 RC). Its not like its that tough to rebuild anyway!

Jason_D · Jan 21, 2008

T56 Impala said:
Its not like I did it all on my own. My father helped me along. I did all 90% of the work on it including removal, rebuild and reinstall. Dad helped with things like the higher TQ required to break loose the mains and to put them back to the proper TQ. He followed along and made sure things were right. I wasn't going it alone or anything.

At age 10 I was rebuilding, for profit, mowers/tillers/gocart engines (I even did one VW bug engine for a friend of my father). I sucked with carbs so a friend of mine (who happened to be a whiz with them) did those. We did okay for pre teens! In high school I built engines for several of my friends. Cars, boats, motorcycles all by the age of 17.

Since you are into the import scene judging from your screen name, take a look at a Toyota 8-RC engine (not the 18 RC). Its not like its that tough to rebuild anyway!

why is this so hard to believe? My nephew is 9y.o. and can completely tear down/rebuild his go carts engines.

martell06 · Jan 21, 2008

Funny how off topic this thread got. Anyway, I bought the flex sockets today - 10,13,15,18. Thanks for the recommendations guys. Also bought 7/16, 1/2, and 9/16. woulda bought 3/8 too but it looks like craftsman has a crappy new design. The ones i bought all had a black flex joint and black, solid pins holding it together. The 3/8 and a few of all the other sizes didn't have black on the flex joints and they used roll pins to hold them together. They flexed like something from Harbor Freight - stiff and rough. I guess it's just another Craftsman product going down in quality?

kartracer55 · Jan 21, 2008

Mitsubishi likes 10 12 and 17mm. I interchange 3/4 and 19mm. 16mm is almost never used, 18mm is big on domestic cars

6PTsocket · Jul 6, 2014

goodfellow said:
Hey Jim, I can see where the 13mm is close to a 1/2", but what do use a 10mm for on older MG and American vehicles?

13mm is a hair bigger than 1/2" and usually works as a substitute, but conversely,1/2" is a bit too snug for 13mm and usually won't go on. 19mm is only a couple of thousands off 3/4" and for all practical purposes they are identical. 10mm is about 25/64 or a loose 3/8 in the real world

MLB0611 · Jul 6, 2014

TNToy said:
Japanese means you only need an 8mm, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, and 21. Ever.

Honda has started using 22mm and 18mm so that would be wrong

Local · Jul 6, 2014

10,13,14,15,17 for me working on my Mercedes and Hondas.

Monte · Jul 6, 2014

martell06 said:
The 3/8 metric swivels are available in 10-19mm. Can you guys help me out?

buy them all

bsaint · Jul 6, 2014

The bolt size is not the head size. Most common bolt for us is an M6 pan head. So that means a 4mm hex drive. Then the second most is a M6 socket head. That's a 5mm hex drive. M6 hex head would be a 11mm wrench.

Most common metric bolt sizes

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